Kicknosway, Faye

Broadside: "Religious Poem 3: Greaser, 1950s"

1971: The Red Hanrahan Press, Detroit, MI. First Edition. Single Sheet. “1 / That one, that one over / there, the greasy one with pimples, he / won’t grow anymore. How many volts? The birds were dead anyway. / For birds // He’d do it. Hospitalized / for months. Grandma-lady and her crew / getting the spirit: pentecost and ether on the same floor. Thinks // he’s Superman. Supercharged / Masturbating on a swing. ‘I’ll shoot / yah, man, shoot yah. I’ll anoint yah, man, in your hair, in your left / ear, in your right eye. You’ll get the spirit, man, the spirit’s / in my piss.’” (lines 1-14) Offered here is Faye Kicknosway’s (b.1936) Religious Poem 3: Greaser, 1950s. Kicknosway is the author of more than a dozen poetry collections, including Mixed Plate: New and Selected Poems (2003), Who Shall Know Them? (1985), and All These Voices: New and Selected Poems (1986), and her work is also featured in the feminist poetry anthology No More Masks! (1973). Who Shall Know Them?, a collection engaging with Walker Evans’ (1903-1975) photographs, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Greaser, 1950s drips with nostalgia but the sort of nostalgia that you’re not quite sure you personally experienced. You just know you’ve talked to “the greasy one with pimples” (line 3) and the “Grandma-lady” — call name the moon’s owl (line 20) — somewhere at some time on somebody’s porch. Features the tarot card of The Fool on the back in brilliant red ink. From the collection of Thomas Fitzsimmons (1926-2017), a noted American poet, academician & editor, which we have been honored to obtain from his son, Ian Fitzsimmons. Single-sheet (approx. 8’’ x 12’’): Presumed to be first edition & printing though neither stated. In fine condition with toning around edges; minor-to-mild foxing/brown spotting near bottom edge and upper left corner of front side; and minor bumping to fine upper edge. Fine. [Item #6833]

Price: $45.00