#johnwieners

Happy Birthday in heaven John!  John Wieners was born this day in 1934.  Photo of John, Kiev Restaurant, New York City, October 1985, snapped by Allen.

“Yours Presently The Selected Letters of John Wieners” are now available, lovingly edited by Michael Seth Stewart with an introduction by fellow New Englander, Eileen Myles.  Michael writes:

“Wieners is largely disenfranchised from the various poetic establishments because he is, to literary historians, practically illegible. In those histories Wieners is often a footnote , remarked upon for his personality or sociological significance, not considered an integral part of the narrative. He’s hard to taxonimize…..Because of…twists and contradictions he has remained on the fringes of not just the canon but also the histories of those various subterranean schools he inhabited. His story teaches us about the permeability and cross-fertilization of those circles, and allows us to read their histories in an entirely new light..”

John Wieners, tragic American poet, visiting my room Park Plaza Hotel, Boston February 1, 1985. We'd met three decades earlier at Cedar Bar, New York -- Robert Creeley & Frank O'Hara both admired his gift then, Hotel Wentley Poems were published that decade -- but none of his books were in print at time of this visit.

[caption & photo: Allen Ginsberg, courtesy Stanford University Libraries/Allen Ginsberg Estate]

Gay Liberationist & Fag Rag helmsman, Charles “Charley” Shively,  with poets John Wieners, & Simon Pettet, & musician, composer, False Prophets’ guitarist, Steven Taylor, First Avenue and 12th Street, headed out for the day from Allen’s apartemnt behind them,   May 9, 1995 [Photo: Allen Ginsberg, courtesy Stanford University Libraries / Allen Ginsberg Estate]

Watch this teaser trailer featuring Wave poet CACONRAD reading from SUPPLICATION: SELECTED POEMS OF JOHN WIENERS (Wave Books, 2015). 

Supplication: Selected Poems of John Wieners gathers work by one of the most significant poets of the Black Mountain and Beat generation. Includes the full text of the 1958 edition of his influential The Hotel Wentley Poems, plus poems from rare sources, facsimiles, notes, and collages by Wieners. An invaluable collection for new and old fans.

Beginning today through October 6th, our forthcoming October releases (plus the rest of MEISTER’s informal trilogy shown on the bottom half of this picture) are 33% off!

This sale includes paperback and limited-edition hardcover versions as well!