
An eclectic periodical, published coincident with Tom Clark’s Fulbright study and posting as Instructor in American Poetry at the University of Essex. The titles varied but each was denoted “A One Shot Magazine… No Copyright No Nothin.”
An eclectic periodical, published coincident with Tom Clark’s Fulbright study and posting as Instructor in American Poetry at the University of Essex. The titles varied but each was denoted “A One Shot Magazine… No Copyright No Nothin.”
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Jack Spicer’s J ran for eight issues: Nos. 1–5 were edited by Spicer in North Beach where contributions were left in a box marked “J” in The Place, a bar on Grant Avenue in San Francisco; Nos. 6 and 7 (an Apparition of the late J) were edited by George Stanley in San Francisco and New York City respectively while no. 8 was edited by Harold Dull in Rome. Spicer believed that poetry was for poets and the magazine had a small circulation but cast a long shadow.
>> return to Jack Spicer main page >>
Section A:
This index collects books, chapbooks, and pamphlets
1. Spicer, Jack. AFTER LORCA
a. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, November-December 1957
Saddle-stapled in illustrated wrappers, 6.5″ x 8.5″, 76 pages, 474 copies, multilith printed by Joe Dunn. Jack Spicer’s first book of poetry. Cover illustration by Jess Collins. Introduction by Federico Garcia Lorca.
(Johnston A2)
b. First edition, lettered and signed copies:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, November-December 1957
Saddle-stapled in illustrated wrappers, 6.5″ x 8.5″, 76 pages, 26 copies lettered and signed with a drawing by the author, multilith printed by Joe Dunn. Jack Spicer’s first book of poetry. Cover illustration by Jess Collins. Introduction by Federico Garcia Lorca.
(Johnston A2)
c. First edition, second issue:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, November-December 1957
Unbound (but collated and folded) without wrappers issued in mailing envelope at a later date.
(Johnston A2)
d. First UK edition:
London: Aloes Books, 1969
e. Second edition:
n.p.: Marco Polio, 1974
2. Spicer, Jack. HOMAGE TO CREELEY
First edition:
Annapolis: Harold and Dore Dull, Summer 1959
Side-stapled in printed covers, 8.5″ x 11″, 33 pages, 100 copies, spirit-mimeo printed. Incorporated into A4.
3. Spicer, Jack. BILLY THE KID
a. First edition, first state:
Stinson Beach: Enkidu Surrogate, October 1959
Saddle-stapled in illustrated wrappers, 6.5″ x 8.5″, 16 pages, 750 copies, offset printed. Illustrations by Jess Collins.
b. First edition, second state:
The second state includes holograph corrections to text on page 8; holograph addition of ‘Face’ at end of section VI.
c. Second edition:
Dublin: New Writers’ Press, 1969
d. Third edition
n.p.: Oyster Press, March 1975
4. Spicer, Jack. THE HEADS IF THE TOWN UP TO THE AETHER
a. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1962
Perfect-bound in illustrated and printed wrappers, 4.75″ x 6.75″, 109 pages, 750 copies, letterpress printed by Dave Haselwood. Illustrated by Fran Herndon.
(Auerhahn 21)
b. First edition, hardcover, signed copies:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1962
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards, 4.75″ x 7.25″, 109 pages, 50 copies signed by the author and artist, with an original drawing by Spicer, letterpress printed by Dave Haselwood, bound by the Schuberth Bindery. Illustrated by Fran Herndon.
(Auerhahn 21)
Note: Printed announcement issued.
5. Spicer, Jack. LAMENT FOR THE MAKERS
a. First edition:
Oakland: White Rabbit Press, 1962
Hand-sewn in illustrated wrappers, 5.5″ x 8″, 16 pages, 100 copies, offset printed. Illustrated by Graham Mackintosh.
(Johnston A11)
Note: According to Johnston, “Back of title page has a fictitious acknowledgments list (by Graham Mackintosh) taken from Robert Duncan’s The Opening of the Field.”
b. First UK edition:
London: Aloes, 1971
6. Spicer, Jack. THE HOLY GRAIL
a. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, 1964
Saddle-stapled and glued into illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 8.5″, 80 pages, offset printed. Illustrated by Graham Mackintosh.
(Johnston A19)
b. First edition, hardcover copies:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, 1964
Hardcover, 6.25″ x 8.5″, 80 pages, 13 copies signed (4 were reportedly destroyed during signing), offset printed. Illustrated by Graham Mackintosh.
(Johnston A19)
c. Second, Pirated edition:
Berkeley: Jolly Roger Press, February 1969
Side-stapled printed and illustrated sheets, 8.5″ x 11″, 20 pages, 500 copies. Published anonymously by Richard Krech and John Oliver Simon at the Undermine Press.
Pirate’s Note: “I only heard Jack Spicer read once, at the the Berkeley poetry conference in july 65. an hour after he read THE HOLY GRAIL, the last copy was gone from the avenue bookstores… this free pirate edition is distributed to make the poem available to those who need it.”
d. Third edition:
Watertown: Augtwofive, 1970
e. Fourth edition:
Portland: Timeworn (Poor Claudia at Revolution Publishing), 2014
7. Spicer, Jack. LANGUAGE
a. First edition:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, June 1965
Perfect-bound illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 10″, 72 pages, 950 copies, letterpress printed by Graham Mackintosh.
(Johnston A30)
Note: Most of these poems first appeared in OPEN SPACE.
b. First edition, second printing:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, 1970
Perfect-bound illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 10″, 72 pages, 950 copies, offset printed from the first edition. Text added to the colophon: “Second printing 1970”.
(Johnston A54)
8. Spicer, Jack. BOOK OF MAGAZINE VERSE
a. First edition:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, 1966
Perfect-bound printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5″ x 7.75″, 56 pages, 1500 copies, letterpress printed by Graham Mackintosh. Prepared for publication from the original manuscript by Stan Persky. Illustrated by Graham Mackintosh.
(Johnston A33)
According to Johnston, “The cover is a parody of the cover of Poetry (Chicago). The poems are arranged in groups intended for various little magazines and newspapers, each section printed on a stock appropriate to that publication, so that for example, the poems for Tish are on blue mimeo paper, those for the St. Louis Sporting News on newsprint.”
b. First edition, second printing
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, 1970
Perfect-bound printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5″ x 7.75″, 56 pages, 1500 copies, letterpress printed by Graham Mackintosh. Prepared for publication from the original manuscript by Stan Persky. Illustrated by Graham Mackintosh.
(Johnston A33)
9. Spicer, Jack. A BOOK OF MUSIC
a. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: White Rabbit, 1969
Saddle-stapled illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 9.25″, 20 pages, 1800 copies designed and printed by Ron and Graham Mackintosh from a typescript made available by Peter Howard. The cover was one decided upon by the author. Illustrated by Graham Mackintosh.
(Johnston A48)
b. First edition, variant copies:
Variant copies include additional printed text on the front leaf: “150 copies printed Christmas, 1969 / for friends of White Rabbit, Oyez, / and the author”.
(Johnston A48a)
10. Spicer, Jack. THE RED WHEELBARROW
a. First edition, regular copies:
Berkeley: Arif Press, June 1971
Hand-sewn printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5″ x 5.5″, 24 pages, 475 copies, letterpress printed. Illustrated by Wesley Tanner. Printed by Wesley Tanner at Cranium Press.
b. First edition, numbered copies:
Berkeley: Arif Press, June 1971
Hand-sewn printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5″ x 5.5″, 24 pages, 25 copies with hand-colored frontispiece, signed by the illustrator, letterpress printed. Illustrated by Wesley Tanner. Printed by Wesley Tanner at Cranium Press.
Note: Printed announcement issued.
11. Spicer, Jack. SOME THINGS FROM JACK
First edition:
Verona: Plain Wrapper Press, 1972
Wrappers, 6.5″ x 10.25″, 11 pages, 91 numbered copies, printed letterpress. Introduction by Richard Rummonds. Linocut by Miroslav Zahradka.
12. Spicer, Jack. ADMONITIONS
First edition:
New York: Adventures in Poetry, 1974
Side-stapled printed wrappers, 8.5″ x 11″, 44 pages, mimeograph printed.
13. Spicer, Jack. QUARTUS 1: A LOST POEM
First edition:
Verona: Plain Wrapper Press, 1974
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards, 9.5″ x 11.5″, 8 pages, 114 numbered copies signed by the artist, letterpress printed. Postscript by Richard-Gabriel Rummonds. Illustrated with two etchings by Ariel Parkinson.
14. Spicer, Jack. FIFTEEN FALSE PROPOSITIONS ABOUT GOD
First edition:
South San Francisco: Manroot, September 1974
Saddle-stapled printed and illustrated wrappers, 6.5″ x 8.5″, 16 pages, offset printed.
Note: This poem first appeared in Beatitude, No. 3 (San Francisco, May 1959)
15. Spicer, Jack. THE COLLECTED BOOKS OF JACK SPICER
a. First edition, paperback copies:
Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, May 1975
Perfect-bound printed wrappers, 6.25″ x 8.75″, 382 pages including bibliography of first editions, 1000 copies. Edited and with commentary by Robin Blaser. Typography by Graham Mackintosh/White Rabbit.
b. First edition, hardcover copies:
Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, May 1975
Hardcover in acetate dust jacket, 6.5″ x 9″, 382 pages including bibliography of first editions, 1000 copies. Edited and with commentary by Robin Blaser. Typography by Graham Mackintosh/White Rabbit.
c. First edition, hardcover, numbered and signed copies:
Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, May 1975
Hardcover in acetate dust jacket and slipcase, 6.5″ x 9″, 382 pages including bibliography of first editions, 100 copies, numbered and signed by Robin Blaser. Edited and with commentary by Robin Blaser. Typography by Graham Mackintosh/White Rabbit.
16. Spicer, Jack. ONE NIGHT STAND & OTHER POEMS
First edition:
San Francisco: Grey Fox Press, 1980
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards without dust jacket as issued, 98 pages. Edited by Donald Allen. Preface by Robert Duncan.
17. Spicer, Jack. COLLECTED POEMS, 1945-46
First edition:
Berkeley: Oyez/White Rabbit Press, 1981
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 7″ x 9″, 32 pages, lithographed from the author’s typescript.
18. Spicer, Jack. THE TOWER OF BABEL
First edition:
Hoboken, N.J: Talisman House, 1994
Perfect-bound photo-illustrated wrappers, 170 pages. Chapter one of Jack Spicer’s Detective Novel, edited by Ed Foster and Kevin Killian.
Described by Lewis Ellingham and Kevin Killian as “a satiric look at the private world of poetry gone public in the wake of the Six Gallery HOWL reading of October, 1955.”
19. Spicer, Jack. TRAIN OF THOUGHT
First edition:
Gran Canaria: Zasterle Press, 1994
Perfect-bound in illustrated wrappers, 62 pages, 300 numbered copies. Edited with an introduction by Lewis Ellingham and Kevin Killian.
Chapter three of Jack Spicer’s unpublished detective novel
20. Spicer, Jack. MAP POEMS
First edition:
Berkeley: The Bancroft Library Press, 2005
Thirty-five copies printed: bound in brown paper wrappers. Introduction by Kevin Killian and Peter Gizzi
—
Stan Persky began Open Space in 1964, printing 50 copies of each issue on a multilith machine (whereas J was mimeographed). Like J, and M, Open Space was a very local (North Beach) magazine whose contents seemed primarily intended for those who contributed, including: Helen Adam, Robin Blaser, Ebbe Borregaard, Richard Duerden, Harold Dull, Larry Fagin, Jess Collins, Jack Spicer and George Stanley. The magazine was also “quite spicy and a little gossipy, for instance, labeling the famed 1955 reading at the Six Gallery as ‘creamed cottage cheese.’”
1. OPEN SPACE, No. 0, A PROSPECTUS, edited by Stan Persky
San Francisco: Open Space, January 1964
First edition, corner-stapled in printed and illustrated cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 34 pages, lithography printed by Mike Kummer, lettering by Peggy Engle. Translations by Max Knight.
2. OPEN SPACE, No. 1, edited by Stan Persky
San Francisco: Open Space, February 1964
First edition, corner-stapled in printed and illustrated cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 50 pages, lithography printed by Mike Kummer, lettering by Peggy Engle. Collage by Graham Mackintosh.
3. OPEN SPACE, Valentine Issue, edited by Stan Persky
San Francisco: Open Space, February 1964
First edition, corner-stapled in printed and illustrated cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 60 pages, lithography printed printed by Mike Kummer, lettering by Peggy Engle. Photography by Lartigue.
4. OPEN SPACE, No. 2, edited by Stan Persky
San Francisco: Open Space, February 1964
First edition, corner-stapled in printed and illustrated cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 62 pages, lithography printed by Mike Kummer. Illustration by Fran Herndon, collage by Graham Mackintosh..
5. OPEN SPACE, No. 3, edited by Stan Persky
San Francisco: Open Space, March 1964
First edition, corner-stapled in printed and illustrated cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 52 pages, lithography printed by Mike Kummer, lettering by Peggy Engle. Cover art and illustration by Fran Herndon.
6. OPEN SPACE, No. 4, Taurus Issue, edited by Stan Persky
San Francisco: Open Space, April 1964
First edition, corner-stapled in printed and illustrated cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 66 pages, lithography printed by Mike Kummer and Lee Kummer, lettering by Peggy Engle. Illustrations by Bill Brodecky and Tom Field
7. OPEN SPACE, No. 4, White Hope Issue, edited by Stan Persky
San Francisco: Open Space, May 1964
First edition, corner-stapled in printed and illustrated cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 66 pages, lithography printed. Illustration by Fran Herndon.
8. OPEN SPACE, No. 5, edited by Stan Persky
San Francisco: Open Space, May 1964
First edition, corner-stapled in printed and illustrated cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 50 pages, lithography printed by Mike Kummer and Lee Kummer, lettering by Peggy Engle. Illustrations by Fran Herndon, Nemi Frost, Tom Field, Bill Wheeler, and Graham Mackintosh.
9. OPEN SPACE, No. 6, edited by Stan Persky
San Francisco: Open Space, June 1964
First edition, corner-stapled in printed and illustrated cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 50 pages, lithography printed by Mike Kummer. Cover art by Helen Adam, illustrations by Armando
Navarro and Robert Berg.
10. OPEN SPACE, No. 7, edited by Stan Persky
San Francisco: Open Space, July 1964
First edition, corner-stapled in printed and illustrated cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 82 pages, lithography printed by Lee Kummer, lettering by Peggy Engle. Cover art by Jess. Illustrations by William McNeill, Ken Botto, Fran Herndon, and Nemi Frost.
11. OPEN SPACE, No. 8, edited by Stan Persky
San Francisco: Open Space, August 1964
First edition, corner-stapled in printed and illustrated cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 76 pages. Cover art by Robert Berg.
12. OPEN SPACE, No. 9, edited by Stan Persky
San Francisco: Open Space, September 1964
First edition, corner-stapled in printed and illustrated cover, 8.5? x 11?, 92 pages, lithography printed by Mike Kummer. Cover art by Harry Jacobus. Illustration by Jess.
13. OPEN SPACE, No. 10, edited by Stan Persky
San Francisco: Open Space, October 1964
First edition, corner-stapled in printed and illustrated cover, 8.5? x 11?, 92 pages, lithography printed by Mike Kummer. Cover art and collage poem by by Jess.
14. OPEN SPACE, No. 11, edited by Stan Persky
San Francisco: Open Space, November 1964
First edition, corner-stapled in printed and illustrated cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 70 pages, lithography printed by Mike Kummer. Cover photograph by Margot Prattlesome Dross.
15. OPEN SPACE, No. 12, edited by Stan Persky
San Francisco: Open Space, 1964
First edition, corner-stapled in printed and illustrated cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 90 pages, lithography printed by Mike Kummer. Illustrations by Jess and Robert Duncan.
Online Resources:
Flying Object – scans of all issues
Jack Spicer’s J ran for eight issues: Nos. 1–5 were edited by Spicer in North Beach where contributions were left in a box marked “J” in The Place, a bar on Grant Avenue in San Francisco; Nos. 6 and 7 (an Apparition of the late J) were edited by George Stanley in San Francisco and New York City respectively while no. 8 was edited by Harold Dull in Rome. Spicer believed that poetry was for poets and the magazine had a small circulation but cast a long shadow. Contributors included: Robin Blaser, Richard Brautigan, Bruce Boyd, Kay Johnson, Robert Duncan, Joe Dunn, Ron Loewinsohn, Joanne Kyger, Helen Adam, and others. Covers (sometimes hand-embellished) were by Fran Herndon (Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5), Russell FitzGerald (No. 3), and George Stanley (Nos. 6, 7).
1. J, No. 1, edited by Jack Spicer
San Francisco: J, 1959
First edition, corner-stapled sheets in printed cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 38 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover by Fran Herndon.
2. J, No. 2, edited by Jack Spicer
San Francisco: J, 1959
First edition, corner-stapled sheets in printed cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 36 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover by Fran Herndon.
3. J, No. 3, edited by Jack Spicer
San Francisco: J, 1959
First edition, corner-stapled sheets in printed and hand-painted cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 38 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover by Russell FitzGerald.
4. J, No. 4, edited by Jack Spicer
San Francisco: J, 1959
First edition, corner-stapled sheets in printed and hand-painted cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 36 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover by Fran Herndon.
5. J, No. 5, edited by Jack Spicer
San Francisco: J, 1959
First edition, corner-stapled sheets in printed and hand-painted cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 34 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover by Fran Herndon.
6. J, No. 6, edited by George Stanley
San Francisco: J, 1959
First edition, corner-stapled sheets in printed cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 38 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover by George Stanley.
7. J, No. 7, edited by George Stanley
New York: J, 1960
Corner-stapled sheets in printed cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 32 pages, mimeograph printed. Cover by George Stanley.
All contents are anonymous.
8. J, No. 8, 1961, edited by Harold Dull *
Rome: J, 1961
Contributors: Harold Dull, Stan Persky.
—
[*not in archive]
online excerpt from A Secret Location on the Lower East Side (Granary Books, 1998):
“In many ways the most beautiful of all the mimeo magazines, J had an eight-issue run. The first five issues were edited from North Beach bars by Jack Spicer with Fran Herndon as art editor. Spicer, who embodied the spirit of poetry in the Bay area, collected pieces for his magazine from a box marked “J” in The Place, a bar at 1546 Grant Avenue in San Francisco. A refugee from Los Angeles with two degrees from Berkeley, he had been a student of Josephine Miles there in the mid-1940s. They became close friends, and Spicer participated in the Friday afternoon poetry readings in Wheeler Hall during the late 1940s as well as the readings organized with Rockefeller money by Ruth Witt-Diamant at the new Poetry Center at San Francisco State. Into the cauldron of poetic politics surrounding Miles, Kenneth Rexroth, Robert Duncan, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and others, Spicer introduced his freest of spirits, sometimes more Caliban than Ariel. Spicer lived for words (even making his living as a research assistant on a lexicographical project at Berkeley). He could be found most evenings in one of the North Beach bars or coffeehouses leading the discussion on poetry, poetics, myth, linguistics, and other mysteries. Like Blake and Yeats (with the help of Mrs. Yeats), Spicer attempted to clear his mind and open himself to “dictation” from other sources, which he devotedly pursued. Spicer also believed wholeheartedly in the necessity of human beings’ helping each other through communication, which he confronted in the editorship of J, a little newsletter of the poetic spirit. Donald Allen acted as J’s distributor in New York (“New York Contributions are not forbidden. But quotaed”), selling copies for Spicer to the Wilentz brothers of the Eighth Street Book Shop. In an early letter to Spicer, Allen eagerly wondered “what your editorial policy may be. Seduction by print.””
Further Reading: