In celebration of the moon, the heart, and life's fulfillment, Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) was the poet laureate for the restless Beat Generation of the 1950s.

"Poetry is not an expression of the partyline," he believed. "It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does."

Ginsberg was born in Newark, New Jersey and graduated from Columbia University where he met cohort Jack Kerouac. The two spirited writers experienced the world in search of truth. Both wrote spontaneously, without revision, and urged others with free-verse style to fuel joy with personal passion.

"Observe what's vivid," Ginsberg said.

Inspired by the poetry of William Blake and Walt Whitman, Ginsberg wasa protégé of William Carlos Williams. His revolutionary first volume of poetry, Howl and Other Poems (1956), broke social taboos and changed popular culture forever. The uniquely personal poem celebrated the "majestic flaws" of the mind.

With each word, the controversial Ginsberg jolted readers with new, radical ideas to ponder, like this one: "Because systems of mass communication can communicate only officially acceptable levels of reality, no one can know the extent of the secret unconscious life. No one in America can know what will happen," he said. "No one is in real control."

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Let your heart glow by moonlight.