Wainio, Ken

Two Lives

Sylva, NC: New Native Press, 1992. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. Signed by the legendary Baby Beat-Second San Francisco Renaissance poet, Ken Wainio. “[Opium] threads the needle of smoke / through your life. You see / the background present in each object / Objects sacred to the orient, hardly / mentionable, the door of arabesque / opens not on God but the table / chairs unmoved as dervishes / and pashas on flying carpets / The orient looms not from the spell / of jinn, from the lamp comes flame / which knows no source. The pipe / snorkels in your lungs, you inhale / one clarity thou shall not kill / the rest is ashes, the smoke vanishes / murder complete as the furnishings / the chord of pink champagne tightens / around the victim’s throat / his mouth bubbles, his eyes boil / his blood a dark stain / nothing can wash away” (from the poem titled, “Opium” in this unpaginated collection). The reason why the Second San Francisco Renaissance poet, Ken Wainio (1952-2006) is considered a “surrealist” is because his understanding of Surrealism was not only widely respected, but the approach he took to that modality of composition had a lot in common with Philip Lamantia’s perspective on the genre (1927-2005). What Wainio and Lamantia shared was an insistence on situating their sense of Surrealism (as a method of composition) in a deep, wide-reaching knowledge of the ancient past. This, in some senses, can be thought of as an extension of ‘cutting the word lines,’ as in Burroughs. There were two parts to this theory: the first is that the word lines needed to be cut if their practice, as surrealists, was to be thought legitimate (e.g., considered ‘liberatory’). The second part is about the histories of nations and peoples: about ancient civilizations from the dawn of man to the Middle Ages. It asks after all things lost to the march of modernity & time — wants to know what the subconscious of a highly-learned monk might’ve looked like; then works to embody it for the purposes prescribed by Surrealism. They both wanted to turn their minds into little ‘Libraries of Alexandria’ — “halls of records” (to stay on the Egyptian theme) that would then be mined (or ‘refined’) through the subconscious-driven comp. processes of Literary Surrealism. Think of that word ‘terroir,’ and how it functions in the world of wine-making: the definition, word-for-word, is ‘the characteristic taste and flavor imparted to a wine by the environment in which it is produced.’ Wainio and Lamantia both understood that the above-quoted fragment of food science was equally useful when trying to “make yourself a visionary,” as Rimbaud might’ve had it. It was key for Surrealism, and Wainio’s distinguished embodiment of that commitment affords him a rightful place among America’s great literary-&-artistic post-war Surrealists. This collection, Two Lives, published by his poet- friend & Renaissance compatriot, Thomas Rain Crowe’s (b. 1949) New Native Press in 1992, is a testament to that legacy. The result is an essential Wainio collectible. From the archive of Thomas Rain Crowe, the legendary American poet and co-authorial founder of the Second San Francisco Renaissance. For more information on the Thomas Rain Crowe archive (assembled & curated by Third Mind Books), see our book, Starting from San Francisco: Thomas Rain Crowe in Conversation with Third Mind Books (Item No. 3071) & the catalog for the Crowe archive (Item No. 1010), which contains several excerpts and quotations from the book as well as a full listing of the archive’s contents, which are now being offered for sale individually on the Third Mind Books site. Chapbook in stapled wrappers: “First Printing,” per copyright page; one of a “Limited Edition, [of] 300 copies / set in Times and Helvetica types / by Computer’s Work, Sylva, N.C. / printed on recycled Gainsborough and Evergreen paper / numbered and signed by the author / #34,” per colophon. This copy is additionally signed by the great Second San Francisco Renaissance surrealist directly beneath the above-quoted colophon. Wainio’s signature, in thin, black pen ink, reads: “Ken Wainio.” In strong fine condition with mild-to-moderate shelf-wear to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine-edge, & light-to-moderate age-toning throughout, otherwise clean. Fine. [Item #7470]

Price: $30.00