Eshleman, Clayton

The House of Ibuki

Fremont, MI: Sumac Press, 1969. First Edition. Softcover. Inscribed & signed by Clayton Eshleman. “I am writing and there occurs Corman criticising [sic] the / poem — shaking his head. (the poem unwritten!) — / But no man is standing beside me — Corman’s personality / and [italicized] his work have flushed out a shadow in me — / doubt — my uncertainty & lack of sureness. / The point is not to attack Corman, for, in a sense, / he has [italicized] flushed this element (?) out — but / it is to me to give it a form that it will / vanish — no longer hinder. Blake’s idea / that error must be forced to shape, consolidate, / then gotten rid of—" (p. 31). Offered here is The House of Ibuki by Clayton Eshleman (1935-2021), the award-winning American poet, editor, translator & academician. We were honored to have Eshleman as our friend & mentor, we enjoyed enlightening conversations with him & his beloved wife Caryl at their home near us in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Highly learned, deep, dense & intense, Eshleman's prolific writings exude what TMB Founder and Senior Curator, Arthur S. Nusbaum has termed "Blood-Spattered Erudition." The above-quoted passage refers to Eshleman’s formal apprenticeship to the great Cid Corman (1924-2004) of Origin Magazine fame in Japan. As Your Devoted Managing Curator put it recently to a poet-friend of his, this passage refers to the harsh mentorship (colloquially here termed ‘the Gordon Ramsey treatment’) Eshleman received from the elder Corman. Here, Corman appears like some sort of Bill Belichick: once able (but now unable) to walk the fine line between “hard coaching” and “just being an asshole,” — and we at TMB will offer one final curatorial clue to the aspiring scholar: for readers of Eshleman’s book of essays, “Companion Spider,” consider how the mentorship he writes of there [as an old man, looking back] relates to the ruminations here [as a young man, looking forward]. Curious, indeed. Small trade-format softcover: First Edition, First Printing, though not explicated as such on copyright page. This copy is additionally signed by the poet to a presently unidentified close friend of Eshelman’s, one “Denis” (sic). Eshleman inscription and signature, in thin, black felt pen ink, reads: “for Denis, / courage + love, always [underlined] / Clayton / NYC feb. 1970.” In strong near fine condition with moderate-to-significant shelf-wear, bumping, rubbing & select bump-creasing to front, back covers, corners, & fine-edges of same; some spotting, foxing, yellowing, & other (generally mild) indications of age-toning to interior at varying locales, otherwise clean. Near Fine. [Item #6566]

Price: $40.00