Hirschman, Jack

75 Tapakah (Cockroach St): A Masspoem (Two Copies)

San Francisco, CA: Blake Hand Books & Street Publications, 1976. First Printing. “In the United States, for over a hundred years, the ruling interests tirelessly propagated anticommunism among the populace, until it became more like a religious orthodoxy than a political analysis”--Michael Parenti. There are few writers who, over the course of their lives, have been as in-touch with and contributed to a scene as much as Jack Hirschman (1933–2021). Hirschman was a New York-born poet and activist who wrote more than 100 volumes of poetry and essays that exemplified the “fuck you” attitude of the Beat Generation; his poetic predecessors. Hirschman earned degrees from City College of New York and Indiana University, where he studied comparative literature. After attaining his degree, he went on to become a wildly innovative and popular professor at UCLA in the 1970s, before he was fired for participating in anti-war protest and speaking out against American imperialism in Vietnam. Hirschman lived in California ever since, making an artistic and political home in the North Beach district of San Francisco. He is known for his radical engagement with both poetry and politics: he was a member of the Union of Street Poets, a group that distributed leaflets of poems to people on the streets. He was also instrumental in the formation of the Union of Left Writers of San Francisco. The former poet laureate of San Francisco, Hirschman’s style was compared to poets ranging from Walt Whitman (1819-1892) to Hart Crane (1899-1932) to Dylan Thomas (1914-1953), and Beat poets such as Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997). His poems’ commitment to leftist politics draws comparisons to Vachel Lindsay (1879-1931) and Pablo Neruda (1904-1973). A communist since 1980, Hirschman told Contemporary Authors, “It is vitally important at this time that all poets and artists collectivize and form strong socialist cadres in relation to working-class cultural internationalism." Offered today is a bundle of two copies of the 1976 poem, Cockroach Street: A Masspoem. [1] Original, first printing. (6) single sheets held together by paperclip. Cockroach Street: A Masspoem, is a work that perfectly encapsulates Hirschman’s wild, arcane, esoteric, surrealist style. A facsimile that mimics Hirschman’s erratic handwriting, Cockroach Street: A Masspoem bleeds with the sort of raw and chaotic “street poetry” aesthetic and spirit of the small press/mimeograph revolution. The composition is erratic, with letters stacked vertically on top of one another, giving the lines and words a cramped, almost claustrophobic feeling that, on one hand accelerates the pace of each line, and on the other gives the line a jilted/languid pace to the meter. An incredibly rare and exciting Hirschman work! [2] Xeroxed copy of original. (6) single sheets stapled together. This copy of Cockroach Street: A Masspoem is, most likely, a copy that Thomas Rain Crowe (b. 1949) xeroxed for his own archives. This copy is identical (due to being xeroxed) to the original and seemingly the only difference is the condition and the fact that this version is paginated. From the archive of Thomas Rain Crowe, scholar, writer and co-founding 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. [1] First & presumably only printing. In very fine condition with moderate wear to fine edges, slight discoloration due to sun-toning/age, and moderate rusting at paperclip. [2] Xeroxed copy of original. In very fine condition with only minimal wear to fine edges and slight rusting at staple. Very Fine. [Item #7653]

Price: $60.00