Various (Coleman, Victor (Editor); Bowering, George; Ondaatje, Michael; Wakayama, Tamio et al.)

IS. No. 6 (Spring 1969, Complete with Ephemera)

Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Coach House Press, 1969. First Edition. Stapled Wrappers. “Sun moves broken in the trees / drops like a paw / turns sea to red leopard / I trap sharks and drown them / stuffing gills with sand / cut them with coral till / the blurred grey runs / red designs / And kill to fool myself alive / to leave all pity on the staggering body / in order not to shoot an arrow up / and stand, and let it hurl / down through the petalling skull / or neck vein - so I’d lie / heaving round the long wood in my lung / that the end of thinking. / Shoot either eye of bird instead / and run and catch it in your hand. / One day a bird went mad / flew blind along the beach / smashed into a dropping wave / out again and plummeted. / Later knocked along the shore. / To slow an animal / you break its foot with a stone / so two run wounded / reel in the bush, flap / bodies at each other / till free of forest / it gallops broken in the sand, / then use a bow / and pin the tongue back down its throat. / With wind the rain wheels like a circus hoof, / aims at my eyes, rakes out the smell of animals / of stone moss, cleans me. / Branches fall like nightmares in the dark / till sun breaks up / and spreads wound fire at my feet / then they smell me, / the beautiful animals.”--Michael Ondaatje, “Philoctetes on the Island,” pg. 10. IS. was an influential Canadian avant-garde literary magazine founded and edited by poet Victor Coleman (b. 1944). Coleman launched IS. in 1966 after ending his previous literary mag run, Island magazine, and ran IS. from '66 to well into the 1970s. IS. focused on the new-wave avant-garde Canadian & American literary underground and often took heavy inspiration from the Black Mountain School of Poetry in both content and sensibility. Similarly, because of the inclusion of many Olsonite poets, IS. often confused as being part of The Magazine of Further Studies. However, aside from the inclusion of many of the same poets, and even oftentimes sharing contributions, the two are were distinctly separate entities. Offered today is IS. Six: Spring, 1969 which features: “Ike & Others” by George Bowering (b. 1935), the acclaimed, award-winning & very prolific Canadian poet, novelist, critic & biographer; “Stuart’s Bird,” & the above quoted “Philoctetes on the Island” by Michael Ondaatje (b. 1943), Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer and essayist; photographs by Tamio Wakayama (1941-2018), noted Canadian photographer; “The Chinese Poems” by bpNichol (1944-1988), Canadian poet, writer, sound poet, editor, creative writing teacher at York University in Toronto and grOnk/Ganglia Press publisher; two poems/drawings by Judith Copithorne (1940-2025), noted Canadian concrete & visual poet, among many other great contributions! We have found and retained, between pages 8 & 9, a folded photograph (printed on cardstock) of Coleman’s daughter; Kali Elizabeth Coleman, who was born in April of that year. From the collection of scholar, poet and our dear friend Robin Eichele (b. 1941), noted Mimeograph Revolutionary & co-founder of the Detroit Artists' Workshop with the late, great John Sinclair (1941-2024). Stapled wrappers. First & presumably only printing. In relatively very fine condition with minor wear to fine edges, moderate discoloration to exterior and throughout interior due to age-toning, and minor rusting at staples. Very Fine. [Item #9314]

Price: $60.00 save 10% $54.00