Bono and US Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera read “Hum Bom!”

A few months ago, we sat down with U2 frontman Bono and US Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera to read the Allen Ginsberg anti-war poem “Hum Bom!” Bono and Allen Ginsberg were friends, and performed together in Ginsberg’s last years.
It’s a timely poem and video, given the recent news in Syria– Allen Ginsberg wrote “Hum Bom!” over a course of years, first publishing it as part of his 1973 collection “The Fall of America.” He published expanded versions of the poem in later collections, adding a second section to the poem in 1984 and a third section in 1991. Ginsberg’s poem still resonates today.