Kenneth Patchen

Infobox Person
name = Kenneth Patchen


image_size = 140px
caption =
birth_date = December 13, 1911
birth_place =
death_date = January 8, 1972
death_place =

Kenneth Patchen (December 13 1911 – January 8 1972) was an American poet and novelist. Though he denied any direct connection, Patchen's work and ideas regarding the role of artists paralleled those of the Dadaists and Surrealists. Patchen's ambitious body of work also foreshadowed literary art-forms ranging from reading poetry to jazz accompaniment to his late experiments with visual poetry (which he called his "picture poems").

Life

Patchen was born in Niles, Ohio. His father made his living in the nearby steel mills of Youngstown, Ohio. Those steel mills would later be referenced in poems like "The Orange Bears" and "May I Ask You A Question, Mr. Youngstown Sheet & Tube?". A major tragedy occurred in Patchen's childhood when his younger sister, Kathleen, was struck and killed by an automobile in 1926. Her death deeply affected him, and he would later pay tribute to her in a poem entitled, "In Memory of Kathleen." [Smith, Larry. "Kenneth Patchen: Rebel Poet in America". Huron, Ohio: Bottom Dog Press, 2000. 12, 16.]

Patchen began to first develop his interest in literature and poetry while he was in high school, and his first poem was published in the New York Times while he was still in college. He attended Alexander Meiklejohn's Experimental College in Wisconsin for one year, starting in 1929, then left school and traveled across the country, working itinerant jobs in places like Arkansas, Louisiana, and Georgia [Smith, Larry. "Kenneth Patchen: Rebel Poet in America". Huron, Ohio: Bottom Dog Press, 2000. 36, 57.] .

Next, Patchen moved to the East Coast, living in places like New York City and Boston. While he was in Boston, in 1933, he met Miriam Oikemus at a friend's Christmas party. At the time, Miriam was a college freshman at Massachusetts State College in Amherst. But the two kept in touch, and Patchen started sending her the first of many love poems. They soon fell in love and decided to get married. First Patchen took her to meet his parents in Youngstown, Ohio, then they got married on June 28, 1934 in nearby Sharon, Pennsylvania. [Smith, Larry. "Kenneth Patchen: Rebel Poet in America". Huron, Ohio: Bottom Dog Press, 2000. 67-81.]

During the 1930s the couple moved a lot between New York City's Greenwich Village and California, as Patchen struggled to make a living as a writer. However, despite his constant struggle, his strong relationship with Miriam supported him and would continue to support him through the hardships that plagued him for most of his adult life.

Indeed, a second major tragedy occurred in Patchen's life in 1937 when he suffered a permanent spinal injury while trying to fix a friend's car. This injury caused him an extreme amount of pain and required multiple surgeries. Although the first two surgeries seemed to help with some of his pain, a botched third surgery ended up disabling him for life.

In Patchen's final years, he and his wife moved to a small farm house in Palo Alto, California, where Patchen created many of his distinctive painted poems (which he painted while he was confined to his bed). He died in Palo Alto on January 8, 1972.

Throughout his life-time, he was a fervent pacifist (as he made clear in much of his work) and was against U.S. involvement in World War II. This controversial view, coupled with his immobilization, kept him from ever achieving much success outside of a cult following.

Career

Patchen's early books of poetry were his most political and caused him to be championed, early on, as a Proletariat Poet. This title, which Patchen rejected, never stuck, since his work varied widely in subject, style, and form. As his career progressed, Patchen continued to push himself into more and more experimental styles and forms, developing, along with writers like Langston Hughes and Kenneth Rexroth, what has come to be known as jazz poetry in the process. He also experimented with his child-like "painted poems," many of which are collected in the book "What Shall We Do Without Us".

His first book, "Before The Brave", was published by Random House in 1936. But after a falling-out with Random House, Patchen signed on with James Laughlin at New Directions Press and started a relationship that would last throughout the remainder of his career. Patchen and Laughlin also became good friends. [Smith, Larry. "Kenneth Patchen: Rebel Poet in America". Huron, Ohio: Bottom Dog Press, 2000. 90, 119.]

During the course of his career, Patchen tried his hand at writing experimental novels such as "The Journal of Albion Moonlight" and "The Memoirs of A Shy Pornographer," as well as the radio play "The City Wears A Slouch Hat".

Patchen's "Collected Poems" was first published in 1968.

One of Patchen's biggest literary supporters was the novelist Henry Miller who wrote a long essay on Patchen, entitled, "Patchen: Man of Anger and Light" in 1946. Patchen also had a close, life-long friendship with the poet E.E. Cummings that began when they were both living in Greenwich Village in the 40's. [Smith, Larry. "Kenneth Patchen: Rebel Poet in America". Huron, Ohio: Bottom Dog Press, 2000. 146.] Later, in the 1950s, Patchen became a major influence on the younger Beat poets like Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti and many other young writers who visited Patchen when they were in California, participating in the West Coast literary scene.

Musical collaborations and recordings

In 1942 Patchen collaborated with the composer John Cage on the radio play "The City Wears A Slouch Hat".

In the 1950s, Patchen collaborated with Charles Mingus, reading his poetry with Mingus' jazz combo. Unfortunately, no known recording of their collaboration exists.

Moe Asch of Folkways Records made some recordings of Patchen reading his poetry and excerpts from one of his novels. These recordings were released as "Kenneth Patchen Reads with Jazz in Canada" (1959), "Selected Poems of Kenneth Patchen" (1960), and "Kenneth Patchen Reads His Love Poems" (released 1961). "From Albion Moonlight" was recorded later at Patchen's home but not released until 1972 by Folkways.

The "Jazz in Canada" album was recorded in Vancouver and was recorded the same week as a live performance done for CBC Radio. The LP was also released on Folkways and included a mimeographed pamphlet featuring poems and the jazz musicians credits. The group playing on the recording was the Allan Neil Quartet. It was released on CD by the label Locust Music in 2004.

On January 21, 2008, El Records released a recording entitled, "Rebel Poets in America" that includes classic poetry readings with jazz accompaniment by both Kenneth Patchen and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, including Patchen classics like "The Murder of Two Men by a Young Kid Wearing Lemon Colored Gloves" and "I Went To The City."

Many of his poems have been set to music by David Bedford. Others who have also set Patchen's work to music include: saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, with his solo album entitled "14 love poems + 10 more" released on the FMP label; composer Kyle Gann has set his voice reading a text to music (see below) and violinist Carla Kihlstedt set a text on the "Patchen" track of her solo Tzadik release "Two Foot Yard".

The song "What Shall we do Without Us" by American avant-rock band Sleepytime Gorilla Museum uses text by Patchen.

Bibliography

*Before the Brave, 1936
*First Will and Testament, 1939
*The Journal of Albion Moonlight, 1941
*The Dark Kingdom, 1942
*Cloth of the Tempest, 1943
*The Memoirs of a Shy Pornographer, 1945
*An Astonished Eye Looks Out of the Air, 1946
*Outlaw of the Lowest Planet, 1946
*The Selected Poems of Kenneth Patchen, 1946
*Sleepers Awake, 1946
*Panels for the Walls of Heaven,1946
*Pictures of Life and Death, 1946
*They Keep Riding Down All the Time, 1946
*CCCLXXIV Poems, 1948
*Red Wine and Yellow Hair, 1949
*Fables and Other Little Tales, 1953
*Poems of Humor and Protest, 1954
*Hurrah for Anything, 1957
*When We Were Here Together, 1957
*The Love Poems of Kenneth Patchen, 1960
*Hallelujah Anyway, 1966
*But Even So, 1968
*Wonderings, 1971
*In Quest of Candlelighters, 1972
*The Argument of Innocence, 1976
*Patchen's Lost Plays, 1977
*Still Another Pelican in the Breadbox, 1980
*What Shall We Do Without Us, 1984
*We Meet, 2008
*The Walking-Away World, 2008

External links

* [http://www.connectotel.com/patchen Kenneth Patchen Home Page]
* [http://www.kylegann.com/Gannaudio.html So Many Little Dyings mp3] , a song by Kyle Gann with a sample of Patchen reading
* [http://www.thing.net/~grist/l&d/patchen.htm Kenneth Patchen Survey]
* [http://www.tc.umn.edu/~hreh0001/pal.html Patchen: Man of Anger & Light] , by Henry Miller
* [http://www.concentric.net/~lndb/patchen/patchclr.htm Picture Poem Examples]
* [http://www.poetsagainstthewar.org/displaypoem.asp?AuthorID=25102 Poem by Patchen protesting war]
* [http://www.connectotel.com/patchen/miriamin.html Obituary] of Miriam Patchen by Marcus Williamson in The Independent (UK)
* [http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/5596/poets/patchen.htm Text of the Poem "Do the Dead Know What Time It Is?"]
* [http://sweetpeareview.blogspot.com/2007/11/specters-of-neutrality-kenneth-patchen.html Specters of Neutrality: Kenneth Patchen] article at "Explorations Deep Into the Quagmire Known" blog
*worldcat id|id=lccn-n50-50653

References