Various (Drury, Finvola (Editor); MCormick, Jay (Editor); Kicknosway, Faye; Mikolowski, Kenneth et al.)

Miles Modern Poetry Committee Student-Faculty Reading (May 6, 1966)

Detroit, MI: Artists' Workshop, 1966. First Edition. Softcover. “They started / By extracting her lovely teeth / One at a time / Out by the roots / It took two of them / To hold each of her thighs / While another wiped off / the blood from her chin / In the green distance / Stood the Flemish town / Its roof tops and spires / Piercing the blue sky / Something miraculous / Is to begin Believe / That from these bloody teeth / Will spring a holy dove.”--Jonathan Schwartz, “A Martyrdom.” Edited by Finvola Drury (1926-2015), poet, teacher & activist, and Jay McCormick, Miles Modern Poetry Committee Student-Faculty Reading: May 6, 1966 is a uniquely rare and wondrous anthology published in tandem with the titanic Detroit Artists Workshop. Featuring a plethora of poets including: Jonathan Schwartz with his poem (as quoted above), “Martyrdom”; the poems “My Nephew,” “Portrait,” and “From an Echo Chamber” by Detroit native Faye Kicknosway (b. 1936), the ineffable poet and visual artist; the poems “The Land of Henry Ford,” and “Morning” by Kenneth (or Ken) Mikolowski, noted American poet & co-founder of Detroit’s “Alternative Press,” which he founded in 1969 with the acclaimed artist, Ann Mikolowski (1940-1999), the poet’s late wife; and the poems “Optic,” and “Dusk-Bound from Indian Well” by Philip T. Klukoff among many others! This mid 60s item is endemic of the countless volumes that the Detroit Artists Workshop was publishing both on their own and in tandem with others embedded in the literary scene of Detroit. Each poet brings an asynchronous yet similar voice; nostalgic and simmering with pathos, yet mired in a dark realism and street inflection. A miasma of influences from the Beats, to the Modernists, to Dada & Surrealism, to Revolutionary Street Poetry, the poems in Miles Modern Poetry Committee Student-Faculty Reading: May 6, 1966 are a true embodiment of late 60s poetry and the Detroit poetic scene. 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. Stapled wrappers. Limited first edition one of 315 copies as stated at colophon. In relatively fine condition with minor wear to fine edges, slight rusting at staples, moderate wear/fraying at spine, slight discoloration/staining to front and back covers. Interior in relatively very fine condition with only slight fading to text block throughout. Fine. [Item #8071]

Price: $150.00