Teacher Suspended for Reading Racy Allen Ginsberg Poem

A Connecticut high school has suspended a teacher for reading an Allen Ginsberg poem to his class.

The poem, "Please Master," includes detailed descriptions of sex acts between two men, which parents and school administrators have called "highly inappropriate," according to local TV station WTNH.

Published in 1968, them poem begins with the line, "please master can I kneel at your feet / please master can I loosen your blue pants / please master can I gaze at your golden haired belly / please master can I have your thighs bare to my eyes."

The language becomes progressively more graphic as the poem continues, meticulously narrating acts that include rimming, oral, and anal sex. See the full (NSFW) text here.

"I don't understand how that actually got into a high school class," said one parent of a student at South Windsor High School. "I can understand parents being really upset about it."

"I don't feel that the content was appropriate whether it was a senior class or an honors class. It was a little bit much," added another parent. "I'm not sure what the reasoning was behind reading that particular poem."

South Windsor Public Schools superintendent Kate Carter, who is currently investigating the incident, released a statement that called "Please Master" "highly inappropriate" for students.

"We take seriously the trust that parents place in teachers and administrators, and we do not tolerate the use of inappropriate materials in classroom settings," Carter said in the statement.

Ginsberg, a gay poet who was a central figure of the Beat movement, is most famous known for his 1956 poem "Howl," which also included descriptions of sex acts between men.

Shortly after the release of the book Howl and Other Poems, the publisher was arrested on obscenity charges. In a widely publicized trial, however, a California State Superior Court judge found the poem to not be obscene, on the basis of its artistic merit.