From Publishers Weekly
Though the wealth of information Waldman gleans from fellow poets, friends and family of the late Ted Berrigan is presented imaginativelyreminiscences, poems, journal entries, letters, cartoons, drawings and photographs are interspersed with Berrigan's poems and correspondencethis pastiche suffers from overkill and a distracting repetitiveness. Berrigan, who played a pivotal role in New York's Lower East Side poetry community in the '60s and '70s, lived wildly and excessively, censoring very little of his behavior or his art. As he writes in his "Last Poem": "Friends appeared & disappeared, or wigged out, /Or stayed; inspiring strangers sadly died; everyone / I ever knew aged tremendously, except me." He kept such company as Ron Padgett, Allen Ginsberg, Kenneth Koch, Anselm Hollo and Donna Dennis, and with warmth and candor these artists bring Berrigan's personality and accomplishments clearly into focus. Though poet Waldman is loyal to the philosophy and style of her and Berrigan's generation in the freedom the format takes, were the homage briefer it would be a more effective chronicle of a controversial group of artists in their heyday.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Review
The Rare Birds; For Ted Berrigan by Amiri Baraka
Half Of It by Franco Beltrametti
Big Town Will Wear You Down by Edmund Joseph Berrigan
Hearts by Edmund Joseph Berrigan
I Am 43. When Will I Die? I Will Never Die, I Will Live by Edmund Joseph Berrigan
Last Poem by Edmund Joseph Berrigan
A Religious Experience by Edmund Joseph Berrigan
Small Role Felicity, Sels. by Edmund Joseph Berrigan
Sonnet: 37 by Edmund Joseph Berrigan
Sonnet: 77 by Edmund Joseph Berrigan
Because We're Here by Jim Brodey
Homespun by Reed Bye
Drysdale And Mantle, Whitey Ford And To You by Steve Carey
Slaughter Of The Waking Arms by Steve Carey
Calm Under Fire by Jim Carroll
Poem For Ted by Maxine Chernoff
Ted by Thomas Willard Clark
Ted Berrigan Es Muerte by Andrei Codrescu
After The Sonnets by Clark Coolidge
Dream by Clark Coolidge
Providence Going Sketch by Clark Coolidge
Strong Shift; For Ted Berrigan by Clark Coolidge
Change; For Ted Berrigan by Robert Creeley
For Ted Berrigan by Robert Creeley
At The Poetry Conference: Berkeley After The New York Style by Robert Duncan
Awake On March 27th by Kenward Elmslie
On Your Birthday by Larry Fagin
7/4/83 by Carol Gallup
Destination Moon; For Ted Berrigan by Dick Gallup
Grace by Allen Ginsberg
Pinsk After Dark by Allen Ginsberg
Reds by Allen Ginsberg
Two Scenes by Allen Ginsberg
Third Pepsi Right Hand by John Godfrey
For Ted by Anselm Hollo
Day After Ted Berrigan's Memorial Reading by Joanne Kyger
January 12, 1984 %hello '84 by Joanne Kyger
This Is Happy Birthday To You Ted by Joanne Kyger
On Independence Day by Rose Lesniak
Miserable Life by Steve Levine
Sonnet For Ted Berrigan by Helen Luster
Big Ted by Lewis Macadams
Copy Legends With Ted Berrigan by Gerard Joseph Malanga
Sestina; For Ted Berrigan by Bernadette Mayer
Our Love by Eileen Myles
Hey Ted by Maureen Owen
4 Ted by Simon Pettet
Ted's Old Man by Tom Pickard
1:31 P.m. June 5th 1970; For Ted Berrigan by Thomas Moore Raworth
Chicago by Thomas Moore Raworth
The Chicago Poem; For Ted Berrigan And Alice Notley by Jerome Rothenberg
Elegy For Ted Berrigan by Edward Sanders
He Was A Lousy %pokerplayer by George Scheeman
Stretching Out In A Regal Bath by Harris Schiff
To The Muse; For Ted Berrigan by Elio Schneeman
Canzone; For Ted Berrigan, 1934-1983 by Anne Waldman
For The Gifts Of Ted by Anne Waldman
Desperately Awaiting The Arrival Of The China Dinner Man by Philip Whalen
Impatient Poetry For Ted And Alice B. by Philip Whalen
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder® --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Half Of It by Franco Beltrametti
Big Town Will Wear You Down by Edmund Joseph Berrigan
Hearts by Edmund Joseph Berrigan
I Am 43. When Will I Die? I Will Never Die, I Will Live by Edmund Joseph Berrigan
Last Poem by Edmund Joseph Berrigan
A Religious Experience by Edmund Joseph Berrigan
Small Role Felicity, Sels. by Edmund Joseph Berrigan
Sonnet: 37 by Edmund Joseph Berrigan
Sonnet: 77 by Edmund Joseph Berrigan
Because We're Here by Jim Brodey
Homespun by Reed Bye
Drysdale And Mantle, Whitey Ford And To You by Steve Carey
Slaughter Of The Waking Arms by Steve Carey
Calm Under Fire by Jim Carroll
Poem For Ted by Maxine Chernoff
Ted by Thomas Willard Clark
Ted Berrigan Es Muerte by Andrei Codrescu
After The Sonnets by Clark Coolidge
Dream by Clark Coolidge
Providence Going Sketch by Clark Coolidge
Strong Shift; For Ted Berrigan by Clark Coolidge
Change; For Ted Berrigan by Robert Creeley
For Ted Berrigan by Robert Creeley
At The Poetry Conference: Berkeley After The New York Style by Robert Duncan
Awake On March 27th by Kenward Elmslie
On Your Birthday by Larry Fagin
7/4/83 by Carol Gallup
Destination Moon; For Ted Berrigan by Dick Gallup
Grace by Allen Ginsberg
Pinsk After Dark by Allen Ginsberg
Reds by Allen Ginsberg
Two Scenes by Allen Ginsberg
Third Pepsi Right Hand by John Godfrey
For Ted by Anselm Hollo
Day After Ted Berrigan's Memorial Reading by Joanne Kyger
January 12, 1984 %hello '84 by Joanne Kyger
This Is Happy Birthday To You Ted by Joanne Kyger
On Independence Day by Rose Lesniak
Miserable Life by Steve Levine
Sonnet For Ted Berrigan by Helen Luster
Big Ted by Lewis Macadams
Copy Legends With Ted Berrigan by Gerard Joseph Malanga
Sestina; For Ted Berrigan by Bernadette Mayer
Our Love by Eileen Myles
Hey Ted by Maureen Owen
4 Ted by Simon Pettet
Ted's Old Man by Tom Pickard
1:31 P.m. June 5th 1970; For Ted Berrigan by Thomas Moore Raworth
Chicago by Thomas Moore Raworth
The Chicago Poem; For Ted Berrigan And Alice Notley by Jerome Rothenberg
Elegy For Ted Berrigan by Edward Sanders
He Was A Lousy %pokerplayer by George Scheeman
Stretching Out In A Regal Bath by Harris Schiff
To The Muse; For Ted Berrigan by Elio Schneeman
Canzone; For Ted Berrigan, 1934-1983 by Anne Waldman
For The Gifts Of Ted by Anne Waldman
Desperately Awaiting The Arrival Of The China Dinner Man by Philip Whalen
Impatient Poetry For Ted And Alice B. by Philip Whalen
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder® --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
