Various (Kherdian, David (Editor); Brautigan, Richard; Bukowski, Charles; Corso, Gregory; Ginsberg, Allen; di Prima, Diane; Ferlinghetti, Lawrence; Kaufman, Bob; Kerouac, Jack; O'Hara, Frank; Snyder, Gary; Welch, Lew et al.)

Visions of America by the Poets of Our Time

New York, NY, USA: Macmillan, 1973. First Edition (Library Copy). Hardcover. “Lately, I’ve become accustomed to the way / The ground opens up and envelopes me / Each time I go out to walk the dog. / Or the broad edged silly music the wind / Makes when I run for a bus… / Things have come to that. / And now, each night I count the stars, / And each night I get the same number. / And when they will not come to be counted, / I count the holes they leave. / Nobody sings anymore. / And then last night, I tiptoed up / To my daughter’s room and hear her / Talking to someone, and when I opened / The door, there was no one there… / Only she on her knees, peeking into / Her own clasped hands.”--Amiri Baraka a/k/a LeRoi Jones, “Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note,” pg. 18. Offered today is the 1973 collection of poetry, Visions of America: By The Poets of Our Time, edited by David Kherdian (b.1931) Armenian-American writer, poet, and editor. This collection, which stands as a talisman of the 70s poetic landscape, features: “From Some Western Haikus,” and “Sept. 16, 1961, Poem” by the legendary Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) one of the founding fathers of the Beat Generation; “Step Out Onto the Planet,” and “What Strange Pleasure Do They Get Who’d” by Lew Welch (1926-1971); “All Through the Rains,” and “Mid-August at Sourdough Mountain Lookout” by Gary Snyder (b. 1930), Beat “poet laureate of Deep Ecology”; “Mosca,” “The Yawn,” and “Obit Page” by Paul Blackburn (1926-1971), Black Mountain Poet legend; “Reflections on a Small Parade” by Bob Kaufman (1925-1986), San Francisco Renaissance Poet titan; “Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note” by Amiri Baraka (1934-2014) a/k/a LeRoi Jones; “Peace,” and “Sunflower” by Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) the legendary Poet-Saint-of-the-dive-bar—with points in Debritto, C88, pg. 454; “Fraser, I Think, Tells of a Roman,” and “Puerto Ricans in New York” by Charles Reznikoff (1894-1976), famed Objectivist poet among many other great contributions! From inside front flap of dust jacket: “In this anthology David Kherdian brings together many of the poets who, in the mid-fifties, ushered in a new era of American poetry that is still continuing today. These poets are for the most part the heirs of Walt Whitman and William Carlos Williams…The poetry of Williams and his contemporaries, Kenneth Patchen, Charles Reznikoff and Kenneth Rexroth, is included in this volume, as well as the poets who followed them: Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Gary Snyder, among others. In addition, poets like William Stafford, James Wright and James Dickey are represented. They are not so easily connected to schools or movements, but they nevertheless have had a vital impact on the poetry of our time.” This particular volume seems to have been a library copy at some point, and thus has “Discard” written in thick black ink at first blank leaf and end paper, as well as a Library card holder/checkout placard pasted thereon. Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket. First edition though not explicated as such at copyright page, second printing as indicated by number sequence thereon starting with the number “2” as per publisher custom of the time. Book in relatively fine condition with moderate wear to fine edges, two distinct & dark stains from former adhesive (probably tape) at exterior front and back covers, similar staining to first blank leaf & endpaper, moderate discoloration due to age-toning throughout interior and exterior, as well as several instances of blacked out (by marker) library stamps. Dust jacket in relatively fine condition with minor wear to fine edges, slight smudging/scratching/staining to front and back covers, and former library inventory sticker attached at lower spine. Fine / Fine. [Item #8966]

Price: $30.00