To experience Patchen’s work is to discover a peculiar sort of divinity.

Devendra Banhart

Meet Kenneth Patchen, a prolific, ground-breaking proletarian poet/painter whose most eclectic and wildly eccentric works are re-launched in a single startling volume–We Meet.

We Meet

Poetry by Kenneth Patchen

The singular work of Kenneth Patchen has influenced poets, artists and political activists for decades. New Directions is proud to launch a Patchen revival beginning with omnibus editions of his unique compositions. We Meet highlights Patchen’s more outlandish side and includes, like fabrics stitched into a crazy quilt, Because It Is, A Letter to God, Poemscapes, Hurrah For Anything, and Aflame & Afun of Walking Faces. “Because to understand one must begin somewhere,” opens Patchen’s fabulous book of poems Because It Is: perhaps the most ideal reason for such a melting pot of poetry. Open any page at random and find Patchen protesting the Second World War (A Letter to God), or telling the tale of how hot water first came to be tracked onto bedroom floors (Aflame and Afun of Walking Faces), or informing the reader what happened when the nervous vine wouldn’t twine (Because It Is), or why he loathes those who act as if a cherry were something they personally thought up (Hurrah For Anything), or answering what he wants out of life: “let’s say—no matter” (Poemscapes).

Paperback(published Jul, 01 2009)

ISBN
9780811217583
Price US
18.95
Price CN
22
Trim Size
5x8
Page Count
304
Portrait of Kenneth Patchen

Kenneth Patchen

20th Century American Poet

To experience Patchen’s work is to discover a peculiar sort of divinity.

Devendra Banhart