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Overview
Lew Welch was a brilliant and troubled poet, legendary among his Beat peers. Ring of Bone collects poems, songs and even a few drawings, documenting the full sweep of his creative output, from his early years until just before his death. This new edition includes a biographic timeline and a statement of poetics gleaned from Welch's own writing.
Welch entered Reed College in 1948, and the following year moved into a house with Gary Snyder; they were soon joined by Philip Whalen. With the emergence of the Beat movement, Welch's friends began receiving national attention and his desire to devote himself completely to his poetry was galvanized. He soon became a part of the San Francisco poetry scene.
Legendary editor Donald Allen included Welch's poetry in The New American Poetry—the seminal anthology published in 1960. That same year Welch's first book, Wobbly Rock, was released. He continued to write extensively, and in 1965 published three books. Despite his burgeoning success, Welch suffered from bouts with depression, and on May 23, 1971, Gary Snyder went up to Welch's campsite in the Sierra Nevada mountains and found a suicide note. Despite an extensive search, Welch's body was never recovered.
"Lew Welch writes lyrical poems of clarity, humor, and dark probings . . . jazz musical phrasings of American speech is one of Welch's clearest contributions."—Gary Snyder
" . . . Music permeates his poems, which range from scored lyrics to epistolary correspondence to formal villanelles... It's fascinating to trace the evolution of this artist, from his early, lax, exultant style to his later, less jubilant work, characterized by benedictions, invocations, and requests. This is a necessary read for anyone interested in the greater Beat movement and its progenitors."—Booklist
"His luminous poems feel as vibrant today as when they first burst from the wellsprings of creativity in his own head. . . . A postmodern Walt Whitman . . . "—San Francisco Chronicle
"In the poet's own words, [Ring of Bone] is a spiritual autobiography . . . no better description of him exists than that which came in his own vision, deep in the wilds of the Klamath Mountains, the poem after which the collection is titled. . . . These 40 years later, Lew, you are missed."—The Rumpus
"Ring of Bone: Collected Poems is Welch's major work. Exuberant, funny, dark, hypnotic, Welch's poems are as infused with nature as [Gary] Snyder's and as spiritually alive as [Philip] Whalen's. They're technically brilliant, grounded in form and wildly experimental. . . . "—The Oregonion
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780872865792 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | City Lights Books |
| Publication date: | 06/19/2012 |
| Edition description: | NONE, New & Expanded Edition |
| Pages: | 256 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.70(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d) |
About the Author
For a number of years Welch showed his poetry only to close friends. With the emergence of the Beat movement, however, Welch's friends Philip Whalen and Gary Snyder began receiving national attention. Welch's desire to devote himself completely to his poetry was revived, and he soon became a part of the San Francisco poetry scene.
Donald Allen included one of Welch's poems in The New American Poetry—the important anthology published in 1960. That same year Welch's first book, Wobbly Rock, was published. He was drinking heavily during this time, but he continued to write extensively, and in 1965 published three books.
Despite his burgeoning success, Welch's bouts with depression and heavy drinking continued. On May 23, 1971, Gary Snyder went up to Welch's campsite in the Sierra Nevada mountains and found a suicide note in Welch's truck. Despite an extensive search, Welch's body was never recovered.
Donald Allen published much of Welch's work posthumously via Grey Fox Press, now an imprint of City Lights Books.
Gary Snyder is an American poet (often associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance), as well as an essayist, lecturer and environmental activist (frequently described as the "poet laureate of Deep Ecology"). Snyder is a winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. His work, in his various roles, reflects an immersion in both Buddhist spirituality and nature. Snyder has translated literature into English from ancient Chinese and modern Japanese. For many years, Snyder served as a faculty member at the Universityof California, Davis, and he also served for a time on the California Arts Council.
Table of Contents
Foreword Gary Snyder 13
Preface Lew Welch 17
Book I (1950-1960) On Out
This Book Is for Magda 23
Chicago Poem 24
A Round of English 26
Memo Satori 31
I Fly to Los Angeles 32
Taxi Suite 35
1 After Anacreon 35
2 Passenger Poem, the Nurse 36
3 Passenger Poem, Mrs. Angus 36
4 Passenger Poem, the Mailman 37
5 Top of the Mark 38
Leo Poems 39
Barbara/Van Gogh Poem 39
Leo, Pleased 39
Leo, in Absence of Fire 40
Song of a Self 42
Entire Sermon by the Red Monk 43
In Safeway Parking Lots, Old Men Drive Slowly. Backwards. 44
The First Warm Day of the Year 44
Apotheosis of Leo 45
Circle Poems 46
Seasons 48
Eliotica Revisited 50
Skunk Cabbage 51
Corinna's Gone A-preying 52
Atlantis Was Crete 53
A Parable of Wasps 54
You Can't Burlesque It Anymore, - 1956
55 In Answer to a Question from P.W. 56
Compleynt at 38 57
Virgin at the Bus Stop 57
Concerning the Murder of Birds 58
Goldilocks 59
The Four Stories of Apple 60
Hiking Poem / High Sierra 61
Four Studies in Perception 64
Wobbly Rock 68
Two Like Villanelles 74
Lines to an Urban Dawn 76
Notes from a Pioneer on a Speck in Space 77
[I rate my fury with the] 78
Book II (1960-1964) Hermit Poems
Preface to Hermit Poems, The Bath 81
[Not yet 40, my beard is already white.] 83
[I know a man's supposed to have his hair cut short,] 84
[Apparently wasps] 85
[I burn up the deer in my body.] 86
[Step out onto the Planet.] 87
[The Empress herself served tea to Su Tung-po,] 88
[Whenever I make a new poem,] 89
[The image, as in a Hexagram:] 90
[I saw myself] 91
Book III (1960-1964) The Way Back
He Prepares to Take Leave of His Hut 95
He asks for Guidance 96
He Writes to the Donor of His Bowl 97
He Thanks His Woodpile 98
A Song to His Secret Farm 99
Farewell to His Birds and Animals 100
He Praises His Canyons & Peaks 101
He Greets, Again, the Open Road 101
He Finally Reaches the City 103
He Locates the Live Museum 106
He Begins to Recount His Adventures 108
He Explains It Another Way 115
Book IV (1964-1968) Din Poem, Courses
Din Poem 115
Supermarket Song 116
Courses 125
Course College Credo 125
Geography 126
History 126
Aesthetics 127
Math 127
Theology 128
Psychology 128
Botany 129
Philosophy 129
The Basic Con 130
Course College Graduation Address 131
Course College Oath 131
Book V (1969-1971) the Song MT. Tamalpais Sings
The Song Mt. Tamalpais Sings 135
Olema Satori 137
Sausalito Trash Prayer 138
Prayer to a Mountain Spring 138
The Riddle of Hands 139
The Riddle of Bowing 140
The Rider Riddle 142
Redwood Haiku 143
Difficulty along the Way 143
Warning of Tamalpais 144
Springtime in the Rockies, Lichen 145
Song of the Turkey Buzzard 147
Uncollected Poems
Editor's Note 155
The Importance of Autumn 159
Monologue of One Whom the Spring Found
Unaccompanied 160
Breakfast, One Easter 161
Sweet Death 161
Anecdote of Tangerines 162
Olympia Oysters 163
Not This Gradual Intelligence 164
The Uses of Poetry 165
Utensil 166
The Epiphany of Toffy Belsky 167
David Is Dead 168
Epithalamion 169
Compleynt of His Mistress 170
Words to That Effect 170
A Matter of Organ Stops and Starts 172
Large Little Circle 173
Seventh Grade 174
For Joseph Kepecs 175
Nightclub Scene: 20/Nov/58 176
For a Kyger Known by Another Name 178
Invention Against Invention 179
[First you must love your body, in games] 186
Pawn to Queen 4 187
"Everybody Calls Me Tricky, But My Real Name's Mr. Earl": A Sermon 189
Orange Take 190
In & Out, In & Out 192
[Three Songs in Rat Flat] 193
1 Without a Rifle, on a Cloudy Day 193
2 Shasta! 193
3 Buddhist Bard Turns Rat Slayer 194
[What a thing to know!] 196
Dane Poem 196
Graffiti 197
Small Turned on Song 200
Not Ready for Me 201
Small Book to Break The Brain 202
A Very Important Letter 203
Leo's Poet-Plight 204
Leo Gives Himself Yet Another Name 206
Lewie, You're a Goddam Jewel 207
Doctor, Can You Spell Nebuchadnezzar
Without Any Z? 207
Acedia 208
Maitreya Poem 210
How to Give Yourself Away: The Sermon of Gladness 213
[Postgraduate Courses] 219
Law 219
Comportment 219
A Poem for Gerard Malanga 219
[Prepositions] 220
I Sometimes Talk to Kerouac When I Drive 221
Dear Joanne, 221
Cement 222
Our Lady of Refused Love 223
Whalen's Feet 224
Small Sentence to Drive Yourself Sane 225
Dream Poem / Mother 225
Getting Bald 226
Mustache 226
A Memorable Fancy 227
Inflation 228
Frozen Pigeons 229
The Wanderer 231
A Statement of Poetics
Language Is Speech 235
A Brief Chronology 251
Index of Titles and First Lines 255