Various (Gosciak, J.G. (Editor); Kenny, Maurice (Editor); Carroll, Jim; Coleman, Wanda; Corso, Gregory; Eshleman, Clayton; McKee, Louis; Purdy, James; Rexroth, Kenneth et al.)

Contact/II Vol. 9 No. 53/54/55 (Summer/Fall 1989)

New York, NY, USA: Contact II Publications, 1989. First Printing. Stapled Wrappers. “baby baby what I’m talking about is getting over | you’re no good to me | but in terms of what’s real | I’m talking about grip/touch – put it on the table | and eat it” (First stanza, “Blue Period,” Wanda Coleman, p. 58” Contact/II was an American literary magazine from New York. Established in 1976, the periodical was edited by Maurice Kenny (1929-2016) and Josh Gosciak and ran into the early 1990s. Contact/II published poetry, reviews, and interviews, along with books and chapbooks of contemporary poetry. The name was a tribute to Contact, a small press poetry magazine produced in the 1920s and 1930s by William Carlos Williams (1883-1963). In this later volume of the publication we find notable contributions such as: A review by Louis McKee (1951-2011), the Philly-based poet and editor, of Forced Entries: The Downtown Diaries by Jim Carroll (1949-2009), the legendary Beat-&-Beyond American author, poet & musician; A review of World Outside the Window: The Selected Essays of Kenneth Rexroth, the second book of collected essays by Rexroth (1905-1982), the great American poet who was a most influential mentor to the primary figures of the Beat Generation & the San Francisco Renaissance; eight poems by James Purdy (1914-2009), the great American novelist, short-story writer, poet & playwright; a pair of poems by the eminent American poet, translator, editor, and scholar Clayton Eshleman (1935-2021); a lengthy interview with Gregory Corso (1930-2001), the great Primary Poet of the Beat Generation; and a feature on women poets, including a poem to herself about dealing with racism as a Black woman by Wanda Coleman (1946-2013) the “unofficial poet laureate of Los Angeles,” performing artist and radio host. From the collection of Albert Glover (b. 1942), the acclaimed American poet, author, bibliographer, editor & publisher who is the foremost living authority on Charles Olson (1910-1970), the great Black Mountain & Beyond poet's poet who is our favorite Maximus Obscurist. Glover studied with & was anointed by Olson himself during the 1960s, & has outstandingly served as his bibliographer & editor (see for example our item No. 8126). Stapled Wrappers. First & presumed only printing. In Fine condition with light smudging and scratching to front, back covers & stapled spine; some tiny bumps and creases to edges & corners of same. Interior Fine-Very Fine with some minor creasing to top of page leaves. Fine. [Item #8613]

Price: $40.00