Which Beat poet wrote the long poem “Bomb,” first published as a book in 1958?

Gregory Corso wrote the long poem “Bomb,” first published as a book in 1958.

Corso’s poem was shaped typographically like a mushroom cloud and used the word “bomb” as both a visual object and a subject for meditation. It appeared during the Cold War, when nuclear weapons dominated public fears and political debate.

Corso was the youngest major member of the New York Beat circle and became closely associated with Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Unlike a straightforward political pamphlet, “Bomb” combines satire, imagination, wordplay, and anxiety about nuclear destruction.

The poem’s visual design is central to its identity, so reproductions often preserve its unusual layout. Corso’s work is sometimes overshadowed by Howl and On the Road, but “Bomb” remains one of the clearest examples of Beat poetry engaging directly with postwar technology and mass violence.