Crowe, Thomas Rain

Broadside: "What is Woven"

No Place: n/p, n/d. First Printing. “How do I see myself as a writer? I don’t spend too much time looking in the mirror–unlike our current President. My gaze is mostly outward and to the future. There is no literary family tree or anyone, really, in my genetic heritage that I know of who was a writer, except maybe in the MacGregors on my mother’s side from Scotland, who were notorious bards and always getting into trouble with the powers that be in Scotland for their “poetic honesty.” My genetic heritage may go way back to King David of the Bible, who was, himself, a bardic poet among other things. My family’s Scotland lineage has been traced through the clan system in Scotland back to The House of David (Clan MacDhaibidh). So, who knows, maybe I’ve got a few of his genes floating around in my veins that have caused me to love poetry and music. Otherwise, I’ve just followed my nose, or my “bliss” as Joseph Campbell would call it, and let my instincts and interests take me where they may. As a result, I’ve had a very interesting, if different, kind of life than most folks…I wouldn’t change a piece of it. Who preceded me? A couple thousand years of bardic poets that discovered language and then began using it creatively to try to make a difference. Who followed me? Another—the next generation of younger poets who identify with the Beats and with what us Babies have done, and who have themselves been inspired by this and are now writing…going on to make it their own. Whomever those young poets are or will be.”--Thomas Rain Crowe, Thomas Rain Crowe Archive, pg 21. Offered today is another classic rarity from Thomas Rain Crowe (b. 1949), founding member of the Second San Francisco Renaissance/Baby Beat Generation, the broadside-poem What is Woven. Printed on handmade paper (which is a signature of not only the mimeograph/small press revolution but also of TRC’s New Native Press), What is Woven is a classic example of TRC’s poetic style and disposition. Rippling with beautiful imagery, charged with nostalgia, and imbued with a sort of arcane energy and lyricism. From the archive 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. Single sheet broadside. First printing. In very fine condition with only minimal wear to fine edges and slight spotting/discoloration due to age. Very Fine. [Item #7663]

Price: $30.00