Kane, Joan Naviyuk

The Straits with: Ephemera

Taos, NM: Voices from the American Land, 2015. First Edition. Stapled Wrappers in Over-Wraps. With loose sheet of hand-written notes by Thomas Rain Crowe. "The Arctic landscape is not for the weak. It's difficult. Dangerous. Possessed of a demanding beauty. Much like the human heart, it is easy to get lost in. Joan Naviyuk Kane's people have lived in the circumpolar north for thousands of years, thriving in the harsh and exacting landscape that abuts the Bering Sea. A much-awarded young poet with two prizewinning collections in print, Kane presents here a suite of poems that engage deeply with that landscape- and with its fraught history." (from front flap) A collection of poems by the acclaimed Inupiaq native Alaskan-American poet. With beautiful front cover, frontispiece & interior illustrations by the Inupiaq artist Nasugraq Rainey Hopson; & an introduction by the novelist Summer Wood. A handsome chapbook production in stapled wrappers with illustrated over-wraps , first edition of unknown limitation published as Volume IV, Number 2 in Voices from the American Land: A Chapbook Series (co-edited by Wood). To quote from publisher's Mission Statement: "The mission...is to bring the prestige and imaginative power of contemporary poetry, both spoken and in print, to bear on the defense of significant lands and landscapes of North America." (from back flap). From the library of Thomas Rain Crowe, the noted 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). Loosely included between pages 20 & 21 is a small sheet of stationary with reference to a North Carolina printing establishment, on which Crowe has hand-written his notes of comments & observations about this work. A rare & desirable Kane collectible, with rich poet-to-poet association & provenance. In very fine condition with only a few small creases & tiny bumps at thin edges & corners of front, back covers, spine & flaps of over-wraps. Interior very fine with only tiny bumps at corners of some page leaves. Ephemera near-fine with moderate creasing esp. at/near edges & corners; mild spotting on both sides (blank verso) not effecting legibility of hand-written notes. Very Fine. [Item #3885]

Price: $30.00