Since Allen Ginsberg, always visible though generations come and go, has never been more of a public figure than he is now, itseems more than just good timing to focus in on a man who has been far more than just an Omorary Dylan entouragent. If you've never read his celebrated "Howl, "pick up a copy today. In the meantime, here is an intimate, off the cuff portrait of the man, written by someone who has known him for years and is not only himself an author of some repute — Speed, Kentucky Ham — but of course the son of another even more important elder statesman hipster and social diagnostician, William Seward Burroughs, who will be the subject of an in-depth CREEMInterview in an upcoming issue. — Ed.