Napora, Joe

Tongue and Groove, Poems

Browns Mills, NJ: Ptolemy/ The Browns Mills Review, 1982. First Edition. Softcover. Inscribed & signed by Joe Napora to Thomas Rain Crowe. "I always think of de Sade./ I despise the man but despise more/ those who intellectualize the pleasure/ they get from reading him. "In this form/ of joint a groove is made in each of the pieces/ to be joined and a tongue or feather/ made as a separate piece and inserted." The cruelest form of torture is not/ to kill by tickling./ The cruelest form/ is to destroy a word's history./ To separate it from itself./ Better to take the scribe/ to your own tongue." (from "Feather," pg. 7) An early chapbook of poems by Joe Napora, the passionate & prolific American poet, editor, publisher & activist. Here, Napora weaves quotes & illustrations from a vintage 1923 construction manual with his own poetic statements & observations, as in the above sample. Chapbook in glued wrappers. On the title page, Napora has hand-written & signed: "For Thomas/ hand + eye/ what are we working for/ (compass-star illustration)/ (signed) Joe." "Thomas" is Thomas Rain Crowe, the acclaimed poet & publisher who was at the center of the Baby Beat Generation/ Second San Francisco Renaissance during the 1970s (see our book, Starting from San Francisco, item No. 3071, Deluxe Edition No. 3075). Crowe & Napora are close friends & colleagues. A rare & desirable Napora collectible with kindred poet-to-poet association & provenance. In fine condition with mild-to-moderate rubbing, spotting & short, mostly light creasing to front, back covers & spine; mild wear & some tiny bumps to edges & corners of same; mild rubbing & spotting to edges of text block esp. upper edge. Interior very fine with only tiny bumps at corners of some page leaves. Fine. [Item #3789]

Price: $30.00 save 20% $24.00