Ring of Bone

by Allen, Donald; Snyder, Gary

• ISBN13: 9780872865792
• ISBN10: 0872865797
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-06-19
• Publisher: City Lights Books

Summary

"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 Lew Welch was a brilliant and troubled poet, legendary among his Beat peers. He disappeared in 1971, leaving a suicide note behind. Ring of Bonecollects poems, songs, and some drawings, documenting the full sweep of his creative output from his early years until his death. First published by legendary poetry editor Donald Allen, this new edition includes photos, a biographic timeline, and a statement of poetics gleaned from Welch's own writing.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. 13
Preface	p. 17
(1950-1960) On Out
This Book Is for Magda	p. 23
Chicago Poem	p. 24
A Round of English	p. 26
Memo Satori	p. 31
I Fly to Los Angeles	p. 32
Taxi Suite	p. 35
After Anacreon	p. 35
Passenger Poem, the Nurse	p. 36
Passenger Poem, Mrs. Angus	p. 36
Passenger Poem, the Mailman	p. 37
Top of the Mark	p. 38
Leo Poems	p. 39
Barbara/Van Gogh Poem	p. 39
Leo, Pleased	p. 39
Leo, in Absence of Fire	p. 40
Song of a Self	p. 42
Entire Sermon by the Red Monk	p. 43
In Safeway Parking Lots, Old Men Drive Slowly. Backwards.	p. 44
The First Warm Day of the Year	p. 44
Apotheosis of Leo	p. 45
Circle Poems	p. 46
Seasons	p. 48
Eliotica Revisited	p. 50
Skunk Cabbage	p. 51
Corinna's Gone A-preying	p. 52
Atlantis Was Crete	p. 53
A Parable of Wasps	p. 54
You Can't Burlesque It Anymore, -	p. 1956
55 In Answer to a Question from P.W.	p. 56
Compleynt at 38	p. 57
Virgin at the Bus Stop	p. 57
Concerning the Murder of Birds	p. 58
Goldilocks	p. 59
The Four Stories of Apple	p. 60
Hiking Poem / High Sierra	p. 61
Four Studies in Perception	p. 64
Wobbly Rock	p. 68
Two Like Villanelles	p. 74
Lines to an Urban Dawn	p. 76
Notes from a Pioneer on a Speck in Space	p. 77
[I rate my fury with the]	p. 78
(1960-1964) Hermit Poems
Preface to Hermit Poems, The Bath	p. 81
[Not yet 40, my beard is already white.]	p. 83
[I know a man's supposed to have his hair cut short,]	p. 84
[Apparently wasps]	p. 85
[I burn up the deer in my body.]	p. 86
[Step out onto the Planet.]	p. 87
[The Empress herself served tea to Su Tung-po,]	p. 88
[Whenever I make a new poem,]	p. 89
[The image, as in a Hexagram:]	p. 90
[I saw myself]	p. 91
(1960-1964) The Way Back
He Prepares to Take Leave of His Hut	p. 95
He asks for Guidance	p. 96
He Writes to the Donor of His Bowl	p. 97
He Thanks His Woodpile	p. 98
A Song to His Secret Farm	p. 99
Farewell to His Birds and Animals	p. 100
He Praises His Canyons & Peaks	p. 101
He Greets, Again, the Open Road	p. 101
He Finally Reaches the City	p. 103
He Locates the Live Museum	p. 106
He Begins to Recount His Adventures	p. 108
He Explains It Another Way	p. 115
(1964-1968) Din Poem, Courses
Din Poem	p. 115
Supermarket Song	p. 116
Courses	p. 125
Course College Credo	p. 125
Geography	p. 126
History	p. 126
Aesthetics	p. 127
Math	p. 127
Theology	p. 128
Psychology	p. 128
Botany	p. 129
Philosophy	p. 129
The Basic Con	p. 130
Course College Graduation Address	p. 131
Course College Oath	p. 131
(1969-1971) the Song MT. Tamalpais Sings
The Song Mt. Tamalpais Sings	p. 135
Olema Satori	p. 137
Sausalito Trash Prayer	p. 138
Prayer to a Mountain Spring	p. 138
The Riddle of Hands	p. 139
The Riddle of Bowing	p. 140
The Rider Riddle	p. 142
Redwood Haiku	p. 143
Difficulty along the Way	p. 143
Warning of Tamalpais	p. 144
Springtime in the Rockies, Lichen	p. 145
Song of the Turkey Buzzard	p. 147
Uncollected Poems
Editor's Note	p. 155
The Importance of Autumn	p. 159
Monologue of One Whom the Spring Found
Unaccompanied	p. 160
Breakfast, One Easter	p. 161
Sweet Death	p. 161
Anecdote of Tangerines	p. 162
Olympia Oysters	p. 163
Not This Gradual Intelligence	p. 164
The Uses of Poetry	p. 165
Utensil	p. 166
The Epiphany of Toffy Belsky	p. 167
David Is Dead	p. 168
Epithalamion	p. 169
Compleynt of His Mistress	p. 170
Words to That Effect	p. 170
A Matter of Organ Stops and Starts	p. 172
Large Little Circle	p. 173
Seventh Grade	p. 174
For Joseph Kepecs	p. 175
Nightclub Scene: 20/Nov/58	p. 176
For a Kyger Known by Another Name	p. 178
Invention Against Invention	p. 179
[First you must love your body, in games]	p. 186
Pawn to Queen 4	p. 187
"Everybody Calls Me Tricky, But My Real Name's Mr. Earl": A Sermon	p. 189
Orange Take	p. 190
In & Out, In & Out	p. 192
[Three Songs in Rat Flat]	p. 193
Without a Rifle, on a Cloudy Day	p. 193
Shasta!	p. 193
Buddhist Bard Turns Rat Slayer	p. 194
[What a thing to know!]	p. 196
Dane Poem	p. 196
Graffiti	p. 197
Small Turned on Song	p. 200
Not Ready for Me	p. 201
Small Book to Break The Brain	p. 202
A Very Important Letter	p. 203
Leo's Poet-Plight	p. 204
Leo Gives Himself Yet Another Name	p. 206
Lewie, You're a Goddam Jewel	p. 207
Doctor, Can You Spell Nebuchadnezzar
Without Any Z?	p. 207
Acedia	p. 208
Maitreya Poem	p. 210
How to Give Yourself Away: The Sermon of Gladness	p. 213
[Postgraduate Courses]	p. 219
Law	p. 219
Comportment	p. 219
A Poem for Gerard Malanga	p. 219
[Prepositions]	p. 220
I Sometimes Talk to Kerouac When I Drive	p. 221
Dear Joanne,	p. 221
Cement	p. 222
Our Lady of Refused Love	p. 223
Whalen's Feet	p. 224
Small Sentence to Drive Yourself Sane	p. 225
Dream Poem / Mother	p. 225
Getting Bald	p. 226
Mustache	p. 226
A Memorable Fancy	p. 227
Inflation	p. 228
Frozen Pigeons	p. 229
The Wanderer	p. 231
A Statement of Poetics
Language Is Speech	p. 235
A Brief Chronology	p. 251
Index of Titles and First Lines	p. 255
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