Edited by Tom Clark, the Once Series is an eclectic periodical, published coincident with Clark’s Fulbright study and posting as Instructor in American Poetry at the University of Essex. The titles varied (all words concluding with ‘CE’) but each was denoted “A One Shot Magazine… No Copyright No Nothin.”
According to Tom Clark: “When I went on from Cambridge to the U. of Essex in 1965 I began editing a mimeograph magazine of my own, the Once series, and through that project got into long-distance postal contact with many younger American poets, particularly those living on the Lower East Side of New York…
“The magazines had deliberately uncataloguable titles: Once, Twice, Thrice, Thrice and a Half, Frice, Vice, Ice, Nice, Slice, Slice Vol. 1, No. 2, and Spice. I filled up the mimeo series with the spillover of poems I was receiving for the Paris Review — which could handle only a fraction of the good new work that was coming in to me — as well as with some ‘assignments’ from friends far and near…
“Joe’s series of covers, a throwaway tour de force of periodical art, lent class, consistency and uniformity to the Once series, bringing a surprising illusion of orderly design to an otherwise rather undisciplined and chaotic enterprise.
“Most of the works I published in the Once series were somewhat or in some way more outlandish or strange than what I could cull for the Paris Review.”
- Excerpt from Kevin Ring interview with Tom Clark published as Jacket 21 in Jacket Magazine, 2003.
1. ONCE: A One Shot Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 1, edited by Tom Clark
Brightlingsea: Tom Clark, 1966
First edition, side-stapled in illustrated cover, 8″ x 13″, 14 leaves printed recto only, mimeograph printed.
- Contents:
- Robin Blaser – “Psyche”
Robin Blaser – “Sophia Nichols”
Steve Jonas – “Ode for Garcia Lorca”
Ed Dorn – “A Provisional Fragment, Congested with 3 Titles”
Ron Padgett – “Poem after Reverdy”
Ron Padgett – “Light in the Nineteenth Century”
Aram Saroyan – “The Sentence”
Max Finstein – [untitled] “You, sonofabitch love you…”
Edward van Aelstyn – [untitled] “In the morning night…”
Edward van Aelstyn – “Poem Ending with ‘George Orwell’”
Phyllis Harris – “The Giant One Legged…”
Philip Lamantia – “Without Props”
Sam Abrams – “The 1st Day”
Allan Kaplan – “Billy and Franz”
Gerry Gilbert – “The Stakes”
Tom Raworth – “Not Under Holly or Green Boughs”
Tom Raworth – “She Sd, Bread, Fred”
Tom Raworth – “The Third Retainer”
- Robin Blaser – “Psyche”
2. TWICE: A One Shot Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 1, edited by Tom Clark
Brightlingsea: Tom Clark, 1966
First edition, side-stapled in illustrated cover, 8″ x 13″, 7 leaves printed recto only, mimeograph printed.
- Contents:
- Robert Howell – “from Ten Great Poetry Readings: VI”
Ron Padgett – “On Ten Fingers” [translation of following Reverdy poem]
Pierre Reverdy – “Sur Les Dix Doigts”
- Robert Howell – “from Ten Great Poetry Readings: VI”
3. THRICE: A One Shot Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 1, edited by Tom Clark
Brightlingsea: Tom Clark, March 1966
First edition, side-stapled in illustrated cover, 8″ x 13″, 25 leaves printed recto only, mimeograph printed.
- Contents:
- Max Jacob – “from Le Cornet à Des” (translated by Ron Padgett)
F.J. Lauria – “Crazyface”
Joanne Kyger – “This is Water Sons”
Joanne Kyger – “The Sky Vault. Its Own Legend”
Joanne Kyger – “Dear, Dearest”
Aram Saroyan – “Poem” [“I seldom remember what…”]
Ted Berrigan – “February Air”
Ted Berrigan – “From a Life for Teresa Mitchell”
Ted Berrigan – “Epithalamium for Bernie Mitchell”
Ed Dorn – “Box Score”
Pamela Millward – “17 November 1965”
Larry Fagin – [untitled] “Which way is it you want me…”
Gael Turnbull – “Song”
Gael Turnbull – “An Intent”
Gael Turnbull – “A Good Man”
Richard Kolmar – “Aristophanes”
Charles Olson – “Maximus to Gloucester, Letter 27”
Gerry Gilbert – “Living at Claude & Ardie’s”
Gerry Gilbert – “Bicycle”
Gerry Gilbert – “Train”
E.A. McGregor-Plarr – “An Ode”
Clark Coolidge – “Noon Print”
Clark Coolidge – “In Land Trip Machine”
Clark Coolidge – “The Beings There, Not There, House”
Clark Coolidge – “Scrub Brush, in Lansing Michigan”
Clark Coolidge – “More Group Slab Reach”
Clark Coolidge – “Hall Crawl & Tuba Ode”
Thomas Clark – “Change”
Thomas Clark – “Doors”
Thomas Clark – “The Archer”
Thomas Clark – “You”
Thomas Clark – “You (II)”
Thomas Clark – “You (III)”
Thomas Clark – “You (IV)”
Aram Saroyan – “Letter to the Village Voice”
Thomas Clark – “You (V)”
Harold Dull – “The Dice”
Harold Dull – “The Door Poem”
- Max Jacob – “from Le Cornet à Des” (translated by Ron Padgett)
4. THRICE AND A HALF: A One Shot Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 1, edited by Tom Clark
Brightlingsea: Tom Clark, 1966
First edition, side-stapled in illustrated cover, 8″ x 13″, 2 leaves printed recto only, mimeograph printed.
- Contents:
- Tom Pickard – “The Bodies are Touching”
Tom Pickard – “Daylight Hours”
Tom Pickard – “Forbidden Birth”
- Tom Pickard – “The Bodies are Touching”
5. FRICE: A One Shot Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 1, edited by Tom Clark
Brightlingsea: Tom Clark, April 1966
First edition, side-stapled in illustrated cover, 8″ x 13″, 24 leaves printed recto only, mimeograph printed. Cover art by Joe Brainard.
- Contents:
- Fielding Dawson – “Hernando’s Hideaway”
Fielding Dawson – “Oblivion Calling for Philip Guston”
Michael Benedikt – “Fraudulent Days”
Michael Benedikt – “Developments”
Michael Benedikt – “Mr. Rainman”
Michael Benedikt – “Bedouin Tents”
Allen Ginsberg – “Portland Aug. 27, 1965”
Aram Saroyan – “Signs”
Max Jacob – “Christmas Story” (translated by Ron Padgett)
Max Jacob – “The Key” (translated by Ron Padgett)
Max Jacob – “Adventure Story” (translated by Ron Padgett)
Max Jacob – “Valiant Warrior on Foreign Soil” (translated by Ron Padgett)
Ron Padgett – “Talking Neutrality”
Ron Padgett – “Words to Joe Ceravolo”
Larry Fagin – “Occasional Poem”
Lee Harwood – “Summer”
Tristan Tzara – “Volt” (translated by Lee Harwood)
Tristan Tzara – “The Jugglers” (translated by Lee Harwood)
Philippe Soupault – “2 Songs” (translated by Lee Harwood)
John Perreault – “The Americans”
John Perreault – “Punishment”
John Perreault – “Renaissance”
John Perreault – “These Trains”
Guillaume Appollinaire – “The Chaste Lise” (translated by Thomas Clark)
Edward van Aelstyn – “Information Explosion”
Gertrude Stein – “Shakespeare”
Ted Berrigan – “Living with Chris for Chris Gallup”
Ted Berrigan – “A Dream”
Ted Berrigan – “Poem for Ed Sanders”
Steve Carey – “Sand”
Ted Berrigan – “A Personal Memoir of Tulsa, Oklahoma”
Ted Berrigan – “After Breakfast”
Ted Berrigan – “American Express”
Robert Desnos – “Take Off Your Clothes” (translated by Ted Berrigan and Ron Padgett)
Max Earnst – “Poem” (translated by Ted Berrigan)
Guillaume Apollinaire – “Epigram” (translated by Ted Berrigan)
Ted Berrigan – “Selflessness”
Thomas Clark – “Telephone Poem”
Thomas Clark – “Afternoons”
Thomas Clark – “Poem” (“You dream things…”)
Thomas Clark – “The Last Poem”
Hart Crane – “Chaplinesque”
Thomas Clark – “Michelin Poem”
- Fielding Dawson – “Hernando’s Hideaway”
6. VICE: A One Shot Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 1, edited by Tom Clark
Brightlingsea: Tom Clark, 1966
First edition, side-stapled in illustrated cover, 8″ x 13″, 27 leaves printed recto only, mimeograph printed. Cover art by Joe Brainard.
- Contents:
- Ed Sanders – “The Fugs”
Gregory Corso – “But Surely Yahweh’s Not Dead?”
Gregory Corso – “O Mighty Tug”
Gregory Corso – “In Honor of Those the Negroes are Revolting Against”
Gregory Corso – “Not This”
Larry Eigner – [untitled] “Entering and going out…”
Andres Segovia – [untitled] “True it is…”
Ron Padgett – “Joe Brainard’s Painting ‘Bingo’”
Joe Brainard, Ron and Patricia Padgett – “An Interview with Joe Brainard”
Blaise Cendrars – “Ten Poems” (translated by Ron Padgett)
Fielding Dawson – “Two Reviews” (reviews of recent Kyger and O’Hara books)
Ron Padgett – “Reading Reverdy”
David Shapiro – “From a May Night”
Ted Berrigan – “from Clearing the Range, Charter 25”
Thomas Clark – “from Cluttering the Ranch, Chapter 90”
Thomas Clark – “Clavier”
Joe Pinelli – “from Striations, The Season’s Change”
Michel Couturier – “Maison-Dieu” (translated by Lee Harwood)
Lee Harwood – “The Tractors are Waiting (for Larry Fagin)”
Aram Saroyan – [untitled] “Gradually money…”
James Brodey – “Vice, 1966”
Thomas Clark – “from Cluttering the Ranch, Chapter 2”
George Tysh – “Plus”
Joe Perreault – “Vice”
- Ed Sanders – “The Fugs”
7. ICE: A One Shot Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 1, edited by Tom Clark
Brightlingsea: Tom Clark, 1966
First edition, side-stapled in illustrated cover, 8″ x 13″, 20 leaves printed recto only, mimeograph printed.
- Contents:
- Ted Berrigan – “Blueprint for a Poem to be Written…”
E.A. McGregor-Plarr – “Two Serious Ladies”
Allen Ginsberg – “Amsterdam Avenue Bar”
Joanne Kyger – “May 29”
Bernadette Mayer – “Earthworks”
Harlan Dangerfield – “Der Geisterseher”
Joe Pinelli – “from Striations:The Season’s Change”
Robert Howell – “Poem” [“Such deep failure…]
Robert Howell – [untitled] “Recently I was struck…”
Ted Berrigan and Bernadette Mayer – “I am Davis”
Tom Clark – “Martha’s Millions”
Tom Clark – “What I’m Trying to Say”
Tom Clark – “To Himself”
Fielding Dawson – “Some History”
Diane di Prima – “Song for the Spring Equinox”
Robert Howell – “I Dream I Suppose Indefinitely of Yourself”
David Shapiro – “For Chagy”
Richard Kolmar – “Part of an Elegy”
Richard Kolmar – “Love Letter I Forgot to Mail”
Richard Kolmar – “The Intoxicating Thing”
Doreen – “Humans”
Jack Kerouac – “from Visions of Cody”
Aram Saroyan – “Guarantee”
Edward Kissam – “Shards, Pottery”
Ted Berrigan – “A Cranny of Life”
Peter Schjeldahl – “Contemporary Lights”
Ted Berrigan and Ron Padgett – “Uncas”
Ted Berrigan, Ron Padgett, Tom Veitch, and Dick Gallup – “In the Foundry”
- Ted Berrigan – “Blueprint for a Poem to be Written…”
8. NICE: A One Shot Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 1, edited by Tom Clark
Brightlingsea: Tom Clark, 1966
First edition, side-stapled in illustrated cover, 8″ x 13″, 20 leaves printed recto only, mimeograph printed. Cover art by Joe Brainard.
- Contents:
- Joe Brainard – “Life”
Charles Goldman – “Smoke Dance”
John Perreault – “Memorandum”
John Perreault – “Elbow”
Aram Saroyan – “Quote”
Aram Saroyan – “from Songs & Buttons”
Richard Brautigan – “The Armored Car”
Tom Clark – “Hitching”
Tom Clark – “from The Riot at the Garrick Theatre”
Lee Harwood – “His July Return”
Clark Coolidge – “Soda Gong”
Clark Coolidge – “Cellary”
Harry Fainlight – “Exercise 1”
Harry Fainlight – “Spider Eclipse”
Harry Fainlight – “Laws”
Harry Fainlight – “H”
Frank O’Hara – “Ode to Willem de Kooning”
David Shapiro – “For Chagy”
Harry Fainlight – “The Gates of Albion”
Dick Gallup – “An Idea that Reaches the Moon”
Peter Schjeldahl and Ted Berrigan – “Juking”
Peter Schjeldahl and Ted Berrigan – “Pictures from Breughel”
Peter Schjeldahl – “Soft Letter”
Ted Berrigan – [untitled] “Before the orgasmic platform…”
- Joe Brainard – “Life”
9. SLICE: A One Shot Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 1, edited by Tom Clark
Brightlingsea: Tom Clark, 1966
First edition, side-stapled in illustrated cover, 8″ x 13″, 26 leaves printed recto only, mimeograph printed. Cover art by Joe Brainard.
- Contents:
- Dick Gallup – “Death and the Maiden”
Dick Gallup – “The Georgics”
Dick Gallup – “The Bingo: Act III”
Bruce Maddox – “The Engagement Ring Cycle”
Joe Ceravolo – “Surface”
Joe Ceravolo – “Leaped at the Caribou”
Joe Ceravolo – “In the Grass”
Joe Ceravolo – “Stars of the Trees and Ponds”
Lewis MacAdams – “The Dazzling Day”
Lewis MacAdams – “The Witch”
Joe Ceravolo – “Stillness”
Jack Collom – “Count K. in the Wind”
Steve Carey – “Something of Nothing”
Steve Carey – “Silhouette”
James Brodey – “Someplace/Utah”
Thomas Clark – “Spectacles”
Thomas Clark – “The Fire-Dance”
Thomas Clark – “Mudball Gathering”
Thomas Clark – “The Trial”
Thomas Clark – “Baseball”
Thomas Clark – “Pancakes”
David Shapiro – “Poem” [Light became audible…”
David Shapiro – “Any Plant that Turns Toward the Sun”
David Shapiro – “For Son II”
Ted Berrigan – “Corporal Pellegrini”
Max Jacob – “Genre Biographique” (translated by Ted Berrigan)
Max Jacob – “The War” (translated by Ted Berrigan)
Max Jacob – “The Enemy of the Citadel” (translated by Ted Berrigan)
Max Jacob – “Symbolic Egyptienne” (translated by Ted Berrigan)
Guillaume Apollinaire – “A Poem” (translated by Ted Berrigan)
Ron Padgett and Ted Berrigan – “from A Little Anthology of Modern Verse”
Ed Dorn – “2nd Quarter”
Sotere Torregian – “Lionine, An Elegy”
Sotere Torregian – “In the Year of Reredos”
Sotere Torregian – “The Museum of Famous People”
Aram Saroyan – “Two Poems”
Sotere Torregian – “from The Uncollected Poems of John Wesley Hardin”
LeRoi Jones – “Labor and Management”
Tom Raworth – “The Circle”
Sotere Torregian – “Fire on Leon Blum”
Peter Schjeldahl – “Gauge”
- Dick Gallup – “Death and the Maiden”
10. SLICE: A One Shot Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 2, edited by Tom Clark
Brightlingsea: Tom Clark, 1967
First edition, side-stapled in illustrated cover, 8″ x 13″, 7 leaves printed recto only, mimeograph printed. Cover art by Joe Brainard.
- Contents:
- Fielding Dawson – “Spring Sequence”
Bernadette Mayer – “The Earmark”
Michael McClure – “Dream Table”
- Fielding Dawson – “Spring Sequence”
11. SPICE, edited by Tom Clark
Brightlingsea: Tom Clark, 1967
First edition, side-stapled in illustrated cover, 8″ x 13″, 24 leaves printed recto only, mimeograph printed. Cover art by Joe Brainard.
- Contents:
- Ted Berrigan – “Looking for Chris, Part I”
Anne Waldman -”After the Circus”
Ron Padgett – “A Katz”
Ron Padgett – “Injured Nancy”
Steve Carey – “P.M.”
David Shapiro – “The Divine Comedy”
John Giorno – [untitled] “A former janitor…”
John Giorno – [untitled] “Seven Cuban army officers…”
Robert Avid – “The Sooner the Better”
Ed Dorn – “An Idle Visitation”
Ed Dorn – “A Notation on the Evening of November 27, 1966”
Lewis MacAdams – “Red River, in Memory of Frank O’Hara”
Lewis Warsh – “All the Earmarks of a Plan”
Larry Fagin – [untitled] “Well known is the long parade…”
Alan Kaplan – “Through New Jersey, via the Greyhound”
Tom Veitch – “You’ve Got a Point There, Pop”
Lewis MacAdams – “Turn Out the Lining on your All-Time Great Men”
Michael Brownstein – “Highway 31”
Kathleen Fraser – “Letters: To Barbara”
Tony Towle – “Fable”
Tony Towle – “Poem” [“The bus stops…”]
Ted Berrigan – “The N.Y. Jets, a movie”
Jon Cott – “The House”
Tom Clark – “The Ted Berrigan Story”
Ted Berrigan – “The Tom Clark Story”
- Ted Berrigan – “Looking for Chris, Part I”