Poetic Portrait: Carolyn Cassady Revealed in Poetry and Prose

Carolyn Cassady, wife of Beat icon Neal Cassady and lover of Jack Kerouac, ran away from home when she was 60 years old. In 1983, she moved to England where she spent the remaining thirty years of her life. After Carolyn died in 2013, her children discovered a treasure trove of previously unknown writing. Buried under piles of manuscripts was a small, fabric-covered notebook. Inside this charming volume, the Cassady siblings were astonished to find thirty-one poignant poems. No one knew Carolyn wrote poetry. Another significant find was a box of fifty years' worth of page-a-day calendars that their mother used as a detailed journal. Carolyn's eldest, Cathy, felt the intimate poems and journals provided a unique opportunity to understand this talented, complex woman whose accomplishments had been overshadowed by the exploits of Neal Cassady and his Beat friends. This poetic portrait is not only meant to help others understand Carolyn, but to reveal Carolyn's own attempts at understanding herself and her world.