September on Jessore Road

"September on Jessore Road" is a poem by American poet and activist Allen Ginsberg, inspired by the plight of the East Bengali refugees from the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. Ginsberg wrote it after visiting the refugee camps along the Jessore Road in West Bengal in India. The poem documents the sickness and squalor he witnessed there and attacks the United States government's indifference to the humanitarian crisis. It was first published in The New York Times on November 14, 1971. Further to topical songs by George Harrison and Joan Baez, the poem helped ensure that the Bangladesh crisis became a key issue for the youth protest movement around the world.

Ginsberg debuted "September on Jessore Road" in a poetry recitation in New York City before performing it with improvised musical accompaniment in a PBS television special. In November 1971, he recorded it with musicians including Bob Dylan for a proposed album release on Apple Records. The recording first became widely available on the 1994 Ginsberg box set Holy Soul Jelly Roll: Poems and Songs 1949–1993. The poem is displayed in English and Bengali at the Liberation War Museum in Dhaka.