What does the U.S. Postal Service have against Lowell's legendary Beat Generation pioneer and author, Jack Kerouac?

For years Kerouac supporters have been lobbying the USPS for a commemorative postage stamp in honor of the On the Road author whose popularity continues to grow both here and abroad nearly 45 years after his death.

Yet Kerouac, whose innovative "spontaneous prose" writing style inspired hundreds of past and present novelists and poets, can't get the recognition he deserves on a federally issued postage stamp.

Why bring this up now?

It's not sour grapes, but if rock musicians Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin can get their mugs on commemorative stamps, why not Kerouac?

The USPS recently announced that Joplin, who died in 1970 at the age of 37, will be honored on the second stamp of the Music Icons series, Hendrix being the first just one year ago.

Joplin's stamp will debut in August. A biographical description on the sheet of stamps says "Joplin is now recognized as one of the greatest rock singers of all time, as well as a pioneer who paved the way for other women in rock music."

Certainly, Joplin and Hendrix were 1960s icons who influenced pop-music culture. Other musical greats honored with commemorative stamps include Elvis Presley (his 1993 stamp remains the all-time top seller at 29 cents), Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Buddy Holly, Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, etc.

There are also USPS stamps commemorating the nation's most admired 20 all-time poets (e.e.cummings, Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Bishop, etc.


) and literary giants (John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, Elizabeth Warton, Dorothy Parker, Ernest Hemingway, etc.).

If the goal of the USPS and its Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee is to honor America's long and influential arts culture, certainly Jack Kerouac's literary breakthroughs deserve recognition. Go to Europe and ask young adults where Jack Kerouac was born and they'll answer "Lowell." It's because they've studied the author and read his books, which offer fascinating -- and disturbing -- insights into the world of underground celebrity, poverty, travel, spirituality, drugs, jazz and sex.

According to Susan McGowan, USPS director of stamp services, the federal agency issues about 20 new stamps a year and only after several years of research, discussion and debate with the citizen's panel and others.

Jack Keroauc and Lowell are already on the map; now it's time to get them on a commemorative stamp, in time for the 50th anniversary of his death (Oct. 21, 2019). Kerouac fans and literary arts devoteés should write to McGowan to let her know that we want Kerouac "stamped in" with other American greats. Her address: Susan McGowan, Director of Stamp Services, USPS, 475 L'Enfant Plaza SW, Washington, D.C. 20260.