Moe, H. David

The Blindfolded Elephant Poems with: Ephemera

ISBN: 0975993488
Berkeley, CA: Beatitude Press, 2005. First Edition Thus. Inscribed & signed by H.D. Moe to Thomas Rain Crowe. “Here’s an interesting and unique man and poet if there ever was one. I knew David well and spent a lot of time with and around him during the 70s. I even took a trip with him to France in 2007 to do a reading tour for the Baby Beat Generation Book…Moe was the wild card in the whole scene. His experimental poetry defied criticism, if not logic. His first book, Plug in the Electric Dictionary, is the perfect way to describe his poetry…Long pages of long lines chock full of disconnected words or short phrases. A cascading litany of words that in the page made no sense, but when heard read orally (and only Moe could read his poems properly) would actually create emotions or resonances that spoke to the listener. Images would pop out of the crowd of words and everyone would relate to different images personally. His poems were a potpourri of sounds and rhythms and made-up words that could be as comical as they could be disturbing. Even though many people thought he was simply insane and couldn't string a proper sentence together, David knew what he was doing and took great pains in choosing his words and in stringing words together for various effects. In that sense he wasn’t a lot different from Dylan Thomas and how they both approached the compositional process of forging their poems…He was older (although you wouldn't have known it at the time) than most of us younger poets and he did know and had hung with Kerouac and Cassady and that wild bunch; he had a true-to-life jump-start on the rest of us “Babies.” But he rarely spoke of these associations…After most of us had moved out of San Francisco and to other parts of the state or country, David stayed there and with his roots–which were in San Francisco. He took over the editorship of Beatitude Press, publishing books of his own poetry as well as books by such poets as Ken Wainio. He also took over the mantle from myself as Director of San Francisco Poetry Festival and kept that event going for a few more years as an annual event. So, he was an editor and an organizer right up to the end of his life…”--Thomas Rain Crowe, Thomas Rain Crowe Archive, pg 61. H.D. Moe, a.k.a., David Moe (1937-2013) was an American poet deeply fascinated with surrealism and a core, if not slightly older, member of the Second San Francisco Renaissance/Baby Beat Generation. Offered today is the 2005 collection of poetry The Blindfolded Elephant Poems. Originally published in 1968 by Cherrythumb Press, The Blindfolded Elephant Poems is the first book of poetry by Moe. Republished in a new first edition by Beatitude Press in 2005, this collection is, perhaps, the most exemplary, if not nascent, form of Moe’s poetry. A miasma of images, languid meters that often explode into a frantic pace, bizarre and often confusing word placements and phrasing that seem confounding yet somehow work incredibly, and mired in the sort of surrealism that pulsed through many street poets and members of the SSFR/BBG The Blindfolded Elephant Poems is an incredible debut book of poetry from one of the finest poets of the Second San Francisco Renaissance. From the archive of Thomas Rain Crowe (b. 1949), 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. We have found and retained, between front cover and title page, a white square of paper with the following written in thin black ink: “Moe book review; / Beatitude [indiscernible] / [indiscernible] w/ Elephants in / Beatitude Press —> / [indiscernible]” While we cannot be certain, it seems that this note is in Thomas Rain Crowe’s hand. Inscribed in signed at title page by author in thin black ink: “Aug 2005 / To Tom / deep friend / Love & the tops to you / H.D.” Trade-format softcover original. First edition though not explicated as such at copyright page, presumably first & only printing though similarly not explicated thereon. In very fine condition with only slight wear to fine edges and minor smudging to front and back covers. Nearly pristine inside and out! Very Fine. [Item #7678]

Price: $60.00