Kenneth Patchen

[Piano Mouth]

I have Albion Moonlight and one of his poetry books, but I'm curious if anyone recommends any of these books over other ones here: http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchR ... chen&sts=t

[Herb Levy]

I recently re-read Wonderings; it's a very good collection of his painting-poems. His visuals provide a foil that offsets, to some extent, the sentimental border that he sometimes crosses. In that context, I would avoid anything that looks like There's Love All Day. Patchen cared a lot about how his work looked & that cover is ghastly. (Hallmark Editions does seem to be the greeting card company, which wouldn't care about tempering his sentimentality.)

I remember that I liked Memoirs of a Shy Pornographer & Sleepers Awake, but I don't own them and remember nothing specific about either.

[smileymn]

I've got a small collection of his books, and my favorite is still Albion Moonlight. I've never read a book constructed like that before, he doesn't get the credit that he deserves. I really like John Hollenbeck's tribute album to him, really nice settings of his poetry to music.