Eshleman, Clayton

The Gull Wall

ISBN: 0876852355
Los Angeles, CA: Black Sparrow Press, 1975. First Softcover Edition. Softcover. "I will hold my hand in this fire/ to speak to her, I will stay in/ the fire of this world long enough to/ speak to her, I will place myself in/ the hands of my own Covering Cherub to/ speak to her, for I am not seeking to/ marry her, but to speak to her,/ deep in a mine, in the wall/ I drill through, my speech to her is/ my art..." ("Portrait of Vincent van Gogh," first lines, pg. 60) a collection of poems, prose-poems & the title work (an essay on his contemporary Paul Blackburn) by Clayton Eshleman (1935-2021), the award-winning American poet, editor, translator & academician. We were privileged to have Eshleman as our friend & mentor, we enjoyed enlightening commiseration with him & his beloved wife Caryl (to whom this volume is beautifully dedicated at length) at their home near us in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Highly learned, deep, dense & intense, Eshleman's prolific writings exude what this writer has termed "Blood-Spattered Erudition." Trade-format softcover, first trade edition with no reference to limitation, an exemplary production of the venerable Black Sparrow imprint, published simultaneously with limited signed, numbered & lettered hardcover editions in its customary manner per colophon. From the collection of the late Erin Black Matson, the artist-poet who, along with her then-husband the acclaimed poet & educator Clive Matson, was a member of the Beat Generation as it morphed into the hippie counterculture during the 1960s. The Matsons were protégés & colleagues (in lifestyle as well as literature) of Herbert Huncke, Bonnie & Ray Bremser, Diane di Prima et al. An essential collectible by our dear departed friend the ingenious poet Clayton Eshleman, with distinguished provenance. See also our many other Eshleman rarities, solo & in contribution with many signed, by writing his name into our search engine. In particularly fine condition considering its long ownership & use by Erin, who was a tried-&-true Beat-Bohemian to the end: mild rubbing, occasional spotting to front, back covers & spine; very slight wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at thin edges & corners of same; mild rubbing, sparse spotting to edges of text block. Interior very fine with only slight rubbing (more probably bleeding of red title letters) to blank inner front cover; miniscule bumps at corners of some page leaves. Fine. [Item #4804]

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