For quite some time I resisted the charms of Anne Waldman and Reed Bye's Rocky Ledge. William Burroughs appears in Issue 3 so it is a magazine I always wanted to have but my prejudices got in the way. I grossly undervalue 1970s mimeo to say nothing of the last gasps of the Mimeo Revolution in the early Reagan Years. Kyle assures me I am wrong on this and the more I look into it, like with United Artists or Chicago (two 1970s mimeo mags I have bought recently), the more I agree with him. There is much more to mimeo than Fuck You and Floating Bear even if I am slow to see and read it.
I also find Naropa University to be where the Beats went to die, at least creatively. It strikes me more as an old folk's home than a vibrant creative community. Allen Ginsberg's slavish following of Chogyam Trungpa is, for me, Ginsberg at his worst. Ginsberg's fascination with the drunken Buddhist clown routine is not a high point. That said, there can be no denying the incredible material that comes out of the Naropa experience. The audio archive gathered there is a national treasure and the Bombay Gin is not to my taste, but I found myself enjoying walking around Rocky Ledge.
The covers by Rudy Burckhardt, Alex Katz and Joe Brainard are a sight for sore eyes but what I really enjoyed seeing were the interviews with the likes of Diane Di Prima and Joe Brainard and the talk by Bill Berkson on Philip Guston. To be honest my favorite thing out of Naropa is the Disembodied Poetics: Annals of the Jack Kerouac Schools, which is full of great interviews and lectures. Rocky Ledge has a nice mix of Beat, later generation New York School, Naropa students and their literary influences, like Breton and Cendars. As I read through Rocky Ledge, I find that the view is much better than I thought. I just had to take my blinders off.
JB
MIMEO MIMEO #8: CURATORS' CHOICE features 16 bibliophiles on 6 highlights from their personal or institutional collections. Contributors include Steve Clay, Wendy Burk, Tony White, Brian Cassidy, Thurston Moore, J.A. Lee, Michelle Strizever, Adam Davis, Michael Basinski, Joseph Newland, Alastair Johnston, Tate Shaw, Michael Kasper, Steve Woodall, Molly Schwartzberg, Nancy Kuhl, James Maynard, and the Utah posse (Becky Thomas, Marnie Powers-Torrey, Craig Dworkin, Emily Tipps, Luise Poulton, & David Wolske)
MIMEO MIMEO #7: THE LEWIS WARSH ISSUE is the first magazine ever devoted in its entirety to poet, novelist, publisher, teacher, and collage artist Lewis Warsh. Warsh was born in 1944 in the Bronx, co-founded Angel Hair Magazine and Books with Anne Waldman in 1966, and went on to co-found United Artists Magazine and Books with Bernadette Mayer in 1977. He is the author of over thirty books of poetry, fiction and autobiography, the Director of the MFA program in Creative Writing at Long Island University in Brooklyn, and as you’ll soon discover, so much more. Includes an introduction by Daniel Kane, an interview conducted by Steve Clay, 10 new stories, 5 new poems, dozens of photographs and collages, and an anecdotal bibliography.
OUT OF PRINT
MIMEO MIMEO #6: THE POETRY ISSUE is devoted to new work by eight poets who have consistently composed quality writing that has influenced and inspired generations since the golden era of the mimeo revolution. Contributors include Bill Berkson, John Godfrey, Ted Greenwald, Joanne Kyger, Kit Robinson, Rosmarie Waldrop, Lewis Warsh, and Geoffrey Young. Cover art by George Schneeman.
OUT OF PRINT
MIMEO MIMEO #3: THE DANNY SNELSON ISSUE examines the relationship between structuralism and the poetries of the mimeo era by presenting a detailed analysis of Form (a Cambridge-UK magazine published in 1966) and Alcheringa (a journal published by Boston University in 1975), two exemplary gatherings that illuminate the historical, material and social circumstances under which theory informed art (and vice versa) in the early works of some of today's most celebrated experimental writers. Also includes a special insert, The Infernal Method, written, designed and printed by Aaron Cohick (NewLights Press).
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MIMEO MIMEO #2: features Emily McVarish on her artist's book Flicker; James Maynard on poet Robert Duncan's early experiences as an editor and typesetter; Derek Beaulieu on the relationship between the influential Canadian poetry journal Tish and Black Mountain College; and an extensive interview with Australian poet and typographer Alan Loney conducted by Kyle Schlesinger. Cover is by Emily McVarish.
OUT OF PRINT
1 comments:
Can anyone tell me the inclusive pub dates for Rocky Ledge (magazine, not Cottage Editions)? Did it have just 8 issues? Thanks!
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