In a message dated 2/17/01 9:01:56 AM, [log in to unmask] writes:

<< What possible reason would Ginsberg have had to lie about this? Or is this
just to keep up the constantly chipping paint job on Ezra? >>

I didn't say he lied.  I simply report that Forrest Read didn't believe EP
said that.  Unfortunately, Read is no longer around to explain his disbelief.
 If I had to speculate as to why AG would make up this story (if, in fact, he
did) I would guess that he thought it might put into the great poet's legacy
a way for younger poets to embrace him whole. I don't know.  From what I
remember of Read, his Pound would not apologize, such apology being an
admission of guilt, sort of like a plea bargain.  I think Read thought the
telling word was  'suburban', as this seemed to reduce the grotesque sickness
of anti-semitism to a kind of bland snobbery, a reduction neither he (Read)
nor Pound would accept.  Again, I don't know.
Jay Anania