Gagaku
Detroit: Planet Detroit Chapbooks, 1985. First Edition. Small press poetry chapbook; staples; 24pp. (unpaginated); soft grey card covers illustrated and lettered in fuschia (design by Berlisnki); rose coloured endpapers; Charles Bukowski quote on the lower wrapper reads: "I am sympathetic with Richmond's poetry because here, a good twenty years older, I feel much the same way".
A very good copy. Hint of toning to the spine, corners lightly bumped, one page with a light indeterminate stain. Item #1397
Steve Richmond (1941 2009) was an American poet from Southern California whose notoriety comes primarily from his association with the mid-career of poet Charles Bukowski in the 1960s. He is also associated with the "Meat School" of American poetry, known for a direct, tough and masculine style of writing. Other "Meat School" poets were Bukowski, William Wantling and Ann Menebroker. Bukowski helped mentor Richmond early in his career.
According to Wikipedia Richmond developed a unique style based on the rhythms of gagaku ( , literally "elegant music"), the Shinto-influenced classical music performed at the Japanese imperial court. He claimed to have written more than 8,000 gagku poems over the course of his career.
This copy belonged to Qld based poet and visual artist Billy Jones, renowned for writing in his books in colourful capitalised letters. This copy has escaped Jones' [often lurid] marginalia.
Price: $50.00