Tysh, George

Shop/Posh

Providence, RI: Burning Deck, 1973. Limited Edition. Stapled Wrappers. Inscribed & signed by George Tysh to Robin Eichele. "The tightly locked door of a file flattened | out a rubber hose."(opening line, Shop, unpaginated). Published by Burning Deck in 1973, Shop/Posh by Detroit-based poet & educator George Tysh (b. 1942) is a grouping of two short contrapuntal poems. Contrapuntal poetry is a form in which two or more distinct poems are combined or arranged so that they “converse” with each other, creating a new whole that is more than the sum of its parts. The name comes from contrapuntal music, where multiple independent melodies are woven together to form a richer harmony. Burning Deck Press was a landmark small press for experimental poetry, founded in 1961 by Keith Waldrop (1932-2023) & Rosmarie Waldrop (b. 1959) and based in Providence, Rhode Island. It was the ideal home for Tysh's kind of experimental, avant-garde poetry. Tysh himself was a co-founder of the Detroit Artists' Workshop with fellow poet John Sinclair (1941-2024). The DAW was a place for musicians, poets, painters, writers, and filmmakers to work together, free from commercial entanglements, that brought the results to community audiences. The DAW's influence spread from jazz to rock, psychedelic poster art, experimental music, and Detroit's alternative press scene. From the collection of scholar, poet and our dear friend Robin Eichele (b. 1941), noted Mimeograph Revolutionary & (another) co-founder of the Detroit Artists' Workshop with the aforementioned John Sinclair. At front endpaper, Tysh has inscribed & signed to Eichele in sable black ink: "for Robin, | endlessly, | (signed) george." Chapbook with Stapled Wrappers in Loose Overwraps with Flaps: Limited Edition per endpage colophon: "Of 300 copies, printed by Keith | Waldrop, this is number (handwritten in pencil) 22." A most collectible Detroit Artists' Workshop affiliated uniquity in its rarest contemporary form with highly relevant association & very distinguished provenance, greatly enhanced by the poet-to-poet inscription & signature. Chapbook in relatively very fine condition with very mild age-toning mostly to fine edges of front, back covers & spine; minor crease to top right corner of front cover; mild rusting of staples; no discernible flaws to text block. Interior very fine with no discernible flaws. Loose Overwrap with Flaps very fine with mild age-toning & rubbing to fine edges. Very Fine. [Item #9098]

Price: $75.00 save 10% $67.50