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Kenneth Patchen
Born December 13, 1911
Died January 8, 1972

Kenneth Patchen (December 13, 1911 – January 8, 1972) was an American poet and novelist. Events 1294 - Saint Celestine V abdicates the papacy after only five months Celestine hoped to return to his previous life Year 1911 ( MCMXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Events 871 - Battle of Ashdown - Ethelred of Wessex defeats a Danish invasion army Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A poet is a person who writes Poetry. Etymology From the Ancient greek: ποιέω, poieō: "I make or compose" A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story Though he denied any direct connection, Patchen's work and ideas regarding the role of artists paralleled those of the Dadaists and Surrealists. For other meanings see Dada (disambiguation DaDa is a Concept album by Alice Cooper, released Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early-1920s and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members 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").

Contents

Life

Patchen was born in Niles, Ohio. Niles is a city in Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. Located in the nation's former industrial belt the city's economy focused initially on iron manufacturing His father made his living in the nearby steel mills of Youngstown, Ohio. Youngstown is a city in the US state of Ohio and the County seat of Mahoning County. 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. Her death deeply affected him. He would later pay tribute to her in a poem entitled, "In Memory of Kathleen. "

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, then left school and traveled across the country, working itinerant jobs. Alexander Meiklejohn ( February 1, 1872 &mdash December 17, 1964) was a philosopher, university administrator and Free-speech He later attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and while still an undergraduate, met Miriam Oikemus at a friend's party. Miriam Patchen (1914-2000 was the wife and muse of poet and painter Kenneth Patchen, who dedicated each of his more than 40 works "To Miriam" Though they lived far from one another at the time, they soon fell in love, got married, and moved to Greenwich Village, where Patchen struggled to make a living as a writer. Greenwich Village (ˌgrɛnɪtʃ ˈvɪlɪdʒ often simply called the Village, is a largely residential area on the west side of downtown (southern Manhattan His strong relationship with Miriam would support him through the hardships that plagued him for most of his adult life.

Indeed, a second major tragedy occurred in Patchen's life 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.

Patchen and his wife also spent much of their lives in California where Patchen became an integral part of the West Coast poetry scene. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. In Patchen's final years, the couple moved to a small farm house in Palo Alto, California, where Patchen created many of his distinctive painted poems. He died there, 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. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including 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. Langston Hughes (February 1 1902 &ndash May 22 1967 was an American Poet, Novelist Playwright, Short story writer and Columnist Kenneth Rexroth ( December 22[[ 905]] &ndash June 6[[ 982]] was an American Poet, Translator and critical Essayist He was among the Jazz poetry can be defined as poetry that "demonstrates Jazz -like rhythm or the feel of improvisation" He also experimented with his child-like "painted poems," many of which are collected in the book What Shall We Do Without Us.

During the course of his career, he 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 was a major influence on the Beat movement, admired by writers like Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Irwin Allen Ginsberg (ˈgɪnzbɝg (June 3 1926 &ndash April 5 1997 was an American Poet. Lawrence Ferlinghetti (born Lawrence Ferling on March 24, 1919) is an American Poet and painter, and the co-founder of

His Collected Poems was first published in 1968.

The only existing biography of Patchen, Kenneth Patchen: Rebel Poet In America, was published in 2000 by Larry Smith.

Musical collaborations and recordings

In 1942 Patchen collaborated with the composer John Cage on the radio play The City Wears A Slouch Hat. Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A composer (literally meaning 'one who puts together' is a person who creates Music, usually in the medium of notation, for Interpretation and Performance WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> John Milton Cage Jr

In the 1950's, Patchen collaborated with Charles Mingus, reading his poetry with Mingus' jazz combo. Charles Mingus ( 22 April 1922 &ndash 5 January 1979) was an American Jazz Bassist, Composer, 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. Moses ("Moe" Asch (born December 2, 1905, Warsaw; died October 19, 1986, New York City) was the founder Folkways Records is a Record label that documents folk and world music 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. Vancouver (vænˈkuːvɚ is a coastal CBC Radio is the Radio division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 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.

Many of his poems have been set to music by David Bedford. David Vickerman Bedford (born 4 August 1937 in London) is a British Composer and Musician. 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. Peter Brötzmann (born 6 March 1941) is a German Free jazz Saxophonist and Clarinetist. Kyle Eugene Gann (born November 21, 1955) is an American Composer and music critic born in Dallas, Texas. Carla Kihlstedt, a violinist vocalist and multi-instrumentalist is a founding member of Tin Hat Trio (now renamed Tin Hat Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and The Tzadik Records is a Record label based in New York City specialising in Avant-garde and Experimental music.

The song What Shall we do Without Us by American avant-rock band Sleepytime Gorilla Museum uses text by Patchen. Experimental rock or avant-garde rock is a type of music based on rock which experiments with the basic elements of the genre and/or which pushes the boundaries Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (often abbreviated to SGM) are an American Experimental rock band, formed in 1999 in Oakland California

Bibliography

External links

Miriam Patchen (1914-2000 was the wife and muse of poet and painter Kenneth Patchen, who dedicated each of his more than 40 works "To Miriam" The Independent is a British compact Newspaper published by Tony O'Reilly 's Independent News & Media.
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