In 1965, when the poet Jack Spicer died at the age of forty, he left behind a trunkful of papers and manuscripts and a few copies of the seven small books he had seen to press. A West Coast poet, his influence spanned the national literary scene of the 1950s and '60s, though in many ways Spicer's innovative writing ran counter to that of his contemporaries in the New York School and the West Coast Beat movement. Now, more than forty years later, Spicer's voice is more compelling, insistent, and timely than ever. During his short but prolific life, Spicer troubled the concepts of translation, voice, and the act of poetic composition itself. My Vocabulary Did This to Me is a landmark publication of this essential poet's ...
In 1965, when the poet Jack Spicer died at the age of forty, he left behind a trunkful of papers and manuscripts and a few copies of the seven small books he had seen to press. A West Coast poet, his influence spanned the national literary scene of the 1950s and '60s, though in many ways Spicer's innovative writing ran counter to that of his contemporaries in the New York School and the West Coast Beat movement. Now, more than forty years later, Spicer's voice is more compelling, insistent, and timely than ever. During his short but prolific life, Spicer troubled the concepts of translation, voice, and the act of poetic composition itself. My Vocabulary Did This to Me is a landmark publication of this essential poet's life work, and includes poems that have become increasingly hard to find and many published here for the first time.
"The book is one of the most important volumes of poetry published in the past 50 years. The poems are simply wonderful, and Spicer's mature work is some of the best ever written by an American."
JACK SPICER (1925-1965) published books including After Lorca (1957), Billy the Kid (1959), and The Holy Grail (1962). PETER GIZZI is a poet and author of numerous books, including The Outernationale (2007), who lives in Holyoke, Massachusetts. KEVIN KILLIAN is a poet, novelist, critic, and playwright living in San Francisco.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments Introduction About This Edition BERKELEY RENAISSANCE (1945-1950)
Berkeley in Time of Plague A Girl's Song Homosexuality A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Landscape An Apocalypse for Three Voices One Night Stand An Answer to Jaime de Angulo A Lecture in Practical Aesthetics Dialogue Between Intellect and Passion A Night in Four Parts (Second Version)
Orpheus in Hell Orpheus After Eurydice Orpheus' Song to Apollo Troy Poem
"We find the body difficult to speak . . ."
"They are selling the midnight papers . . ."
"Any fool can get into an ocean . . ."
The Scrollwork on the Casket The Dancing Ape Imaginary Elegies (I, II, III)
Psychoanalysis: An Elegy MINNESOTA POEMS (1950-1952)
Minneapolis: Indian Summer Watching a TV Boxing Match in October Portrait of an Artist Sonnet for the Beginning of Winter On Reading Last Year's Love Poems Orpheus in Athens Train Song for Gary A Second Train Song for Gary BERKELEY / SAN FRANCISCO (1952-1955)
A Postscript to the Berkeley Renaissance A Poem for Dada Day at The Place, April 1, 1955
"The window is a sword . . ."
Imaginary Elegies (IV)
NEW YORK / BOSTON (1955-1956)
IInd Phase of the Moon IIIrd Phase of the Moon IVth Phase of the Moon *Some Notes on Whitman for Allen Joyce The Day Five Thousand Fish Died Along the Charles River Hibernation--After Morris Graves Eternuement Song for the Great Mother
"The city of Boston . . ."
Five Words for Joe Dunn on His Twenty-Second Birthday Birdland, California
"Imagine Lucifer . . ."
The Song of the Bird in the Loins Babel 3
They Murdered You: An Elegy on the Death of Kenneth Rexroth 64A Poem to the Reader of the Poem Song for Bird and Myself A Poem Without a Single Bird in It The Unvert Manifesto and Other Papers Found in the Rare Book Room of the Boston Public Library in the Handwriting of Oliver Charming. By S.
SAN FRANCISCO (1956-1965)
Poetry as Magic Workshop Questionnaire AFTER LORCA ADMONITIONS A BOOK OF MUSIC Socrates A Poem for Dada Day at The Place, April 1, 1958
BILLY THE KID For Steve Jonas Who Is in Jail for Defrauding a Book Club FIFTEEN FALSE PROPOSITIONS AGAINST GOD LETTERS TO JAMES ALEXANDER APOLLO SENDS SEVEN NURSERY RHYMES TO JAMES ALEXANDER A BIRTHDAY POEM FOR JIM (AND JAMES) ALEXANDER Imaginary Elegies (V, VI)
"Dignity is a part of a man . . ."
HELEN: A REVISION THE HEADS OF THE TOWN UP TO THE AETHER LAMENT FOR THE MAKERS A RED WHEELBARROW Three Marxist Essays THE HOLY GRAIL GOLEM MAP POEMS LANGUAGE BOOK OF MAGAZINE VERSE Chronology Notes to the Poems Bibliography Index of Titles Index of First Lines
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Overview
In 1965, when the poet Jack Spicer died at the age of forty, he left behind a trunkful of papers and manuscripts and a few copies of the seven small books he had seen to press. A West Coast poet, his influence spanned the national literary scene of the 1950s and '60s, though in many ways Spicer's innovative writing ran counter to that of his contemporaries in the New York School and the West Coast Beat movement. Now, more than forty years later, Spicer's voice is more compelling, insistent, and timely than ever. During his short but prolific life, Spicer troubled the concepts of translation, voice, and the act of poetic composition itself. My Vocabulary Did This to Me is a landmark publication of this essential poet's ...