The Lords and The New Creatures: Poems

by Jim Morrison

Intense, erotic, and enigmatic, Jim Morrison's persona is as riveting now as the lead singer/composer "Lizard King" was during The Doors' peak in the late sixties. His fast life and mysterious death remain controversial more than twenty years later.

The Lords and the New Creatures, Morrison's first published volume of poetry, is an uninhibited exploration of society's dark side -- drugs, sex, fame, and death -- captured in sensual, seething images. Here, Morrison gives a revealing glimpse at an era and at the man whose songs and savage performances have left their indelible impression on our culture.

Genres: Poetry, Music, Nonfiction, Art, Biography, American, Classics

141 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

James Douglas Morrison was an American singer, poet, songwriter, writer, and film director. He is best known as the lead singer and lyricist of The Doors, and is widely considered to be one of the most charismatic and influential frontmen in rock music. He was also the author of several books of poetry and the director of a documentary and short film.

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

So sad that we lost him so soon. I think he would have produced many more important songs and poems if he had had the time. Always felt as if he knew he was only going to be here for just a little while; like he was trying to rage against the light inside that was going to die very soon.

[Gerhard · Rating 4 out of 5]

boundless galaxies of dust
cactus spines, beads,
bleach stones, bottles
& rust cars, stored for shaping
The new man, time-soldier
picked his way narrowly
thru the crowded ruins
of once grave city

Review to follow

[Valentina · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In that year there was
an intense visitation
of energy.
I left school & went down
to the beach to live.
I slept on a roof
At night the moon became
a woman's face.
I met the Spirit of Music." JDM

[Tony Funches · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm Highly Biased; as his employee & friend, I nevertheless found the work to be Fascinatingly Intelligent, & VERY Well Written.
[Retrospective Observation: Fittingly, the LONGER the interval of TIME, the more his insights become relevant & reflective of the forecast reality WE HAVE BECOME ... nevermind Ed Cayce & "Noster Great-Dame-Us" ... Jimbo WAS (X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes) the tragic incarnation of the discarded & uncredited (upon Bradbury's insistence) short story for a pulp Sci-Fi mag ... later made a film w/ Ray Milland ...

[Paul Gleason · Rating 5 out of 5]

These early Morrison poems are tremendous. The collection simmers with the influences that - I don't think - would ever cohere into a coherent vision. But what makes it so important is that it shows Morrison's intellectual and passionate engagement with his influences and, perhaps more controversially, show that he probably wasn't cut out to be a rock frontman and Bozo Dionysus but a poet.

Influences: Nietzsche, shamanism, Rimbaud, Burroughs, Blake, a host of avant-garde filmmakers.

Morrison tries to amalgamate Nietzsche's primitivism and sense of the sacred, with shamanism, Rimbaud's illuminations, Burroughs' Nova Mob, Blake's visions. What comes through is the excitement of discovery and some truly sensitive and great poetry.

In fact, this book and the first two Doors albums - which, if memory serves - come from the same notebook jottings are truly Morrison's masterpieces. The records from Waiting for the Sun to L.A. Woman are truly superfluous in comparison. Sure, they contain some great songs but NOT the singular vision that Morrison possessed before he made it big.

The collection really does make him seem more like Rimbaud than anyone else. He did burn out on poetry and creativity early on and tried to live the existence about which Nietzsche writes. He couldn't do it. He had a bad heart and could never live as a walking aesthetic construction, a walking work of art.

Part of me, after reading this, wishes that I'd never heard of Morrison. Perhaps he could have lived on - had his heart held out - to have been a great an unheard of poet, writing his own Illuminations, a modern-day Rimbaud.

[Julie Rylie · Rating 5 out of 5]

he is one of the most inteligent and sensitive human beings that ever walked on earth. i think this says it all.

his poetry really resembles rimbaud, i think he was his most notorious influence.

i prefer to "listen" to his poems through music or spoken words, but 5 stars for the lizard king, he sure can do anything.

[Adonay Quetzal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Morrison's writing brings up so many emotions, it's impossible not to feel something when reading his work. Especially the section titled 'The Lords,' I began to feel anxious, malicious, spaced out, and feelings as if the edge were encroaching upon me. An absolutely wonderful and quick read.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funnily enough, you should be able to get a good idea of what you’re getting here before you start reading. This collection combines the only two books of poetry that were published during Jim Morrison’s turbulent lifetime.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't Shakespeare or Edgar Allan Poe. This can't be regarded in the same light. These writings are from a well read rock'n'roll singer. I enjoy the images he uses and the journey his words take me on. It doesn't always make sense but is entertaining and at times thought provoking.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Do you dare
deny my
potency
my kindness
my forgiveness?
Just try
you will fry
like the rest
in holiness"

RIP, Lizard King.

[Charlie Fleming · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't really understand it ngl.
He clearly just wrote poetry whilst on LSD

[Richard Sharp · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Doors, and in particular Morrison, were an important cultural infuence in my novel on the so-called silent generation, "The Duke Don't Dance." Morrison spoke to both the disaffected younger generation at home as well as those enmired in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, where the Doors' recordings were highly popular, or perhaps better described as addictive. He appealed to both the simple despair of those who summarized the continuous stream of casualties in the words "it don't mean nothin'" and those seeking some intellectal anchor in the references to Blake, Brecht and ancient Irish legends. Morrison's poetry is fractured and obscure, but not merely the ramblings of a drug addict. Still, it can only be appreciated in the context of the widespread national trauma of the '60s and '70s, not today's compartmentalized society where warriors, minorities and poor are insulated from the mainstream.

[Matthew W · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Lords" features some interesting thoughts by Jim Morrison on the art of cinema. "The New Creatures" is far less interesting.

This is a fairly quick read and can easily be finished within one sitting.

[Jillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

♥

[Juju Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[A.M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

"All games contain the idea of death."

Just one of many insightful lines of Jim Morrison's The Lords and The New Creatures - a collection I was delighted to find recently in a used book store and to revisit after a twenty-year hiatus.

"We all live in the city.

The city forms - often physically, but inevitably
psychically - a circle. A Game. A ring of death
with sex at its center. Drive towards outskirts
of city suburbs. At the edge discover zones of
sophisticated vice and boredom, child prosti-
tution. But in the grim ring immediately surround-
ing the daylight business district exists the only
real crowd life of our mound, the only street
life, night life. Diseased specimens in dollar
hotels, boarding houses, bars, pawn shops,
burlesques and brothels, in dying arcades which
never die in streets and streets of all-night
cinemas."

The poet's perspective starts like a hawk circling 'round the city, spiraling down into the center - getting closer and closer to its prey - for Morrison, the truth - pure vision unencumbered by sense perception. My brother referred to Morrison as a "preacher," and this is astute, for the poet is critical of the passive and hypnotic nature of cinema:

"We are content with the "given" in sensation's
quest. We have been metamorphosised from a mad
body dancing on hillsides to a pair of eyes
staring in the dark."

And later:

"Films are collections of dead pictures which are
given artificial insemination.

Film spectators are quiet vampires."

The collection is split into two parts, and near the end of the first, "The Lords: Notes on Vision," Morrison again rails against the dangers modern-day pop culture:

"The Lords appease us with images. They give us
books, concerts, galleries, shows, cinemas. Es
pecially the cinemas. Through art they confuse
us and blind us to our enslavement. Art adorns
our prison walls, keeps us silent and diverted
and indifferent."

I have to admit, I have always been - and still am - a bit more enamored with this first section, "The Lords." "The New Creatures" has a different tone, focus and even style - more verse than prose. It is savage in its imagery:

The snake, the lizard, the insect eye
the huntsman's green obedience.
Quick, in raw time, serving
stealth & slumber,
grinding warm forests into restless lumber.

Now for the valley.
Now for the syrup hair.
Stabbing the eyes, widening skies
behind the skull bone.
Swift end of hunting.
Hung round the swollen torn breast
& red-stained throat.
The hounds gloat.
Take her home.
Carry our sister's body, back
to the boat."

I interpret this second half to be a description of what we are becoming - these new creatures of impure perception, out of touch with reality, blind savages returning to primal states:

The City. Hive, Web, or severed
insect mound. All citizens heirs
of the same royal parent.

The caged beast, the holy center,
a garden in the midst of the city.

Regardless of whether or not one appreciates The Doors or even considers Jim Morrison a "true" poet, this collection is thought-provoking and well worth reading.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just found this 1970 edition at a thrift store for a buck. It has the day-glo green pages and some tripper's handwritten notes inside. I read this years ago and it's just as silly as I remember. He self-published this, obviously. So cocky he thought he didn't need an editor.
It's dated yet I think it's still modern for each generation.
I'm a fan--but as poetry it works much better with that badass Ray Manzarek Hammond in the back. Here's one of Jim's stand-alone lyrics and is as true today as in '68: (picture this: This one is on a lime green page with some illiterate scribbles from some 70's stoner kid.)

------------------------------
The soft parade has now begun
on Sunset
Cars come thundering down
the canyon.
Now is the time & the place.
The cars come rumbling.
"You got a cool machine."
These engine beasts
muttering their soft
talk. A delight
at night
to hear their quiet voices
again
after 2 years.

Now the soft parade
has soon begun.
Cool pools
from a tired land
sink now
in the peace of evening.
----------------------------

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first part of this book is more like thoughts and musings than poems; they're unusual and thought-provoking.

The voyeur, the peeper, the Peeping Tom, is a dark
comedian. He is repulsive in his dark anonymity,
in his secret invasion. He is pitifully alone.
But, strangely, he is able through this same silence
and concealment to make unknowing partner of
anyone
within his eye's range. This is his threat and
power.

There are no glass houses. The shades are drawn
and "real" life begins. Some activities are impossible
in the open. And these secret events are the voyeur's
game. He seeks them out with his myriad army of
eyes--like the child's notion of a Deity who sees
all. "Everything?" asks the child. "Yes, everything,"
they answer, and the child is left to cope
with this divine intrusion.

(I've been on a Jim Morrison kick and so was delighted to find this 1971 edition a few days ago in a Value Village.)

[Dity · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am pleasantly surprised. Not by the poetry, but by the ideas. For, though Ginsberg he is not, Morrison is a good thinker. In the first part, The Lords, I found him very perceptive, and I enjoyed the imaginative connections he made in his observations. It is prose poetry, I suppose, that can be read as aphorisms. The part called The New Creatures was not for me. Too nebulous even to confer an atmosphere, let alone cohesion; more self-consciously artistic, this second work fails to inspire. Overall though, I found his writing less vague than I expected. Perhaps the insubstantial element of the poetry of this kind is propagated merely by his imitators. Peace.

[Ray · Rating 1 out of 5]

Morrison is a clumsy, drug-addled pop-culture reference, and his poetry is more suitable for gleaning general trivia about Jim Morrison, rather than actual reading. It's abstract, certainly, though not because he uses abstraction and absurdism, but because he's really, really high.

[Nick Black · Rating 1 out of 5]

lol@u jim morrison, shut up and sing 5-2-1 kthxbye.

[Brandon Dalo · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Lords and the New Creatures is a collection of poetry by The Doors frontman Jim Morrison. It was originally released in 1969, when he was 25 years old, just two years before he passed away. I’m a fan of The Doors and even visited Jim Morrison’s grave when I was in Paris years ago, so this collection of poetry has always interested me and has been on my TBR list for years. It is a breezy read and I read it in one sitting.

One thing that becomes immediately apparent is this isn’t poetry in the traditional sense: there’s no rhyme or form to the poems and instead, they’re more like short musings in a stream of consciousness style. For example, here’s a “poem”/hot take from the book: “It is wrong to assume, as some have done, that cinema belongs to women. Cinema is created by men for the consolation of men”. Here’s another entire “poem”: “They are filming something in the street, in front of our house”.

Most of the poems are extremely short like this one, just four words: “Look where we worship”. But overall, I have to be honest in saying that most of these just sound like a string of words put together or some kind of other nonsense. I don't mean any disrespect by that, but there wasn’t a single quotable line in the entire book and nothing moved me in any way whatsoever.

It’s obvious that there’s intelligence and deep feeling behind the author. It is also obvious that it is coming from someone well read. But ultimately, this was unfortunately an easily forgettable book.

[Brendan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jim Morrison is famous as the Doors' lead vocalist and a member of the 27 Club. But he was also a talented song writer with a strong intellect. So whenever I read his poetry I wonder why it isn't better.

The Lords is the superior of the two sections. It's more coherent, more accessible. He drops a lot of knowledge about cinema / theater. (Morrison met Doors keyboard player Ray Manzarek while they were attending UCLA's film school.)

The New Creatures, as alluded to above, is less accessible and less coherent then the first section. Morrison often resorts to just stringing words together; no attempt at proper grammar or sentence structure.

So 3 1/2 for the first section and 2 for the second section. Rounded up to 3.

[Stay Fetters · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The appeal of cinema lies in the fear of death."

Brilliant poetry from a beautiful soul. I love the fact that I get to experience his words even though he’s gone. Just wish that I was alive when he was.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Lord’s, And the New Creatures
Author: Jim Morrison
Reviewed by: Adam Michaelis

A man that had the power to change a generation, He made music with a band that had a great impact on the scene. He was a poetic man and with his controversial words and experience of life itself he wrote The Lord’s and The New Creatures. This book will seduce you with its hypnotic words and will change the perspective of everything after it is read. Before this book we as people were blind. This book opens the true light on society.

This was the “Lizard King’s” first book of poems and it focuses on political events and revealing the dark side on society itself. “Modern circles of Hell: Oswald (?) kills president. Oswald enters taxi. Oswald stops at rooming house. Oswald leaves taxi. Oswald kills officer Tippit. Oswald sheds jacket. Oswald is captured. He escaped into a movie house.” In this excerpt he is describing the later events after JFK’s assassination on Nov 22, 1963. He also wrote about the psychology of human characteristics. In another excerpt he describes this character or as the voyeur or the peeper persuading this child but the voyeur hides behind the shades. Some of his writings really makes you think and can confuse one at times. I for one got lost at some parts but in our book club discussions we analyzed the pieces and we understood them together.

This book was also split into two sections, The Lord’s and The New Creatures hence the name. The New Creatures talked about us as humans being more savage like beats underneath the common people. In a small story it is this man who travels through the desert exposing him to the elements. It is a story of a lizard man and a lizard woman and with creative words and pictures he paints a story so vivid it will feel like you are experiencing what he is writing. With words like “Insect eyes” and “Dead crackling wires dance pools of sea blood” hides a deeper meaning that the reader must discover on his own. To judge this book and its meaning is in the hands of the reader himself/herself.
I really enjoyed this book because I haven’t read a book of poetry before and it made me understand that it doesn’t have to be just simple words and text to get a point or story across. Just how he described the generation of drugs, sex, and rock n’ roll really fascinated me. I also liked the words he used because they really painted a picture for me. I hope whomever reads this book will enjoy it as much as I do.

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just appalling.

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. For die-hard Doors fans only, and I'm a die-hard Doors fan and still don't find much worth out of this collection other than that it's nice to have on my shelf.

[Beatrice Cesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imaginative, intense, revealing, and savage. I’ve loved it. It’s eccentric and crazy. Every now and then, I couldn’t even believe what I saw: Jim, the artist himself, daringly writes that “our lives are lived for us” and that “the Lords appease us with images / They give us books, concerts, galleries, shows, cinemas, especially the cinemas / Through art they confuse us and blind us to our enslavement / Art adorns our prison walls / Keep us silent and diverted and indifferent.” Not gonna lie, reading these poems felt like an out of body experience at times. Extraordinary <3

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this short poetry collection from The Lizard King. Can definitely tell that Rimbaud was his favourite poet, as they both have a similar style when expressing surrealism and transgressiveness. Was a swift pleasant read.

[T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that Jim Morrison had an approach to poetry that was not unlike the ancient Oriental method described by Wei T'ai in the 11th century; "Poetry presents the thing in order to covey the feeling. It should be precise about the thing and reticent about the feeling, for as soon as the mind responds and connects with the thing the feeling shows in words; this is how poetry enters deeply into us. If the poet presents directly feelings which overwhelm him, and keeps nothing back to linger as an aftertaste, he stirs us superficially; he cannot start the hands and feet involuntarily waving and tapping in time, far less strengthen morality and refine culture, set heaven and earth in motion and call up spirits!"

Morrison mentions this of poetry in an interview; "Listen, real poetry doesn't say anything, it just ticks off the possibilities. Opens all doors. You can walk through any one that suits you.. . . and that's why poetry appeals to me so much - because it's so eternal. As long as there are people, they can remember words and combinations of words. Nothing else can survive a holocaust but poetry and songs. No one can remember an entire novel. No one can describe a film, a piece of sculpture, a painting, but so long as there are human beings, songs and poetry can continue.
If my poetry aims to achieve anything, It's to deliver people from the limited ways in which they see and feel."

Morrison has remained an influence on my work for over 20 years now-I remember classes in Graduate school in which his poems or name would come up and it was always in a disregarding fashion, yet his books of poetry have been among the highest sellers of all time in that genre (and continue to be). Morrison was Blakean in poetic sensibility and Nietzschian in philosophy which is a terrifying combination if you think about it-he sought to be rid of the 'Mind Forged Manacles' that Blake spoke of and also desired a 'World as a will to power and nothing more' as Nietzsche mentions.
There is something of the eternal and the powerfully visionary about Morrison's work that remains- he was and also is a controversial figure, a poet that attempted to re-create the theater of Artaud in a way that would inform later performers like Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson. I think that Morrison's contribution to modern poetry was much more significant than he is currently being given credit for in the Academy.
* Notes about Morrison regarding his poetry by the Poet Michael McClure; " One of the things I like about this biography is that it shows that Jim knew himself to be a poet. That was the basis of my friendship and brotherhood with him,-I know of no better poet of Jim's generation. Few poets have been such public figures or entertainers (perhaps Mayakovsky in Russia in the twenties and thirties) and none have had so brief or so powerful a career."