Michael McClure: The Psychedelic Era
Michael McClure, born on October 20th, 1932, was involved with the Psychedelic Era. Beat poets, as well as musicians, used psychedelics to reach different levels of consciousness and extend their thoughts. Peyote was a common psychedelic that was popular among the beats and musicians before it was regulated, along with other psychedelics, in 1970. Peyote is a small cactus that contains psychoactive alkaloids which was originally used for spiritual practices among indigenous groups. McClure wrote about his out of body experiences in “ Peyote Poem” which recognizes the separation from his mind and body and results in a spiritual awakening and altered consciousness. For McClure, recognizing the separation between mind and body is fundamental to fully understand spiritual awakenings and altered consciousnesses.
McClure highlights the separation of his mind and body through the use of synecdoche by comparing what he can feel and what he can see. McClure uses his stomach to reference his whole body.
“ My belly and I are two individuals
joined together
in life.” ( McClure 267)
This quote shows the distinction between mind and body by saying that they are different “individuals” but connected together at the end to have a clear interrelationship. McClure’s experiences with peyote explore how it feels to take the drug and how your mind and body become one while still being separate. By describing the mind and body as individuals, it examines the parts of both how peyote affects the user and the state when the user is not under the influence. When McClure describes the two parts of him coming together, it shows the different aspects of his life coming together to get the total picture. They are separate but come together to create a bigger picture. In this case, life.
McClure Michael. “Peyote Poem.” The Portable Beat Reader, edited by Ann Charters, Penguin Books, 1992, pp. 267–269.
