John Thomas Idlet

Infobox_Person | name = John Thomas Idlet
other_names =


caption =
birth_date = birth date|1930|12|31
birth_place = Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
death_date = death date and age|2002|3|29|1930|12|31
death_place = Westwood, California, U.S.
death_cause = Congestive heart failure
known =
occupation = Poet
religion =
spouse = Philomene Long
children =
relations =
website =
footnotes =

John Thomas Idlet (John Thomas) (December 31, 1930 – March 29, 2002) was an American Beat poet who wrote sporadically and had an aversion to publishing his work. Charles Bukowski called him "the best unread poet in America." His first collection of poems: "Apologia" was published in 1972 in a limited edition of 405 copies, 30 of which were signed, numbered, and "sealed" by the author, presumably so they could not be read.cite news
last = Dannatt
first = Adrian
title = Obituary: John Thomas
publisher = "Independent, The (London)"
date = 2002-06-06
url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20020606/ai_n12625909/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1
accessdate = 2008-06-28] Four years later Thomas published "Epopoeia and the Decay of Satire" which consisted of the same material, except that some of the poems in the first book had been removed in the second one. Married four times, and remarkably indolent, it seems proper that he was friends with Charles Bukowski whose writing explored drinking, whoring and serial employment in dead-end jobs. Thomas spent the sunset days of his anti-career in his house in Venice Beach and reading while sitting under a sweet gum tree on the grounds of the Zen Center of Los Angeles. He died of congestive heart failure at the age of 71 in the Los Angeles County Jail while serving a sentence for sexually molesting his daughter. [cite news
last = Idlet
first = Gabrielle
title = Hitting the Beats
language = english
publisher = "L. A. Weekley"
date = 2002-07-17
url = http://www.laweekly.com/art+books/books/hitting-the-beats/3758/
accessdate = 2008-06-28 ]

Works

Poetry

* "Epopoeia and the Decay of Satire". Los Angeles: Red Hill Press, 1976.
* "from Patagonia" contained in "Abandoned Latitudes". Red Hill Press, 1983.

References

External Links

* cite news
last = Idlet
first = Gabrielle
title = Hitting the Beats
language = english
publisher = "L. A. Weekley"
date = 2002-07-17
url = http://www.laweekly.com/art+books/books/hitting-the-beats/3758/
accessdate = 2008-06-28
* cite news
last = Evry
first = Marta
title = Widow of Beat poet John Thomas gets $475,000 from county over his death in 2002
language = english
publisher = "The Venice Forum"
date = 2007-03-31
url = http://www.veniceforum.org/?q=node/view/1101&PHPSESSID=0459ea333871ea070925c71deb6fe004
accessdate = 2008-06-28
* cite news
last = Woo
first = Elaine
title = Poet John Thomas -- he threw his weight and his words around
work = from the Los Angeles Times
language = english
publisher = "The San Francisco Chronicle (SFGate.com)"
date = 2002-04-13
url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/04/13/BA103082.DTL&hw=CRYPTOGRAPHER&sn=042&sc=294
accessdate = 2008-06-28Persondata
NAME=Idlet, John Thomas
SHORT DESCRIPTION=California beat poet
DATE OF BIRTH=Decenber 31, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH=Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH=March 29, 2002
PLACE OF DEATH=Westwood, California, U.S.