Potts, Charles

Charle Kiot

ISBN: 0914656015
Salt Lake City, UT: Folk Frog Press, 1975. First Edition. Softcover. "a jazz ensemble/ belongs to someone else it seems/ to have bubbled to th surface/ of my memory/ clock watcher/ as i thot to wait/ for a visitation/ and then rite/ "after midnight"/ picking up patsy cline immediately/ at "i go out walking"/ and "i'd love to c a weeping willow"// as who wd note/ yet love is spurned/ oftener than not/ people r either blind or choosey/ missed connections/ keep me alone/ keep it on poetry/ dont let me lie now/ dont let me drift like this forever" ("around midnite," first two stanzas, pg. 7) 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, irreverent & sometimes pun-filled style that he helped influence & popularize. A slim trade-format softcover original production, first edition as stated on copyright page. 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 well as literature) of Herbert Huncke, Bonnie & Ray Bremser, Diane di Prima et al. It is likely that they had at least a passing acquaintance with Potts, who circulated widely among his contemporaries & remains active as of this writing. A rewarding & collectible Potts rarity with distinguished & relevant provenance. The relatively near-fine condition of this item befits its long ownership & use by Erin, who was a tried-&-true Beat-Bohemian to the end: Mild-to-moderate rubbing, mild browning, occasional spotting & spot-staining to front, back covers & spine; mild wear & some tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same; mild rubbing & browning to edges of text block. Interior fine with areas of moderate-to-significant browning at blank rear endpaper, inner back cover (we surmise that a now-absent newspaper clipping was long-stored there); tiny bumps, very small, faint creases to esp. upper corners of page leaves. Near Fine. [Item #4970]

Price: $30.00 save 20% $24.00