| Ed Galing Interviewed by Doug Holder Lucid Moon Interview #6 Doug Holder of Ibbetson St. Press interviewed Hatboro, Pennsylvania Poet Laureate and cartoonist Ed Galing in the fall of 1999. ED GALING: A MENSCH AND A POET I first encountered Ed Galing's poetry on the pages of the small press journal Lucid Moon. He was described as "the harmonica playing Poet Laureate of Hatboro, PA". His poetry appealed to me because of its simplicity, its unadorned eloquence. Galing, now in his 80's, has been writing for at least sixty years. His work is liberally spread over a wide variety of small press literary magazines, journals, newspapers, the whole spectrum of venues. His writing is a lyrical exploration of his experiences as a Jewish kid on the streets of the Lower East Side of New York, an occupation soldier shortly after WW2, a young husband trying to make a go of it, and as a wise, elderly man, with enough distance to laugh at what we younger folks call "life". Ed did not have the advantage of a college education, the extended adolescence of the early Baby Boomers, or the self absorbed angst of Generation X. What comes through in Ed's poetry is his no nonsense approach to life. He calls a "spade" a "spade" in the best sense of the word. He reminds me of any number of Jewish uncles I had, cracking jokes, "busting chops", and spinning stories. Ed is unapologetically corny, obscene, sentimental…in short he is what I call a Mensch (Leo Rosten, in his book "Hooray For Yiddish" defines "Mensch" as someone of consequence, someone to emulate, of noble character.) DH: Ed, you have been a writer for many years now. I understand that you've written for newspapers, magazines…you name it. Now you are known as the Poet Laureate of Hatboro, PA. What turned you on to poetry as a genre of expression? EG: I began to write short stories and poetry when I was still a young person going to high school. I think it had to do with the foolish idea that being a writer was the road to riches and fame. I lived with my mother and father during the Depression. We were on general relief and were very poor. We lived in three spartan rooms…this was very tough for a kid growing up. These conditions left an impression on me. I suppose that I wanted to get us out of this type of existence. I began to write. My English teacher, Dr. Glicsberg, was supportive of my work and nurtured me. Under him, I studied all the great poets, Frost, Longfellow, Dryden, Shakespeare, and others. I found that writing poetry, as opposed to short stories, allowed me more room to express myself in lyrical and metaphorical ways. Poetry could say something in a few words, that prose could only do in the thousands. Poetry allowed me to pour out my heart and soul. As a result of this, my poetry began to appear in lots of magazines and newspapers. I didn't dare call myself a poet until I felt I deserved that title. There are so many poets in the world today, writing in so many styles and modes. Somehow I found myself writing nostalgic material of my early years in New York. Most recently, I was elected Poet Laureate of Hatboro, PA, at 79 years of age. I also have received numerous citations and awards from the Pennsylvania House and Senate, for literary excellence. Poetry at least for me is the gateway to the soul. In a few words a poet can restore hope, show his faith, make you weep and smile, or laugh out loud. DH: Ed, as a Jewish kid, your stomping grounds were the Lower East Side of New York City. This is the same milieu that Henry Roth, author of Call It Sleep, called his boyhood home. How did this background shape you a s a writer and a poet? EG: I was born in 1917 on the Lower East Side of New York, in a big tenement building. My father was the janitor of the building. My mother was a housewife. The only life I knew as a child consisted of running around the pushcarts on Orchard St. and Delancey Street. I listened to the cries of the merchants and the hundreds of people pushing and shoving on the streets of NYC. There was a flavor to those streets that I won't forget. I think it shaped my feelings for the rest of my life. I learned of poverty, and how to exist, running on those streets, chased by Gentiles. There is no question that those days were hard ones. I lived in the Jewish part of the Lower East Side, but there were also other sections, dominated by Italians, etc. This was a time of many gang wars. As a Jewish boy I had to learn to run pretty fast. Henry Roth put it correctly, "No one could possibly write everything about those early days, and get it all down on paper." I still remember the rooftops, the wash on the lines, the garbage on the streets, the way we played on the pavement, the gang fights…which thank God I was not part of. I learned at an early age that it wasn't such a good thing to be a Jew. I learned that I killed Christ, although I didn't even know who he was then. I also learned that Santa Claus wanted no part of me, because he never brought me presents as a kid. I remember how hard my mother worked, and all the holidays. In spite of all the hardships, it left an indelible impression on me. Henry Roth is not the only Jewish writer who lived and wrote about the Lower East Side. I would recommend reading Harry Golden's wonderful books, especially about those early East Side days. DH: The Depression, hard times, poverty, often appear in your work. Is your poetry a sort of catharsis to the deprivation you felt during the early years? ED: Absolutely. Everyone of us who has lived a life, certainly writes poetry from their own experiences. The best poetry written come form the heart. No flowery words are necessary. Just the music of the soul. Yes, I always seem to write about the Depression, poverty, and hard times. My father left my mother, and we were left on our own in a bad section of Philly. South Philly was famous for some of the finest actors, singers…it may have not been bad for people not on welfare. My poor mother had no means of support, wound up on welfare, and I was a kid of only nine. I used to see the welfare worker coming, asking questions, and how hard my mother worked to keep me with her. She always had a hard life. When she died, she had no formal ceremony. I remember the hearse driver and I riding together on a stormy day, to put her to rest. You can't help but remember such things, and use them in prose and poetry. I find that poetry takes the bitterness out of me, a sort of catharsis. Yet, it crops up again and again. I've tried to write lighter poetry, more amusing material, just to get away from these sad thoughts. I find that many poets write "confessional" poetry, perhaps overdoing it. I have tried to concentrate on better moments in my life. I must confess…it does me good to write about those other times also. A.D. Winans, another excellent poet, writes a great deal of poetry about the hard life…I think we all do that. Some of the best poetry springs out of this experience. I have been deprived of some things, but I had a wonderful understanding mother, who gave her life for me, so that I could grow up. DH: As I mentioned before, Henry Roth is a big interest of mine. In his Mercy Of A Rude Stream trilogy, he followed the life and times of Ira Stigman, a semi-autobiographical fictional character, from childhood to young manhood. Has your writing been influenced by Roth? Did you experience any of the Jewish self-hatred that Stigman suffered as he tried to fit into Gentile America? EG: No, I can honestly say that Roth has not influenced my life or writing. Nor can I say that I experienced self-hatred because I was a Jew. I am not an Orthodox Jew. As for the Jewish self hatred that Ira Stigman faced in Roth's book, I can understand it, sympathize deeply with it, but it really did not influence my work. One must face the fact that Anti-Semitism is an evil that must be eradicated. I spent as year in Germany after WW2, as an occupation soldier, and saw the death camps at Dachau. All of these events have shaped my sensibility, and probably has come out in my poetry. I have found Anti-Semitism everywhere…the Army, Navy … everywhere! I have tried, in my own way, to overcome it. I was lucky, and I always try to understand that there are more good things in this world than evil. I am proud to be a Jew, and always will be. DH: Ed, you were an occupation soldier shortly after WW2. You saw the aftermath of the Holocaust, the carnage, the human tragedy. What lasting impact did this have on your poetry? EG: Funny, about the war, I was 28 years old when I was drafted into the army in 1945. I had been exempt until then because I worked in an arsenal for the government, helping the war industry…(imagine calling that industry)…well, when the Germans surrendered, and the Japanese continued to fight, the government called up all able-bodied men, the older guys, to help defeat the Japanese. I left my wife and children and went to Camp Blanding, Florida, for basic infantry training, then shipped overseas. By the time the Japanese had surrendered I was sent to Germany with the first occupation force. Here, they were punishing the war criminals. The country was in turmoil, and the Germans lived among the ruins. I really felt strange, a Jew working among them…in a countryside that was picturesque…but where all these horrors took place. During my stint, I saw the Nazi death camps of Dachau. I saw the ovens, all those horrible moments of war. It sickened me, and I found it difficult not to yell at the German people, "Why did you kill my people?!" I was full of hatred then, and the fact that the Germans denied knowledge of this slaughter, made things worse. It certainly made a deep Impression on me. This visceral experience compelled me to write about it. I finally wrote a small novelette that the journal Lucid Moon published, with photos, of my time in Germany as a soldier. Army life, while in training was brutal, rougher on anyone Jewish. I was in camp with a preponderance of Southern boys. There were very few Jews in camp. I remember one, Greenberg, he was a rebel. They rode him hard. To his credit he took it all in. The Nazi death camps shoved a stark reality in my face. Walking around the site, with all these walking skeletons…half dead men and women, made a powerful impact. I saw the ovens, and I went into the room where they told people they were to be given showers, only to be gassed. I could almost hear them scream, see the agonized scratches on the walls, as they died. These impressions stay with me even today. Had I been afforded combat duty, I probably would have killed without pity. This has affected me as a man and a writer this way; I want to be able to use my words to benefit mankind. To show that love, instead of hate is the key to life. Who am I to declare all this? Still, I hope my voice means something. My experiences with poverty, tragedy, rough times, the Depression, has no doubt affected my writing. DH: I suppose one reason we write is to satisfy the primal urge to have something of ourselves, to mark our territory, to say, "Hey, I was here." What's the message you want to leave your readers with? What do you want to stand out in the readers' mind about Ed Galing, the poet, writer, and fellow traveler? EG: This is a profound question. I really don't know how to answer it fully. In spite of all the tough breaks I had, I also had a lot of wonderful things happen to me. I have been married for 61 years to a wonderful woman, I have two grown sons, three grandchildren, and one great granddaughter, Through the good times and bad times we stuck together. This doesn't explain the primal urge, does it? I suppose I just want to be remembered as a human being who wanted to bring joy and understanding to a world that sorely needs it. I don't need riches and fame to accomplish this. I only need folks to publish my work, understand me, not necessarily agree with me, and if something I wrote isn't up to par, give me a chance to do it better. I have some books in the University Of Buffalo Poetry/Rare Books Collection. My local library has eight of my books on their shelves. Anyone can go read my work, long after I'm gone. At age 82, I have had a long writing career. What is there to know about Ed Galing? Just a simple man, trying to understand the world, and perhaps hear a good word about my work. If I have accomplished this, I have done well. What else could any poet want? Reprinted from Ibbetson St. Press issue #4. HOME PAGE & ARCHIVES
POETRY COLUMNS
Moon Beams (More Moon Poems) | Poetry Essays and Lectures A Few Poems a Day Helps Keep the Psychiatrist Away Quotable Poetry Quotes | Jokes About Art, Literature, Music & Poetry OTHER COOL WEB SITE LINKS
Other Cool Web Site Links
Frank Moore's LUVeR Radio Website D.u.d.e. (Digger Underground Distribution Exchange) AuthorHouse Printing On Demand Book Publishers Poetry and Literature Center of the Library of Congress ALPHA BEAT PRESS (Dave and Ana Christy) CONTACT ME
|