Howls in San Francisco and Leeds to mark the birth of Beat  Alan
Ginsberg Alan Ginsberg, dancing to The Grateful Dead. The
following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections
and clarifications column, Wednesday October 5 2005  In the
report below, we said: "Within months, Allen Ginsberg was in
front of an obscenity court (which eventually cleared him)..."
In fact, Ginsberg was never prosecuted. It was the poem that was
held to be obscene. The publisher, Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City
Lights Books, was prosecuted for publishing the poem and for
selling the book of the same name at his shop, as was his
counter assistant, Shig Murao, for peddling literature likely to
corrupt juveniles. The trial took place almost two years (not
"months") later, and the poem was found not to be obscene in the
San Francisco municipal court on October 3 1957. Ginsberg was in
Europe and North Africa while this was taking place. The
description of Ginsberg as "fat" at the time appears to be
indefensible. Simon Warner, quot