Daughtry, Philip

Original Signed Manuscript Poem: "There is murder in the moonlight"

Original typewritten poem placed, dated & signed by Philip Daughtry/ Suntree. “Philip actually studied with Galway Kinnell and Robert Bly before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area. He had many mentors who were influential. A very literary and intelligent person, he soaked up everything he could get his hands on. He lived in Berkeley during the 1970s but often came to San Francisco, and I used to go over to Berkeley frequently to see him and his family and to hang out with the “Street Poets” scene that was going on over there then. He was more interested in the Baby Beat scene in San Francisco and so joined forces with us in North Beach and became one of the rotating editors of Beatitude magazine for Beatitude No. 26, which he co-edited with Ken Waino. Eventually we became best friends and he was the one who introduced me to Gary Snyder and the Kuksu community up on the San Juan Ridge, which is where I ended up after leaving San Francisco. We have remained close friends ever since, and I published his collection of poems Celtic Blood: Selected Poems 1968–1994 (Cullowhee, NC: New Native Press, 1995). He was a major player in the Beatitude cadre and acted as MC for the 1st Annual San Francisco Poetry Festival. He has a poetic voice like no one else I know.”--Thomas Rain Crowe, Thomas Rain Crowe Archive, pg 29. Offered today is the 1977 poem There is Murder in the Moonlight by Philip Daughtry, a.k.a Philip Suntree (b. 1942). Only a few lines long, There is Murder in the Moonlight is a perfect encapsulation of Daughtry/Suntree’s other poetic works; unflinching in its exploration of the psyche, experimental in its composition and presentation, dark, introspective, and almost old-testament-esque in its lyricism. A guerrilla-street-poet, and Baby Beat Generation icon, Suntree’s work is endemic of not just American poetic sensibilities of the 1970’s, but also is suffused with the radicalism and “fuck you” attitude of the era. There is Murder in the Moonlight is a poem that writhes in imagery, evokes a litany of emotions, encapsulates the chaotic, avant-garde, endless depths of the poetic sensibilities that the Baby Beat Generation came to be known for. From the collection of Thomas Rain Crowe, scholar, writer, and member of the Baby Beat Generation. 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 #3071) & the catalog for the Crowe archive (see item #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. Original typewritten poem placed, dated & signed by Philip Daughtry/ Suntree; dated 8/20/77 & placed (in thin blue ink) and signed "Philip Daughtry" in thin black ink beneath his printed pen name "Suntree". Single sheet. First & presumably only printing. In relatively fine condition with only slight wear to fine edges, one crease bisecting the page horizontally, and slight sun-toning and staining to front of page. Very Fine. [Item #7549]

Price: $100.00