Duncan, Robert

Audit/Poetry Vol. IV No. 3 Featuring Robert Duncan (1967)

Buffalo, NY: Audit/Poetry Incorporated, 1967. First Edition. Stapled Wrappers. “The Caliph of Hunger remembering/lived out a full feast./Hearts like roasts laid themselves open./The wine flowd from the glasses/in themselves./The hearts beat with longing,/sweet to his taste.”--Robert Duncan, A Derivation from Rimbaud, first stanza, pg. 30. Robert Duncan (1919-1988), the great American poet & author of the Black Mountain School- San Francisco Renaissance-&-Beyond, is widely considered one of the finest poets America has ever produced. A distinctive voice in American poetry, Duncan’s idiosyncratic poetics drew on ancient-myth, esoteric-occultism, religion—including the theosophical tradition in which he was raised—and innovative writing practices such as projective verse, as pioneered by Charles Olson (1910-1970), and composition by field. With peerless erudition and a mind for the poetic that borders on a nigh-cathedral-like vastness, Duncan’s works have been, rightly, lauded for decades by critics and readers alike. Drawing on a wide-range of influences like Homer, Dante (1265-1321), and Hilda Doolittle, a.k.a H.D., (1886-1961) works like: Heavenly City Earthly City (1947), The Opening of the Field (1960), Roots and Branches (1964), A Book of Resemblances (1966), Bending the Bow (1968), and, after a 15-year publishing hiatus, the influential volumes Ground Work I: Before the War (1984) and Ground Work II: In the Dark (1987). His Selected Poems (1993) was published posthumously, as was his volume of collected writings, and personal tribute to the work of H.D., The H.D. Book (2011) all of these works being endemic of Duncan’s prolific poetic mind and his mastery over the craft. Offered today is Audit/Poetry: Vol. IV, No. 3, an issue of the rear-yet-beloved poetry magazine featuring Robert Duncan. Based in Buffalo, NY, Audit/Poetry was a literary/poetry magazine that ran most notably in the early-mid 1960’s and would often feature professional poets, playwrights, essayists and novelists, as well as amateurs and put together wonderful literary offerings. This particular issue, Audit/Poetry: Vol. IV, No. 3 (1967) is dedicated to Duncan’s works, including; A Play With Masks; a series of uncollected poems like A Derivation from Rimbaud (1948), A Game Of Kings (1950), and A Villanelle (1950) to name a few; a number of Stein impressions; and a collection of non-poetic writings all of which with points in Bertholf (C189-C196, pg. 177). From the collection of scholar, poet and our dear friend Robin Eichele (b. 1941), noted Mimeograph Revolutionary & co-founder of the Detroit Artists’ Workshop with the late, great John Sinclair (1941-2024). Stapled Wrappers. First & presumably only edition. In very fine condition with only minimal wear to fine edges, slight smudging to front and back covers, and minor rusting at staples. Very Fine. [Item #6880]

Price: $50.00 save 15% $42.50