Ginsberg, Allen

Mostly Sitting Haiku with: Ephemera

ISBN: 089120010X
Paterson, NJ: From Here Press, 1978. Limited First Edition. Stapled Wrappers. "This booklet further paves the intersection between the "mainstream" of contemporary writing and the haiku "movement" in North America. Haiku aficionados here have often attacked the rest of Western writings as decadent and full of overbearing language, its writers unable to see the reality around them or avoid self-flattering hyperbole in speaking of it. Yet, as (Allen) Ginsberg himself has demonstrated in his lectures, the main purpose of "modern" poetry has been to grasp and present specific realities, whether simple or complex. And to do this in the most direct language the poet can provide." (William J. Higginson, from back cover) A collection of poems by Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997), Founding Father (along with William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac & Herbert Huncke) of the Beat Generation-&-Beyond. Many of the poems here are Ginsberg's adaptation of the classical Japanese Haiku style, famous for its brevity & succinct evocation, distilling the essence of its subject. Some of these poems first appeared in the City Lights Pocket Poets Series volume Mind Breaths: Poems 1972-1977 (see our item No.s 4044, 4766). With back cover commentary (quoted above) by William J. Higginson (1938-2008), the noted American haiku expert & scholar. Chapbook in stapled wrappers, an austere (appropriate to haiku) production from a publisher at Ginsberg's birthplace of Paterson, New Jersey, issued as "Xtras #6" in an apparent series, first edition as stated on copyright page. Per Morgan A39 (pg. 52), this is one of 500 copies published on May 13, 1978. 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 protégé-colleagues (in lifestyle as much as literature) of Huncke, Bonnie & Ray Bremser, Diane di Prima et al., quite likely including Ginsberg (who as we know was Huncke's protégé of sorts...) himself. We found & have retained an interesting piece of Erin-phemera (so to speak): A poem by Janine (Pommy) Vega, "Your Song," torn from an unknown (likely upstate New York) periodical dated August 3, 1978- less than three months after this chapbook was published. Vega (1942-2010) was an important Beat-&-Beyond poet associated with the Matsons & their milieu. An exceptionally scarce & significant Ginsberg collectible with distinguished provenance & relevant ephemera. The all-around good-to-near-fine condition of this item befits its long ownership & use by Erin, who was a tried-&-true Beat-Bohemian to the end: moderate-to-significant rubbing, staining mostly to blank areas of beige front, back covers & stapled spine; mild wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at thin edges & corners of same incl. miniscule loss of paper at upper left edge of front cover; staples slightly rusted with minimal interior bleeding; moderate rubbing, browning, spotting & spot-staining to edges of text block. Interior near-fine with significant browning to blank inner front cover, decreasingly continuing onto first page leaf (title & copyright pages) & recto of second leaf (contents page), the result of long placement of ephemera (which is now separate & protected to prevent further browning); minor bleeding of spot-stains noted above onto blank lower & side edges of a few leaves; tiny bumps at corners of some of same. Ephemera near-fine with jagged (esp. right side) edges from tearing (but with text of poem completely intact); significant browning. Good- Near Fine. [Item #4806]

Price: $150.00 save 20% $120.00