Our Thang: Selected Poems,Selected Drawings [Paperback]

Laura Corsiglia (Author), Ted Joans (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2001

Our Thang: Selected Poems, Selected Drawings presents the extraordinary jazz-poems of the legendary poet-artist-trumpeter Ted Joans alongside the surrealistic drawings of Canadian artist, Laura Corsiglia. One of the last of the Beat poets, a former jazz musician, friend of Kerouac and Ginsburg , Joans is the person who, upon hearing of the death of sax-man Charlie Parker, scrawled the famous graffitti ‘Bird Lives’ (perhaps his best-known poem). Born on a riverboat in Cairo, Illinois, Ted Joans graduated in Fine Arts from Indiana University, and in 1951 joined ‘the Bohemia of America’ in Greenwich Village. He has lived in Harlem, New York; Bloomington, Indiana; Haarlem, the Netherlands; Paris and even Timbuktu. His books include: Funky Jazz Poems, Beat Poems, All of T.J. and No More, The Hipsters (a book of collages), The Truth, Afrodisia, A Black Pow Wow of Jazz Poems, and Teducation. His work is characterized by black consciousness, strong rhythm, and a musical sensibility closely linked to the blues and avant-garde jazz. His style is associated with the oral tradition of African-American writing but also to the Beat Generation and European Surrealism. Laura Corsiglia is an artist, originally from Victoria, BC, and now living in Vancouver whose work has been exhibited all over the world, from Paris to London to New York to Seattle. She is Ted Joans’ partner.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"For anyone looking to tap into one of the the Beat Generation’s genuine poets here is the ideal opportunity." -- Brian Dalton, The Beat Scene

About the Author

Ted Joans describes himself as a “Jazz poet, thus a revolutionary poet,” a painter and a former trumpet player. Born in Cairo, Illinois, in 1928, of parents who worked an annual river-boat run on the Mississippi, he survived a precarious childhood (his father was pulled off a streetcar and killed by white workers in 1943 during the Detroit race riots) and went on to earn a B.A in Fine Arts from Indiana University. He then hit he road and has since lived in many parts of the world, from New York to Timbuktu. He resides, as a seasonal residence, in Vancouver. During the fifties he became associated with the Beat Generaion but his strongest influences are probably the surrealist André Breton, Langston Hughes and his muse Laura, whom he met in 1991 in Paris.

Laura Corsiglia was raised in northern British Columbia’s Nass Valley surrounded by grizzly bears. Her first art experiences were masks, dances, songs and totem poles of the Nisga’a indiginenous people for whom her parents worked. She later grew up in Victoria, BC, and now lives in Vancouver. Extensive travelling and an education at Paris Ecole National Superieure des Beaux-Arts added an international element to her respect for Bears in all forms. Her work has been exhibited all over the world, from Paris to London to New York to Seattle. She came to surrealism through the arts of the Pacific Northwest Coast.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Ekstasis ed (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1894800001
• ISBN-13: 978-1894800006
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,441,510 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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