Loewinsohn, Ron (Ginsberg, Allen; Williams, William Carlos)

Watermelons

New York, NY, USA: Totem Press, 1959. Limited First Edition. “His verse began to sharpen into hard fact images, humane detail; his epiphanous Daises & Seagulls recurred into poems. He fitted his prosody to what he wanted to say, began reading Williams to pick up on the half-century old tradition of American measure. It prepared a usable classical medium for him, & he saw it in time to eliminate bullshit. It’s a rare thing for anyone to get anywhere, but he makes it...A great wave of Poetry is breaking over America now & Loewinsohn’s early hip beauty helps wet everybody.” (From introduction by Allen Ginsberg) This is the debut poetry collection by Ron Loewinsohn [1937-2014], released in a limited 1,000 copy run. Loewinsohn came onto the poetry scene in the midst of the Beat Generation while living in San Francisco, and became associated with the San Francisco Renaissance. Correspondence from William Carlos Williams follows the introduction and includes his review and notes on Loweinsohn’s poetry: “Your choice of words and images, is sensitive, accurate, fresh, you convince that you are actively searching for a particular effect and putting down only that which you have accepted, lie as it may upon the page. It’s a fastidiousness which only the accomplished artist accomplishes and only at rare intervals. It is that that we in the end recognize. Civilizations which lack that, are damned, they cannot survive even when we have to take to the caves like animals to outlive them.” Loweinsohn was later awarded a doctorate from Harvard, with a dissertation on Williams, and taught at the University of California, Berkeley from 1970 to 2005. From the collection of scholar, poet and our dear friend Robin Eichele (b. 1941), noted Mimeograph Revolutionary & co-founder (with the late, great John Sinclair [1941-2024]) of the Detroit Artists’ Workshop. Chapbook in stapled wrappers: Limited first edition run of 1,000 copies, as stated at colophon on verso of final page. In fine condition with minor rubbing, mild age-toning and spotting along spine and edges of back cover. Interior fine with very minor creasing to corners of some leaves; minor pen markings, including circling of copyright date and owner’s name, "Robin Eichele." Fine. [Item #7927]

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