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Waifs and Strays by Ballard, Micah
by Ballard, Micah | PB | Good
US $11.54
Approximately£8.54
Condition:
“Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, ”... Read moreAbout condition
Good
A book that has been read, but is in good condition. Minimal damage to the book cover eg. scuff marks, but no holes or tears. If this is a hard cover, the dust jacket may be missing. Binding has minimal wear. The majority of pages are undamaged with some creasing or tearing, and pencil underlining of text, but this is minimal. No highlighting of text, no writing in the margins, and no missing pages. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections.
- Buy it nowWaifs and Strays by Ballard, Micah
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Estimated between Tue, 29 Jul and Fri, 1 Aug to 94104
Located in: Aurora, Illinois, United States
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eBay item number:146456706950
Item specifics
- Condition
- Good
- Seller notes
- Binding
- Paperback
- Weight
- 0 lbs
- Product Group
- Book
- IsTextBook
- No
- ISBN
- 9780872865440
About this product
Product Identifiers
Publisher
City Lights
ISBN-10
0872865444
ISBN-13
9780872865440
eBay Product ID (ePID)
108998064
Product Key Features
Book Title
Waifs and Strays
Number of Pages
100 Pages
Language
English
Publication Year
2011
Topic
General, American / General, Subjects & Themes / General
Genre
Poetry
Book Series
City Lights Spotlight Ser.
Format
Trade Paperback
Dimensions
Item Height
0.3 in
Item Weight
4.6 Oz
Item Length
7 in
Item Width
5.5 in
Additional Product Features
Intended Audience
Trade
LCCN
2011-017876
Reviews
Though raised in Baton Rouge, La., Ballard now seems energetically tied to San Francisco, since his offhand intensities, fiercely casual stance, quick free verse, and colloquial mysticism draw so frequently on two great sources of Bay Area poetics, the prophetic concentration of Robert Duncan and the extroversion of the beats. Often he builds bridges from a bohemian life in this world to greatness in the next. 'Pools of Olympia' (which may refer to Greek gods or to hard liquor, or to both) imagines 'smashed glass gutter core/ exact proportions darkly mingled... the highest farewell between heaven and earth.' Ballard explains in a longer poem how 'Alive/ in being gone/ I seek what you have not/ & dilate my margins/ to form a heaven/ underground.' Ballard updates his sources with hip-hop and indie-rock references (Guided by Voices, Morrissey), presenting his own inner quests as ambivalent models: 'what some find as flaws/ I claim as divine rites/ do not try to follow me/ it's up to you to stake out/ your own fortress.' Ballard (Parish Krewes) comes by his beat heritage personally, having studied with, and then worked alongside, David Meltzer. Followers of Meltzer's lineage, or of beat writing in general, may find him not just engaging but irreplaceable., "Micah Ballard's Waifs and Strays is the stuff of legend . . . These poems account for his travels, illuminating his experience through shadows he casts for us on the walls." --Justin Sherwood, "Micah Ballard's Waifs and Strays is the stuff of legend . . . These poems account for his travels, illuminating his experience through shadows he casts for us on the walls." -Justin Sherwood, "Though raised in Baton Rouge, La., Ballard now seems energetically tied to San Francisco, since his offhand intensities, fiercely casual stance, quick free verse, and colloquial mysticism draw so frequently on two great sources of Bay Area poetics, the prophetic concentration of Robert Duncan and the extroversion of the beats. Often he builds bridges from a bohemian life in this world to greatness in the next. 'Pools of Olympia' (which may refer to Greek gods or to hard liquor, or to both) imagines 'smashed glass gutter core/ exact proportions darkly mingled... the highest farewell between heaven and earth.' Ballard explains in a longer poem how 'Alive/ in being gone/ I seek what you have not/ & dilate my margins/ to form a heaven/ underground.' Ballard updates his sources with hip-hop and indie-rock references (Guided by Voices, Morrissey), presenting his own inner quests as ambivalent models: 'what some find as flaws/ I claim as divine rites/ do not try to follow me/ it's up to you to stake out/ your own fortress.' Ballard ( Parish Krewes ) comes by his beat heritage personally, having studied with, and then worked alongside, David Meltzer. Followers of Meltzer's lineage, or of beat writing in general, may find him not just engaging but irreplaceable." – Publishers Weekly "We 'exit through a trap door' like Orpheus through the silvered mirror. We are pirates, inmates, benefactors, ghosts. We are always on the move, on a journey remembering to chart and map the future, the poems, Waifs and Strays , a magical gift to give away. This is a breathtaking book of evocations, provocations, revelations." –Norma Cole " Waifs and Strays is an invocation of poetic ancestry, so as to lead the reader through a gallery of visions imbued with elegance and charm. I enjoy deciphering the marvelous engravings, names, and epitaphs mapped out along its pages. There is a chimerical secrecy at work in these texts, an awareness of the poem as conduit. Mark this encrypted province you hold in your hands." –Guillermo Parra "A fl'neur of the other world, Micah Ballard has been there and back, bringing to San Francisco's streets a sidereal, stylish poetics deeply indebted to the predecessors whose work it reinvents. In Waifs and Strays , collage poems become a means to join forces and 'form a heaven / underground.' But collage turns homage into participation, furthering a long tradition of countercultural verse. It's the wise dead dictating: listen up!" –Brian Teare, "Each poem builds with an inexorable seethe, a penchant for intoxication and risk that never lets you forget you're reading real poetry again, at last. . . With his wealth of promise and the most incandescent flights and stilnesses of this book [Ballard] joins the ranks of people like Bob Kaufman, Jimmy Schuyler, Lester Bangs in his Creem days, or the Alice Notley of Mysteries of Small Houses. It's that deeply felt, and that moving, a new Romanticism built upon the classical language of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll, an affirmation of life so total that, even in the graphic recognition of death, it sweeps your breath away." -Greg Fuchs, "Though raised in Baton Rouge, La., Ballard now seems energetically tied to San Francisco, since his offhand intensities, fiercely casual stance, quick free verse, and colloquial mysticism draw so frequently on two great sources of Bay Area poetics, the prophetic concentration of Robert Duncan and the extroversion of the beats. Often he builds bridges from a bohemian life in this world to greatness in the next. ''Pools of Olympia'' (which may refer to Greek gods or to hard liquor, or to both) imagines ''smashed glass gutter core/ exact proportions darkly mingled... the highest farewell between heaven and earth.'' Ballard explains in a longer poem how ''Alive/ in being gone/ I seek what you have not/ & dilate my margins/ to form a heaven/ underground.'' Ballard updates his sources with hip-hop and indie-rock references (Guided by Voices, Morrissey), presenting his own inner quests as ambivalent models: ''what some find as flaws/ I claim as divine rites/ do not try to follow me/ it''s up to you to stake out/ your own fortress.'' Ballard (Parish Krewes) comes by his beat heritage personally, having studied with, and then worked alongside, David Meltzer. Followers of Meltzer''s lineage, or of beat writing in general, may find him not just engaging but irreplaceable." -Publishers Weekly "Micah Ballard''s Waifs and Strays is the stuff of legend . . . These poems account for his travels, illuminating his experience through shadows he casts for us on the walls." --Justin Sherwood, Poetry Project Newsletter "Highly stylized, fairly experimental, and original, the poems rely on sequential ''disruption'' underpinned by a solidly smoldering focus. The thematic transference of significance becomes a mantra of sustenance amidst an arranged wilderness, ''It is all imagined, anchored by the word.''" -Brooklyn Rail "Each poem builds with an inexorable seethe, a penchant for intoxication and risk that never lets you forget you''re reading real poetry again, at last. . . With his wealth of promise and the most incandescent flights and stilnesses of this book [Ballard] joins the ranks of people like Bob Kaufman, Jimmy Schuyler, Lester Bangs in his Creem days, or the Alice Notley of Mysteries of Small Houses. It''s that deeply felt, and that moving, a new Romanticism built upon the classical language of sex, drugs, and rock ''n'' roll, an affirmation of life so total that, even in the graphic recognition of death, it sweeps your breath away." --Greg Fuchs, Boog City "We ''exit through a trap door'' like Orpheus through the silvered mirror. We are pirates, inmates, benefactors, ghosts. We are always on the move, on a journey remembering to chart and map the future, the poems, Waifs and Strays, a magical gift to give away. This is a breathtaking book of evocations, provocations, revelations." -Norma Cole "Waifs and Strays is an invocation of poetic ancestry, so as to lead the reader through a gallery of visions imbued with elegance and charm. I enjoy deciphering the marvelous engravings, names, and epitaphs mapped out along its pages. There is a chimerical secrecy at work in these texts, an awareness of the poem as conduit. Mark this encrypted province you hold in your hands." -Guillermo Parra "A fl'neur of the other world, Micah Ballard has been there and back, bringing to San Francisco''s streets a sidereal, stylish poetics deeply indebted to the predecessors whose work it reinvents. In Waifs and Strays, collage poems become a means to join forces and ''form a heaven / underground.'' But collage turns homage into participation, furthering a long tradition of countercultural verse. It''s the wise dead dictating: listen up!" -Brian Teare "These poems bespeak a poet in touch with the world including its light. . . . Distilled hard to diamonds, these poems transcend what one may write as prose about them. To write about these poems is to miss their nature." -Eileen Tabios, "Though raised in Baton Rouge, La., Ballard now seems energetically tied to San Francisco, since his offhand intensities, fiercely casual stance, quick free verse, and colloquial mysticism draw so frequently on two great sources of Bay Area poetics, the prophetic concentration of Robert Duncan and the extroversion of the beats. Often he builds bridges from a bohemian life in this world to greatness in the next. ''Pools of Olympia'' (which may refer to Greek gods or to hard liquor, or to both) imagines ''smashed glass gutter core/ exact proportions darkly mingled... the highest farewell between heaven and earth.'' Ballard explains in a longer poem how ''Alive/ in being gone/ I seek what you have not/ & dilate my margins/ to form a heaven/ underground.'' Ballard updates his sources with hip-hop and indie-rock references (Guided by Voices, Morrissey), presenting his own inner quests as ambivalent models: ''what some find as flaws/ I claim as divine rites/ do not try to follow me/ it''s up to you to stake out/ your own fortress.'' Ballard ( Parish Krewes ) comes by his beat heritage personally, having studied with, and then worked alongside, David Meltzer. Followers of Meltzer's lineage, or of beat writing in general, may find him not just engaging but irreplaceable." - Publishers Weekly "Micah Ballard''s Waifs and Strays is the stuff of legend . . . These poems account for his travels, illuminating his experience through shadows he casts for us on the walls." --Justin Sherwood, Poetry Project Newsletter "Highly stylized, fairly experimental, and original, the poems rely on sequential ''disruption'' underpinned by a solidly smoldering focus. The thematic transference of significance becomes a mantra of sustenance amidst an arranged wilderness, ''It is all imagined, anchored by the word.''" - Brooklyn Rail "Each poem builds with an inexorable seethe, a penchant for intoxication and risk that never lets you forget you''re reading real poetry again, at last. . . With his wealth of promise and the most incandescent flights and stilnesses of this book [Ballard] joins the ranks of people like Bob Kaufman, Jimmy Schuyler, Lester Bangs in his Creem days, or the Alice Notley of Mysteries of Small Houses. It''s that deeply felt, and that moving, a new Romanticism built upon the classical language of sex, drugs, and rock ''n'' roll, an affirmation of life so total that, even in the graphic recognition of death, it sweeps your breath away." --Greg Fuchs, Boog City "We ''exit through a trap door'' like Orpheus through the silvered mirror. We are pirates, inmates, benefactors, ghosts. We are always on the move, on a journey remembering to chart and map the future, the poems, Waifs and Strays , a magical gift to give away. This is a breathtaking book of evocations, provocations, revelations." -Norma Cole " Waifs and Strays is an invocation of poetic ancestry, so as to lead the reader through a gallery of visions imbued with elegance and charm. I enjoy deciphering the marvelous engravings, names, and epitaphs mapped out along its pages. There is a chimerical secrecy at work in these texts, an awareness of the poem as conduit. Mark this encrypted province you hold in your hands." -Guillermo Parra "A fl'neur of the other world, Micah Ballard has been there and back, bringing to San Francisco''s streets a sidereal, stylish poetics deeply indebted to the predecessors whose work it reinvents. In Waifs and Strays , collage poems become a means to join forces and ''form a heaven / underground.'' But collage turns homage into participation, furthering a long tradition of countercultural verse. It''s the wise dead dictating: listen up!" -Brian Teare "These poems bespeak a poet in touch with the world including its light. . . . Distilled hard to diamonds, these poems transcend what one may write as prose about them. To write about these poems is to miss their nature." -Eileen Tabios, "Micah's poems are intimate shadows or like little machines that pump ghosts into the empty rooms in the brain." --Ben Mirov, "These poems bespeak a poet in touch with the world including its light. . . . Distilled hard to diamonds, these poems transcend what one may write as prose about them. To write about these poems is to miss their nature." -Eileen Tabios, "Micah's poems are intimate shadows or like little machines that pump ghosts into the empty rooms in the brain." -Ben Mirov, "Ballard blurs the lines between concrete and surreal: a postmodern flaneur influenced by Baudelaire as well as the surrealist poets. Concrete San Francisco images ground the work. Cathedral towers, streets like Fillmore and Divisadero, Steiner & McCallister." --Mike Sonksen, "Though raised in Baton Rouge, La., Ballard now seems energetically tied to San Francisco, since his offhand intensities, fiercely casual stance, quick free verse, and colloquial mysticism draw so frequently on two great sources of Bay Area poetics, the prophetic concentration of Robert Duncan and the extroversion of the beats. Often he builds bridges from a bohemian life in this world to greatness in the next. ''Pools of Olympia'' (which may refer to Greek gods or to hard liquor, or to both) imagines ''smashed glass gutter core/ exact proportions darkly mingled... the highest farewell between heaven and earth.'' Ballard explains in a longer poem how ''Alive/ in being gone/ I seek what you have not/ & dilate my margins/ to form a heaven/ underground.'' Ballard updates his sources with hip-hop and indie-rock references (Guided by Voices, Morrissey), presenting his own inner quests as ambivalent models: ''what some find as flaws/ I claim as divine rites/ do not try to follow me/ it''s up to you to stake out/ your own fortress.'' Ballard ( Parish Krewes ) comes by his beat heritage personally, having studied with, and then worked alongside, David Meltzer. Followers of Meltzer's lineage, or of beat writing in general, may find him not just engaging but irreplaceable." - Publishers Weekly "Micah Ballard''s Waifs and Strays is the stuff of legend . . . These poems account for his travels, illuminating his experience through shadows he casts for us on the walls." --Justin Sherwood, Poetry Project Newsletter "Highly stylized, fairly experimental, and original, the poems rely on sequential ''disruption'' underpinned by a solidly smoldering focus. The thematic transference of significance becomes a mantra of sustenance amidst an arranged wilderness, ''It is all imagined, anchored by the word.''" - Brooklyn Rail "Each poem builds with an inexorable seethe, a penchant for intoxication and risk that never lets you forget you''re reading real poetry again, at last. . . With his wealth of promise and the most incandescent flights and stilnesses of this book [Ballard] joins the ranks of people like Bob Kaufman, Jimmy Schuyler, Lester Bangs in his Creem days, or the Alice Notley of Mysteries of Small Houses. It''s that deeply felt, and that moving, a new Romanticism built upon the classical language of sex, drugs, and rock ''n'' roll, an affirmation of life so total that, even in the graphic recognition of death, it sweeps your breath away." --Greg Fuchs, Boog City "We ''exit through a trap door'' like Orpheus through the silvered mirror. We are pirates, inmates, benefactors, ghosts. We are always on the move, on a journey remembering to chart and map the future, the poems, Waifs and Strays , a magical gift to give away. This is a breathtaking book of evocations, provocations, revelations." -Norma Cole " Waifs and Strays is an invocation of poetic ancestry, so as to lead the reader through a gallery of visions imbued with elegance and charm. I enjoy deciphering the marvelous engravings, names, and epitaphs mapped out along its pages. There is a chimerical secrecy at work in these texts, an awareness of the poem as conduit. Mark this encrypted province you hold in your hands." -Guillermo Parra "A flneur of the other world, Micah Ballard has been there and back, bringing to San Francisco''s streets a sidereal, stylish poetics deeply indebted to the predecessors whose work it reinvents. In Waifs and Strays , collage poems become a means to join forces and ''form a heaven / underground.'' But collage turns homage into participation, furthering a long tradition of countercultural verse. It''s the wise dead dictating: listen up!" -Brian Teare "These poems bespeak a poet in touch with the world including its light. . . . Distilled hard to diamonds, these poems transcend what one may write as prose about them. To write about these poems is to miss their nature." -Eileen Tabios, Highly stylized, fairly experimental, and original, the poems rely on sequential 'disruption' underpinned by a solidly smoldering focus. The thematic transference of significance becomes a mantra of sustenance amidst an arranged wilderness, 'It is all imagined, anchored by the word.', "Ballard blurs the lines between concrete and surreal: a postmodern flaneur influenced by Baudelaire as well as the surrealist poets. Concrete San Francisco images ground the work. Cathedral towers, streets like Fillmore and Divisadero, Steiner & McCallister." -Mike Sonksen, "Though raised in Baton Rouge, La., Ballard now seems energetically tied to San Francisco, since his offhand intensities, fiercely casual stance, quick free verse, and colloquial mysticism draw so frequently on two great sources of Bay Area poetics, the prophetic concentration of Robert Duncan and the extroversion of the beats. Often he builds bridges from a bohemian life in this world to greatness in the next. 'Pools of Olympia' (which may refer to Greek gods or to hard liquor, or to both) imagines 'smashed glass gutter core / exact proportions darkly mingled . . . the highest farewell between heaven and earth.' Ballard explains in a longer poem how 'Alive / in being gone / I seek what you have not / & dilate my margins / to form a heaven / underground.' Ballard updates his sources with hip-hop and indie-rock references (Guided by Voices, Morrissey), presenting his own inner quests as ambivalent models: 'what some find as flaws / I claim as divine rites / do not try to follow me / it's up to you to stake out/ your own fortress.' Ballard (Parish Krewes) comes by his beat heritage personally, having studied with, and then worked alongside, David Meltzer. Followers of Meltzer's lineage, or of beat writing in general, may find him not just engaging but irreplaceable."--Publishers Weekly "Micah Ballard's Waifs and Strays is the stuff of legend . . . These poems account for his travels, illuminating his experience through shadows he casts for us on the walls."--Justin Sherwood, Poetry Project Newsletter "Highly stylized, fairly experimental, and original, the poems rely on sequential 'disruption' underpinned by a solidly smoldering focus. The thematic transference of significance becomes a mantra of sustenance amidst an arranged wilderness, 'It is all imagined, anchored by the word.'"--Brooklyn Rail "Each poem builds with an inexorable seethe, a penchant for intoxication and risk that never lets you forget you're reading real poetry again, at last . . . With his wealth of promise and the most incandescent flights and stilnesses of this book [Ballard] joins the ranks of people like Bob Kaufman, Jimmy Schuyler, Lester Bangs in his Creem days, or the Alice Notley of Mysteries of Small Houses. It's that deeply felt, and that moving, a new Romanticism built upon the classical language of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll, an affirmation of life so total that, even in the graphic recognition of death, it sweeps your breath away."--Greg Fuchs, Boog City "We 'exit through a trap door' like Orpheus through the silvered mirror. We are pirates, inmates, benefactors, ghosts. We are always on the move, on a journey remembering to chart and map the future, the poems, Waifs and Strays, a magical gift to give away. This is a breathtaking book of evocations, provocations, revelations."--Norma Cole "Waifs and Strays is an invocation of poetic ancestry, so as to lead the reader through a gallery of visions imbued with elegance and charm. I enjoy deciphering the marvelous engravings, names, and epitaphs mapped out along its pages. There is a chimerical secrecy at work in these texts, an awareness of the poem as conduit. Mark this encrypted province you hold in your hands."--Guillermo Parra "A fl'neur of the other world, Micah Ballard has been there and back, bringing to San Francisco's streets a sidereal, stylish poetics deeply indebted to the predecessors whose work it reinvents. In Waifs and Strays, collage poems become a means to join forces and 'form a heaven / underground.' But collage turns homage into participation, furthering a long tradition of countercultural verse. It's the wise dead dictating: listen up!"--Brian Teare "These poems bespeak a poet in touch with the world including its light. . . . Distilled hard to diamonds, these poems transcend what one may write as prose about them. To write about these poems is to miss their nature."--Eileen Tabios, "Though raised in Baton Rouge, La., Ballard now seems energetically tied to San Francisco, since his offhand intensities, fiercely casual stance, quick free verse, and colloquial mysticism draw so frequently on two great sources of Bay Area poetics, the prophetic concentration of Robert Duncan and the extroversion of the beats. Often he builds bridges from a bohemian life in this world to greatness in the next. ''Pools of Olympia'' (which may refer to Greek gods or to hard liquor, or to both) imagines ''smashed glass gutter core/ exact proportions darkly mingled... the highest farewell between heaven and earth.'' Ballard explains in a longer poem how ''Alive/ in being gone/ I seek what you have not/ & dilate my margins/ to form a heaven/ underground.'' Ballard updates his sources with hip-hop and indie-rock references (Guided by Voices, Morrissey), presenting his own inner quests as ambivalent models: ''what some find as flaws/ I claim as divine rites/ do not try to follow me/ it''s up to you to stake out/ your own fortress.'' Ballard ( Parish Krewes ) comes by his beat heritage personally, having studied with, and then worked alongside, David Meltzer. Followers of Meltzer's lineage, or of beat writing in general, may find him not just engaging but irreplaceable." -- Publishers Weekly "Micah Ballard''s Waifs and Strays is the stuff of legend . . . These poems account for his travels, illuminating his experience through shadows he casts for us on the walls." —Justin Sherwood, Poetry Project Newsletter "Highly stylized, fairly experimental, and original, the poems rely on sequential ''disruption'' underpinned by a solidly smoldering focus. The thematic transference of significance becomes a mantra of sustenance amidst an arranged wilderness, ''It is all imagined, anchored by the word.''" -- Brooklyn Rail "Each poem builds with an inexorable seethe, a penchant for intoxication and risk that never lets you forget you''re reading real poetry again, at last. . . With his wealth of promise and the most incandescent flights and stilnesses of this book [Ballard] joins the ranks of people like Bob Kaufman, Jimmy Schuyler, Lester Bangs in his Creem days, or the Alice Notley of Mysteries of Small Houses. It''s that deeply felt, and that moving, a new Romanticism built upon the classical language of sex, drugs, and rock ''n'' roll, an affirmation of life so total that, even in the graphic recognition of death, it sweeps your breath away." —Greg Fuchs, Boog City "We ''exit through a trap door'' like Orpheus through the silvered mirror. We are pirates, inmates, benefactors, ghosts. We are always on the move, on a journey remembering to chart and map the future, the poems, Waifs and Strays , a magical gift to give away. This is a breathtaking book of evocations, provocations, revelations." --Norma Cole " Waifs and Strays is an invocation of poetic ancestry, so as to lead the reader through a gallery of visions imbued with elegance and charm. I enjoy deciphering the marvelous engravings, names, and epitaphs mapped out along its pages. There is a chimerical secrecy at work in these texts, an awareness of the poem as conduit. Mark this encrypted province you hold in your hands." --Guillermo Parra "A fl'neur of the other world, Micah Ballard has been there and back, bringing to San Francisco''s streets a sidereal, stylish poetics deeply indebted to the predecessors whose work it reinvents. In Waifs and Strays , collage poems become a means to join forces and ''form a heaven / underground.'' But collage turns homage into participation, furthering a long tradition of countercultural verse. It''s the wise dead dictating: listen up!" --Brian Teare "These poems bespeak a poet in touch with the world including its light. . . . Distilled hard to diamonds, these poems transcend what one may write as prose about them. To write about these poems is to miss their nature." --Eileen Tabios, "Though raised in Baton Rouge, La., Ballard now seems energetically tied to San Francisco, since his offhand intensities, fiercely casual stance, quick free verse, and colloquial mysticism draw so frequently on two great sources of Bay Area poetics, the prophetic concentration of Robert Duncan and the extroversion of the beats. Often he builds bridges from a bohemian life in this world to greatness in the next. ''Pools of Olympia'' (which may refer to Greek gods or to hard liquor, or to both) imagines ''smashed glass gutter core/ exact proportions darkly mingled... the highest farewell between heaven and earth.'' Ballard explains in a longer poem how ''Alive/ in being gone/ I seek what you have not/ & dilate my margins/ to form a heaven/ underground.'' Ballard updates his sources with hip-hop and indie-rock references (Guided by Voices, Morrissey), presenting his own inner quests as ambivalent models: ''what some find as flaws/ I claim as divine rites/ do not try to follow me/ it''s up to you to stake out/ your own fortress.'' Ballard (Parish Krewes) comes by his beat heritage personally, having studied with, and then worked alongside, David Meltzer. Followers of Meltzer''s lineage, or of beat writing in general, may find him not just engaging but irreplaceable." -Publishers Weekly "Micah Ballard''s Waifs and Strays is the stuff of legend . . . These poems account for his travels, illuminating his experience through shadows he casts for us on the walls." --Justin Sherwood, Poetry Project Newsletter "Highly stylized, fairly experimental, and original, the poems rely on sequential ''disruption'' underpinned by a solidly smoldering focus. The thematic transference of significance becomes a mantra of sustenance amidst an arranged wilderness, ''It is all imagined, anchored by the word.''" -Brooklyn Rail "Each poem builds with an inexorable seethe, a penchant for intoxication and risk that never lets you forget you''re reading real poetry again, at last. . . With his wealth of promise and the most incandescent flights and stilnesses of this book [Ballard] joins the ranks of people like Bob Kaufman, Jimmy Schuyler, Lester Bangs in his Creem days, or the Alice Notley of Mysteries of Small Houses. It''s that deeply felt, and that moving, a new Romanticism built upon the classical language of sex, drugs, and rock ''n'' roll, an affirmation of life so total that, even in the graphic recognition of death, it sweeps your breath away." --Greg Fuchs, Boog City "We ''exit through a trap door'' like Orpheus through the silvered mirror. We are pirates, inmates, benefactors, ghosts. We are always on the move, on a journey remembering to chart and map the future, the poems, Waifs and Strays, a magical gift to give away. This is a breathtaking book of evocations, provocations, revelations." -Norma Cole "Waifs and Strays is an invocation of poetic ancestry, so as to lead the reader through a gallery of visions imbued with elegance and charm. I enjoy deciphering the marvelous engravings, names, and epitaphs mapped out along its pages. There is a chimerical secrecy at work in these texts, an awareness of the poem as conduit. Mark this encrypted province you hold in your hands." -Guillermo Parra "A flneur of the other world, Micah Ballard has been there and back, bringing to San Francisco''s streets a sidereal, stylish poetics deeply indebted to the predecessors whose work it reinvents. In Waifs and Strays, collage poems become a means to join forces and ''form a heaven / underground.'' But collage turns homage into participation, furthering a long tradition of countercultural verse. It''s the wise dead dictating: listen up!" -Brian Teare "These poems bespeak a poet in touch with the world including its light. . . . Distilled hard to diamonds, these poems transcend what one may write as prose about them. To write about these poems is to miss their nature." -Eileen Tabios, "Each poem builds with an inexorable seethe, a penchant for intoxication and risk that never lets you forget you're reading real poetry again, at last. . . With his wealth of promise and the most incandescent flights and stilnesses of this book [Ballard] joins the ranks of people like Bob Kaufman, Jimmy Schuyler, Lester Bangs in his Creem days, or the Alice Notley of Mysteries of Small Houses. It's that deeply felt, and that moving, a new Romanticism built upon the classical language of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll, an affirmation of life so total that, even in the graphic recognition of death, it sweeps your breath away." --Greg Fuchs, "These poems bespeak a poet in touch with the world including its light. . . . Distilled hard to diamonds, these poems transcend what one may write as prose about them. To write about these poems is to miss their nature." --Eileen Tabios
Dewey Edition
22
Series Volume Number
6
Volume Number
No. 6
Dewey Decimal
811/.6
Synopsis
Waifs and Strays recombines the allure, fixations, and diction of the Metaphysical poetswith the alert and streetwise fracturing and instant amazements in contemporary San Francisco. Elegiac, elusive, evocative, the poems roam an urban landscape of bars, books, and chance encounters where the ghosts of Congo Square haunt the avenues of the Fillmore. Waifs and Strays is a rejection of all that is slick and disposable in 21st-century culture., From the bayous of Louisiana to the pavements of San Francisco, Micah Ballard rounds up his haunting Waifs and Strays., In the sixth publication in the City Lights Spotlight Poetry Series, Cajun poet Micah Ballard's Waifs and Strays recombines the allure, fixations and diction of the metaphysical poets with the alert and streetwise urban fracturing and amazements instantaneous in contemporary San Francisco. With the haunted elegance of Charles Baudelaire and the handmade warmth of Semina, Waifs and Strays is a rejection of a slick and disposable culture. Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Micah Ballard studied at New College of California, working with David Meltzer, Joanne Kyger and Tom Clark. He currently co-directs the MFA in writing program at University of San Francisco. He co-edits Auguste Press., In the sixth publication in the City Lights Spotlight Poetry Series, Cajun poet Micah Ballard's Waifs and Strays recombines the allure, fixations and diction of the metaphysical poets with the alert and streetwise urban fracturing and amazements instantaneous in contemporary San Francisco. With the haunted elegance of Charles Baudelaire and the handmade warmth of Semina , Waifs and Strays is a rejection of a slick and disposable culture. Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Micah Ballard studied at New College of California, working with David Meltzer, Joanne Kyger and Tom Clark. He currently co-directs the MFA in writing program at University of San Francisco. He co-edits Auguste Press., The second full-length collection by Micah Ballard, Waifs and Strays recombines the allure, fixations, and diction of the Metaphysical poets with the alert and streetwise fracturing and instant amazements in contemporary San Francisco. Elegiac, elusive, evocative, the poems roam an urban landscape of bars, books, and chance encounters, where the ghosts of Congo Square haunt the avenues of the Fillmore. With the wasted elegance of Baudelaire, and the handmade warmth of Semina, Waifs and Strays is a rejection of all that is slick and disposable in 21st-century culture.
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PS3602.A62115W35
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- c***m (412)- Feedback left by buyer.Past 6 monthsVerified purchaseWOW!; I cannot believe this 3 Days to Hawaii! ; AAA+++; Excellent Service; Great Pricing; Fast Delivery-Faster Than Expected to Hawaii!; Shipped 05/05, Mon, Received 05/08, Thu to Hawaii using free shipping; USPS Ground Mail, Book in Excellent Condition--Better Than Described ; TLC Packaging; Excellent Seller Communication, Sends updates . Highly Recommended!, Thank you very much!
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- a***r (375)- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthVerified purchasei am so happy to have every book of this series! the price of the book & the shipping is very reasonable! the book was as described & was in excellent condition! it was shipped quickly & arrived quickly! the books are always packaged carefully so they arrived undamaged! the communication from the sellers is always excellent--they go out of their way for excellent customer service! i have been a repeat customer from this seller & always will be! this seller is the best bookseller on ebay!
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- c***m (412)- Feedback left by buyer.Past 6 monthsVerified purchaseWOW!; I cannot believe this 3 Days to Hawaii! ; AAA+++; Excellent Service; Great Pricing; Fast Delivery-Faster Than Expected to Hawaii!; Shipped 05/05, Mon, Received 05/08, Thu to Hawaii using free shipping; USPS Ground Mail, Book in Excellent Condition--Better Than Described ; TLC Packaging; Excellent Seller Communication, Sends updates . Highly Recommended!, Thank you very much!
- v***v (2054)- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthVerified purchaseAlthough this book was not as described, with no picture of it in the listing, the seller communicated well and quickly gave me a full refund while letting me keep it. The minimal packaging left the book a bit vulnerable (typical for ThriftBooks), but it did arrive safely and timely. As usual, it’s hit or miss with this seller, but often times you can get great values, and their customer service is always very good. Many other sellers with millions of transactions don’t even communicate.
- a***r (375)- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthVerified purchasei am so happy to have every book of this series! the price of the book & the shipping is very reasonable! the book was as described & was in excellent condition! it was shipped quickly & arrived quickly! the books are always packaged carefully so they arrived undamaged! the communication from the sellers is always excellent--they go out of their way for excellent customer service! i have been a repeat customer from this seller & always will be! this seller is the best bookseller on ebay!