Newkirk, Allen Van; di Prima, Diane; Whitman, Walt (Olson, Charles)

Broadside: The Holocene & Country Gazette Traveller ("Wolf Moon, Nineteen Seventy")

Hanover, NH: Center for Paleocybernetic Research, 1970. First Edition. Single Sheet. “It must be demonstrated ceaselessly, that a continually “growing economy” is not only unhealthy, but a cancer. And that the criminal waste which is allowed in the name of competition–especially that ultimate in wasteful needless competition, hot wars and cold wars between any and all of the modern bureaucratic and hierarchical nation-states–must be halted totally with ferocious energy and decision. Economics must be seen as a small sub-branch of ecology, and production/distribution/consumption handled by small communities of people with the same elegance and spareness one sees in nature. Open space; phase out logging in most areas. Protection for all wildlife in a biologically sound environment! No zoos or Nazi-type experimentation on their bodies in the name of science. Damn the International Whaling Commission which is selling out the last of our precious, wise whales! Absolutely no further development of roads and concessions in National Parks and Wilderness areas; let the whole planet grow wild again. End the consumer society and get rid of the unnecessary products. Radical Co-ops. Blast the myths of progress and all crude notions of conquering or controlling nature.” The only number of this radical broadside is dedicated to the memory of Charles Olson [1910-1970] - the iconic American poet & educator at the Black Mountain School and Beat Generation/San Francisco Renaissance associate – who died earlier in the year. Its anarchistic viewpoint is clear: “WE MUST DISMANTLE & DISSOLVE, BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY, THE WHOLE OF CENTRALIZED GOVERNMENT & CORPORATE INDUSTRY” it declares along the bottom of recto. It is a screed for radical ecology, and the recto is dominated by “The Wilderness Project Earth Free Territory;” centerpieced is a large photo of a wolf atop a Walt Whitman poem. Verso includes the aforementioned Mohegan petition; an excerpt from Peter Farb’s Living Earth; Revolutionary Letters Nos. 16 and 38 by Diane di Prima; poems by Louise Crowley and Grant Fisher; and the pieces “The Unanimous Declaration of Interdependence” and “Earth Free Territory #1.” While there are no overt indications of those behind the piece, brother bookseller D. Anthem in Cornish Flats, New Hampshire, which specializes in “radical, fringe, and extremist political and cultural movements” excellently deduced authorship: “Edited and published by the otherwise unknown Earth Life Defense & Regeneration Committee, there are enough textual and publication clues to attribute the work to radical poet and anarchist, Allen van Newkirk, who’s credited with coining the term ‘bioregionalism’. The most salient clue is the use of the Center for Paleocybernetic Research imprint, which was also used in at least one issue of Newkirk’s previous periodical, “Guerrilla: Free Newspaper from the Streets.” A flagship in revolutionary thought, poetry, and news, “Guerrilla” was first published during the summer riots in Detroit in 1967 and the height of the Detroit Free Press literary movement. Van Newkirk was a seminal figure in the Detroit radical scene of the sixties, where he was affiliated with such groups as the Detroit Artists Workshop and John Sinclair's (1941-2024) White Panther Party (See our Item #6714 for a copy of Guerrilla). From the collection of Albert Glover (b. 1942-2026), the great American scholar, bibliographer, author & publisher who was the foremost remaining authority on the literary giant Olson; Glover was a graduate student at SUNY-Buffalo under Olson. Single Sheet (17” x 22”). First-&-only printing. In Fine condition with very light spotting and staining to both sides; light bumping and creasing to edges and corners; piece was folded horizontally once; moderate age-toning. Very Fine. [Item #8696]

Price: $60.00