Just Us Nerds

ARIES (Mar. 21—Apr. 20)
You’re at Coney Island. Everybody is happy to see you but there is paranoia and regret in their eyes. None of the rides are operating and the only food worth buying is the deep fried corn, which you eat as if you are an animal on the verge of discovering satiation for the first time. You are wet and bold and wonderful. Your lucky Beat Generation writer is Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

TAURUS (Apr. 21–May 21)
You are walking down a long farm road. You don’t remember waking up this morning. The workers are browned by the sun – muscular and angular. As focused as truth. They make sidelong glances at you as if expecting something new but quickly being disappointed that you are just a lone person on a long road. Will authenticity follow? Your lucky Beat Generation writer is Lew Welch.

GEMINI (May 22–June 21)
You are beginning to realize that there is little difference between a traveling salesman and a wanderer. If you sold things, that would be a job; it would be a duty. Would that detract from your wandering? Self doubt lingers in the air like cotton candy on a child’s mouth. You feel alone, but you feel you are at the start of something. Your lucky Beat Generation writer is Michael McClure.

CANCER (June 22–July 22)
You wonder for a moment if the car you are in is stolen. Where did it come from? You look at the driver as if looking at him for the first time. He drives like a pro. He knows cars the way you know yourself. You feel a glimmer of his confidence. Adventure lurks in the corner if you can just wake it up. You take another drink and relax into the upholstery. Your lucky Beat Generation writer is Jack Kerouac.

LEO (July 23—Aug. 22)
You are in the back of a run-down broken backstreet bar. The band is blowing, blowing with all the rhythm and hop of a beat-up Cadillac on a railroad track. The energy loosens your groove. You can’t find the bartender and you’re not sure you could afford a beer anyway. This is a good night to approach a stranger and everyone here is swept away in the energy, talking and jumping onto their chairs. It is a fanatical world and you feel lucky to be a part of it. Your lucky Beat Generation writer is Philip Whalen

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 23)
You eat ravenously as you dance. You have a sandwich in one hand and a bottle of something you can’t identify in the other. Dexter Gordon is bopping for all get out and you see the object of your affection across the room, smooth skinned and covered in agitation. The night is racing toward its conclusion and you hold on because you want to ride this horse all the way to town. Your lucky Beat Generation writer is William Burroughs.

LIBRA (Sept. 24–Oct. 23)
You’ve been thrown out of your third hotel room in four nights and you are starting to feel like you will never sleep again. How many hours has it been since you closed your eyes? You could count them but counting seems like an awful lot of work and it is better just to ride all night looking for an open patch of grass where you can lay down and let everything collapse on top of you for an hour or two until you drift away. When was the last time you were like this? You want to remember but you can’t. Your lucky Beat Generation writer is Allen Ginsberg.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24–Nov. 22)
You can see the thick ropes of smoke on the horizon and you are starting to smell the burning corn and rye. You can’t believe you are driving toward a burn that big. Something in the back of your mind panics and you want to turn the wheel. You want to turn back and run all the way home. Your arms stay locked and steady though. There is something at the other side of that cloud that you have to see. You want to come through, covered in ash and dirt and sweat. You need to make it through. Your lucky Beat Generation writer is Gary Snyder.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23–Dec. 21)
The busted out railroad car you spend the night in creaks with every gust of wind. There is a mound of trash in the corner from the dozens of others who have tramped through here before you. You are so tired that your muscles don’t want to work, but your eyes won’t close. You stare at a patch of stars through a hole in the top of the car and you watch it slowly move. You can tell by the shadows that the moon is coming close to the hole. Will you get to see it? You want so much to see it. You think that will bring you sleep. You have connected yourself to it. The wait may last forever. Your lucky Beat Generation writer is Gregory Corso.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22–Jan. 20)
The jail cell you are in tonight looks pretty much like the one from last month. What petty crime are you guilty of this time? You don’t think it was more than a two-night transgression and you are unsure of what can happen after that. Your cellmates smell like burnt motor oil and the one in the corner has a hacking cough. You are sure you’ll be out in the sun soon, walking down the road – just another free animal in the daylight. The wait always seems longer than it is. Your lucky Beat Generation writer is Neal Cassady.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 21–Feb. 19)
Once you cross the border everything changes. The houses all look like they have lost their agenda. The people walk in loose, careless steps that eat up the landscape in front of them. The smell of food seems to surround everything. Nothing costs much and plenty is free as long as you are friendly. Everyone is like you, and you feel more at home that you ever felt at home. Your lucky Beat Generation writer is Kenneth Rexroth.

PISCES (Feb. 20–Mar. 20)
Your house has been invaded by friendly maniacs. The party has been going on for a long time and you can see that a good part of the order you used to rely on has been disrupted and redistributed. You can either smile and welcome the party or push them out in all of your fury. It only takes a moment to decide who you are once the pressure is on. Your lucky Beat Generation writer is Kirby Doyle.