On the Beatnik Trail in Yucatán

Allen Ginsberg in Palenque, Chiapas while writing Sietsa en Xbalba.

Last week I celebrated my birthday by tracing Allen Ginsberg’s steps through Palenque and Mérida. Atop the Mayan pyramids I read Ginsberg’s poem Siesta en Xbalba, a rare early poem of which he made only 50 copies. It was mostly written in Palenque and is considered a predecessor to his …