Allen Ginsberg is one of the most celebrated poets in America. The long poem "Kaddish" is considered his masterpiece. It was written in 1961, five years after his poem "Howl" had shocked the literary world and brought Ginsberg and the Beat Movement to prominence. "Kaddish" is dedicated to Ginsberg's mother, Naomi, who died tragically in 1956 in a mental institution. Two other poems, "White Shroud" and "Black Shroud", are included for their further recollections, dreams, and reincarnations of the departed mother. R. B. Kitaj is a highly respected American painter who has long resided in London, where a major retrospective exhibition of his work was mounted at the Tate Gallery in 1994 and toured museums in the United States.