Description
This is precisely what makes the little-magazine world so much fun. Edited by Michael Andre, Unmuzzled OX brought contemporary poetry, art and the downtown avant-garde into the same room. Andre recalled that the magazine began with interviews in 1971, when he interviewed Robert Creeley and gathered material from Charles Bukowski, R. Crumb, Gary Snyder and others for the first issue. This 1974 issue is an especially rich cross-section: Diane di Prima, Willem de Kooning, Kenneth Koch, Anne Waldman, Carl Rakosi, Charles Bukowski, John Giorno, Margaret Atwood, Ray Johnson, Gregory Corso, Gerard Malanga and others all turn up in its 80 pages. Contemporary bookseller descriptions likewise identify this as the first edition of Vol. II, No. 3.
The Bukowski contribution is the real kicker. “On the Circuit” appears here on page 20 in its first appearance, facing a terrific full-page photograph of Bukowski by Gerard Malanga. The Bukowski-specialist Buk Shop identifies this issue specifically as the poem’s first appearance, while the Huntington’s copy is cataloged with both “On the Circuit” and the accompanying Bukowski photograph. But don’t overlook Ray Johnson: his wonderfully absurd “How to Draw a Daisy” material and interview with Norman Solomon’s Doberman make this as much an artifact of the 1970s New York art underground as a literary magazine. Add Margaret Atwood, de Kooning, Corso, di Prima and Giorno and this becomes one of those deceptively modest publications that captures an entire cultural neighborhood.
A terrific intersection of Bukowski, Beat writing, New York School poetry and 1970s conceptual art.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.