are meant to be read in a single breath. In this and many of Ginsberg’s poems, there is a sense of urgency and hyperactivity. It is as if the poem is just a collection of his memories spilled onto the page. There is no uniform structure to the poem. Some lines are indented, some are not. Ginsberg uses hyphens as punctuation often, and the sentences are often run-ons, brimming with different ideas and images. One interesting device Ginsberg uses in this poem is capitalization. Several words like “Death”, “Day”, “Mercy” and “Oblivion”, are capitalized even though they don’t necessarily have to be. The capitalization of the words denotes their heightened importance in the poem. “Oblivion” in this poem is not just an abstraction; it is meant to describe a very real place, thus it is capitalized. References Allen Ginsberg, Kaddish and Other Poems 1958-1960 (San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1961) Poetry by Allen Ginsberg 1961 poetry books American poetry collections City Lights Publishers books