Potts, Charles

The Golden Calf

ISBN: 0915214075
Salt Lake City, UT: Litmus Inc., 1975. First Edition. Softcover. "th struggle of my life has come to involve/ 2 principles, mutually xclusive, if numbers/ matter, mutually tru. as the proverb, th/ opposite of one great truth is not a/ falsehood, it may b another great truth,/ my struggle:/ whereas mao tse tung believed himself/ (believes) to b fiting a war to end war,/ that is to render nul th great causes,/ and whereas gautama is reported to have sed,/ if u fite violence with violence, violence/ wil never cease." ("Riding Thru th Nite," first stanza, pg. 138) An early collection of poems by Charles Potts (b. 1943), the prolific & award-winning poet, novelist, editor & publisher who is associated with his Black Mountain-&-Beyond mentor Edward Dorn. As demonstrated in the above quote, Potts' poetry from this period is exemplary of the no-capitals, abbreviated style that he helped influence & popularize. Trade-format softcover original, first edition as stated on copyright page, a production of the independent nonprofit Litmus imprint, which published collections by Charles Bukowski & other important countercultural figures as noted on its list (final pg. 168). With image of a bare-chested Potts taken by photographer Sylvia Kempton (which reminds us frankly of the disgraced porno actor Ron Jeremy during his heyday) on front cover & reproduction of the William Shakespeare portrait from the First Folio on back cover. From the collection of Erin Black Matson, the late 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 colleagues & protégés (in lifestyle as much as literature) of Herbert Huncke, Ray & Bonnie Bremser, Diane di Prima et al., likely including at least a passing acquaintance with Potts, who circulated widely among his contemporaries. We have retained a bookmark consisting of folded cigarette(joint)-rolling paper between pages 128-129, the poems on which must have been of significance to Erin. An important, rare & rewarding Potts collectible with distinguished & appropriate provenance. See also our item No. 1494, for the Potts-&-Co. collector. In relatively fine condition considering its long ownership & use by Erin, who was a tried-&-true Beat-Bohemian to the end: Mild rubbing, browning & spotting to yellow-colored front, back covers & spine; light wear & some tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same; very slight rubbing & browning to edges of text block. Interior fine with light browning mostly to blank margins of page leaves; occasional tiny spots on a few of same; tiny bumps & small, faint creases at/ near esp. lower corners of same. Fine. [Item #4884]

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