This collection of writings are "free flowing", "free verse" creations from the mid-1960's. inspired by the "free verse', "free thinking", beat writers of the day. No holds barred, pure cosmic consciousness with no edits. and sparse, rare punctuation.
LONG TALL BROAST - "Free Verse Poems" ('67)
“Long Tall Broast” is a re-discovered collection of “free verse” poems and single-page stories written by the author back in 1966-1967 in Oklahoma City.
Inspired by the contemporary “beat” poets and writers and “free verse” writers of that era, like Ezra Pound, e.e cummings, Ken Kesey, Jack Kerouac, Bob Dylan, Allan Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Lucien Carr, Neal Cassidy and Herbert Hunke and others, the author embarked on his own “fearless” creative journey into “free verse” creative writing, creating this whimsical collection of off-beat, amusing and often profound stories as a freshman in college at Oklahoma City University studying fine-arts, music, creative writing and theater.
Inspired by Jack Kerouac, Chet Nichols was inspired to embark on a hitch-hiking adventure in the Spring of 1967 where he, and an old high school friend, Peter Reiter, threw caution to the wind and hitch-hiked from Oklahoma City to Los Angeles and back to Oklahoma City during their Spring Break of 1967.
It was an adventure that served as the foundation of Chet's “beat novel', ”The Last Riders On Route 66".
His song, “The Last Riders on Route 66”, which was awarded the top award in the as “Best Song” in “The International Route 66 Theme Song Contest” by The International Route 66 Federation.
So, to move forward, what is “broasting”?
Well, we all know what broasted chicken is in the US, right?
Well, during a downstate high school journey to watch his high school basketball team compete in the state team compete for the state championship, all the small towns they drove thru lauded their 'broasted chickena'". Finally, near the end Chet said, “Man, that town is really ‘broasting’”. Almost immediately, Chet saw 'broasting" as a part of any kind of situaiton. It became an all-encomposing term that applied to any situation.
So, to get a better definition of “beat society”… let's start with one of the stories in this unique collection of beat, off-beat writings.
Enjoy:
What Is Broasting?
many people these days are asking themselves...what
is broasting? when I walk up and ask, "are you broasting?"
they often turn around and run away screaming and ripping
out patches of their hairs...they are definitely
broasting. here is a check list of broastable things;
eating pine cones, listening to the fugs while
reading a "dear john" letter, shining your shoes, taking
pills, painting a picture, reading long tall broast,
playing cards with your sprained ankle soaking in a tub
of beer, riding a motorcycle at 2 in the morning just
to get rid of the feeling of the sun,
using eyeglasses to hide a black eye, playing guitar
alone, feeling sad,
sitting up in the night and listening to the
house crack, getting drunk, getting laid, falling in
love, playing darts, sitting in your room
writing a book on saturday night,
not having your u-trow come out clean,
not eating your frosted flakes and then growing
up to be a skinny runt, rooming with a gentleman named
francis q. broasta, going to class, finding a girl
you like only to find out that
she is already married, flunking a test, getting an
apartment, feeling cool, working on a fertilizer farm,
eating skunk steak for breakfast,
waking up to find that you are hooked on to
the bed by a chain of broasted bananas, writing a song,
sitting around with the fellas
and shooting the shit, losing a pair of $18 loafers, not
getting any mail for a month, getting your TR-3 painted
for $300 and then having your brakes fail and smashing it
up, having to get you hair cut when you don't
want to, going to a bar, living in a cave, having your parents
agree to buy you a cycle and then they change their minds
the next day cause they think you're going to the olympics,
being real ugly and having 2 or 3 nice looking girls,
being on the beach and having your radio die when the number
one tune comes on, losing your wallet, having to stay till
the last day of school, having your yardbirds album break
because you slept on it, getting an album of old irish folk
songs for graduation, waking up and finding
that you are in india, having a sacred cow hamburger,
having to eat by someone who has zits galore, not having your
date call you up and turn you down, doing things when they
should be done, having your band break up, getting shot at
afterwards when you miss a call not know who called,
having someone think that you are a boy when you really are a girl,
not being 1-a,
doubling to the drive-in, taking a guy's
last beer, having your last beer taken, getting an "a" on
a test, having to go when you
want to come...................................…
SO, ARE YOU BROASTING, YET?
If, not, by the end of the book, you will realize that life can be one long, lovely, frightening, loving, confusing, insightful, silly, ponderable - broast.