Joe Dunn with collages by Jess
White Rabbit Press
San Francisco, CA
(c)1968
This is an intriguing one to be sure. I knew who "Jess" (Collins) was, he was an artist in the Poetry scene in SF during the 'Renaissance' there prior to the arrival of the Beats. He was connected to the Jack Spicer circle somehow - I thought I remembered but I don't and as I collect more data, I wlll alter this posting - whereas Joe Dunn, who was involved with the same Jack Spicer group and was a founder of White Rabbit Press and verdant press, somehow has not been deemed important enough to have his own Wikipedia page. Go figure.
This book is stuffed with collages by Jess, one will spend a good deal of time studying them all. The poetry appears to have been created on a typewriter and feels very stream-of-consciousness, like floating across the page and then pulsating through the collage to begin anew on the next page of text. Red pages flyleaf between cover and text also adds a nice touch to the book. I also appreciate that the pages actually feel like something instead of many newer books that are so slick I feel the need to wash my hands after holding them just to feel something on my finger tips. Some books might as well be printed on plastic.
This one, however, is better than fine just as it is.
