A lot of people are pointing to the excellent Ron Rege‘s recent adaptation of Kenneth Patchen’s “The Snow is Deep on the Ground” over at PoetryFoundation.org.
What they’re not pointing to are Kenneth Patchen’s own “picture-poems,” many of which are painted and silk-screened in wild colors. Dig them:
a couple months ago my daughter turned me on to kenneth p and shared this delightful poem:
I am the magical mouse
I don’t eat cheese
I eat sunsets
And the tops of trees
-Kenneth Patchen
anyone writing a poem in which he proclaims to be a magical mouse won me over. since em first brought my attention to k.p. I learned there was a patchen celebration in cleveland (which I totally missed out on…having only learned of it after the fact!) again I will sing the praises of cpl for after I learned of patchen I did a search and found a local goldmine – I read most of a biography on his life “the poet rebel” (or something like that) – totally enjoyed and also a bunch of his illustrated poems. ah what a voice and what spirit…. glad to find you sharing his gifts!
hey kim,
actually, suzanne at Mac’s Backs in Coventry was the one who hipped me to Patchen…but I didn’t know there was a celebration in Cleveland! I gotta do some more research…