Description
By the 1960s, Kenneth Patchen had carved a fiercely independent path through American poetry — equal parts pacifist, jazzman, mystic, and painter. Refusing the academic route, Patchen instead created picture-poems, fusions of hand-lettered verse and psychedelic imagery that prefigured the Beats and anticipated the punk-zine aesthetic by decades. From his wheelchair in Palo Alto, he turned suffering into technicolor empathy — a life spent putting soul to paper, no matter how strange the shape.
This is A Patchen Picture-Poem No. 31, titled “I Am the Ghost Of…”, published in 1966 by Leslie Tohn Imports with permission from New Directions. Originally appearing in Hallelujah Anyway (1966), this image and verse combo is classic Patchen: anarchic typography, cosmic humor, and a toothy cartoon creature trailing a winged cat and cryptic personal wisdom. “Lucky you made no deposit on the country—just throw it away when you’re finished with it.” A chilling joke? A prophetic jab at consumer culture? Yes.
A very scarce, collector-grade piece for fans of Beat ephemera, outsider art, and poetic resistance.
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