Sliced Bardo: On Burroughs by Carolyn Cassady



Carolyn Cassady was another person I wrote to asking for memories of Burroughs. I wasn’t aware that she felt this way about him, but I appreciated her truthful response, refusing to be sentimental in the days after Burroughs’ death.

The photo of Burrough’s collection of canes and walking sticks is by Lee Ranaldo.

— Levi Asher

Trouble is, I don’t feel like any “tribute” to BB. As I wrote, he didn’t want to know me nor I him. He represented all that I think negative and counter-productive, if not downright destructive in human life and the antithesis of what I believe we should all be about. I felt somewhat better about him when the TV interviewer asked him if there was anything in his life he regretted. Bill’s reply was “Are you kidding? Everything!” I wanted to say, well, duh–I coulda told you so. “Wise men learn from the experience of others; fools from their own”. I know, there’s this theory that in order to appreciate the heights, you have to know the depths, but I don’t agree. I have much to learn, but I don’t think his way would be rewarding. So, sorry, Levi …


On to Part Four

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Sliced Bardo

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Litkicks turned 30 years old in the summer of 2024! We can’t believe it ourselves. We don’t run as many blog posts about books and writers as we used to, but founder Marc Eliot Stein aka Levi Asher is busy running two podcasts. Please check out our latest work!