'History is stranger than fiction. Stranger than poetry, too.'

From: A naked Dr. Kissinger?

Consider a weird historical nugget unearthed during a search of transcripts of telephone conversations between former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and a host of dignitaries, journalists and celebrities.

In one of those phone calls, Dr. Kissinger casually chatted with poet Allen Ginsberg about setting up a meeting with anti-Vietnam War activists just before a major anti-war demonstration in Washington.

Allen Ginsberg?

The author of "Howl"? A banned-in-San Francisco poem that famously begins with these words, "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked. ..."

A meeting between Mr. Ginsberg, a founding father of the counterculture, and Dr. Kissinger, the ultimate establishment figure and a Dr. Strangelove-type villain to the 1960s antiwar movement, seems about as likely as an Oval Office discussion of the war on drugs featuring Richard Nixon and a pharmaceutically wired Elvis Presley.

Wait a minute. Richard Nixon did make Elvis an honorary drug agent.

In any event, Dr. Kissinger and Mr. Ginsberg didn't actually meet to talk about the war. But Henry the K did take the poet's phone call and they did talk about a having a meeting to discuss the war. Mr. Ginsberg suggested the meeting should include North Carolina's very conservative senator, Jesse Helms, and "maybe even (Richard) Nixon."

He also suggested some unusual conditions for this summit on the war. According to the transcript, Mr. Ginsberg said, "It would be even more useful if we could do it naked on television."

The transcript records this response from Dr. Kissinger: (Laughter).