Search Results: verse from 20 Ants Fine Books, IOBA

New York: Horace Liveright. Very Good- with no dust jacket. 1930. Second Printing. Hardcover. Spine ends bumped, wear to tail spine end and corners, paper worn through at corners, overall light soil to paper covers. Lacks the dust jacket.; Fifteen poems of the "jazz" of living in Chicago and New York City, the poems intended to be accompanied by jazz music. This poetry illuminates the dark corners of society: of drunkenness, devil may care, music, trains, dance hall women, hobos, sex, thieves, grifters, race, crime, neighborhoods, noise, undereducated, low society everything. Not sophisticated in form, the poetry is in a mix of straightforward ABAB and AABB rhyming styles, and what spews from Bodenheim's mind gives the subject matter vivid imagery and stylistic punch. From the poem Bringing Jazz: "Last night I had an oboe dream -- / Whistlers in a box car madness bringing jazz. / Their faces stormed in a hobo gleam, / Blinding all the grinding wheels and singing jazz. /… Read More

Rosendale, NY: Hunger Press. Near Fine. 2000. Limited Edition. Softcover. Seventy-eight short poems, some as short as a single line and thus begging the question 'what is poetry?' Some surreal, some straightforward, all juxtaposed and unrelated, and all representative of Clayton Eshleman's free verse style. Written in 1986-2000 when the poet was Professor Emeritus at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Clayton Eshleman (1935-2021) was a widely acclaimed poet, literary translator, and editor, garnering numerous international awards, fellowships, grants, and residencies. Grouped in 4 chapters, these 48 poems demonstrate Eshleman's fluid, prose-like, free verse style that that has been variously termed surrealist, Postmodernist, and 'American grotesque.' One of a limited edition of 500. First printing. Book design and layout by J. J. Blickstein. Set in Times New Roman. Printed by Gray Matter Publishing and Design. Perfect bound softcover with the front cover photograph showing boulders in… Read More

Santa Barbara, CA: Black Sparrow Press. Fine with no dust jacket. 1983. Limited/Numbered Signed Edition. Hardcover. Tiny dent to the tail of the rear board. Pinpoint dot to the tail of the front board. Publisher's clear acetate wrapper is scuffed, with a tiny chip at the spine head.; Clayton Eshleman (1935-2021) was a widely acclaimed poet, literary translator, editor, and translator, garnering numerous international awards, fellowships, grants, and residencies. Grouped in 4 chapters, these 48 poems demonstrate Eshleman's fluid, prose-like, free verse style that that has been variously termed surrealist, Postmodernist, and 'American grotesque.' With the author's in-text line drawings on two facing pages, reproduction of a cave painting, and Notes on chapter contents. This is copy 112 of a limited edition of 200, numbered and signed on the colophon by the author. Paginated 145,[blank],[1],blank,[1]. Inscribed by Eshleman to "Elizabeth & Joel / Dear friends : I… Read More

New Rochelle, NY: Elizabeth Press. Very Good+ with no dust jacket. 1976. Limited Edition; First Printing. Softcover. Small sticker residue to corner of front cover. ; Fifteen poems collected from previous appearances in periodicals. One of a limited edition of 400 in wraps. William Bronk, winner of the National Book Award for Poetry, composed poetry during daily operations of the family business Bronk Coal and Lumber in Hudson Falls, NY. He committed these to paper, in longhand, and typically did not edit them after writing. Typography by Martino Mardersteig and printed on Magnani rag paper by his press Stamperia Valdonega, Verona, Italia. Set in Imprint type. Bound in stiff, textured brown wraps with French flaps. Conservatively Very Good+ for the small sticker residue to the cover, else Fine. ; 12mo 7" - 7½" tall; 23 pages .

Santa Barbara, CA: Unicorn Press. Fine with no dust jacket. 1971. Limited Signed Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. A few thin, dark marks to the paper of the back cover. Slightest bumps to the lower tips of the covers.; This poem is written in Levine's characteristic style of short, declarative phrasing and the lines speak in the voice of a child, the voice of an adult, and the voice of the wall, all presumed to be in Spain. The dedication references the girl Pili, the author's wife, and Spain, for which he had a long-standing fascination. Prior to his 2011 appointment as Poet Laureate of the United States, Philip Levine won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, the National Book Award, the Ruth Lily Prize in Poetry and the Wallace Stevens Award. The author was also named Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Copy 43 of an edition of 50, numbered in yellow ink and signed in black by Levine. From a total edition of 750, the 50 numbered and signed copes are specially bound in… Read More

Boston: Small, Maynard & Company. Very Good+ in Good+ dust jacket. 1925. First American Edition. Hardcover. Spine ends slightly bumped and bump to one corner. Light soil to the head and tail edges of the front cover, two tiny marks at the head. Faint toning at the edges of the pastedowns and endpapers. Dust jacket is intact with considerable wear and soil. Chips to head and tail of spine, all edges, and corners. Previous owner's name in ink on front pastedown. ; At once mystic and a celebration of life, the rubaiyat (quatrains) form a beautiful, poetic work by Omar Khaiyam [Ghiyath al-Din Abu'l-Fath Umar ibn Ibrahim Al-Nisaburi al-Khayyami] (1040-1131) the Persian Sufi poet, philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician. The rubaiyat are considered by some to exalt earthly pleasure, consider death, and point out the unreliability of religion in addressing human issues. This English translation by Frederick Rolfe ["Baron Corvo"] (1860-1913) was based on the French… Read More

Geyserville, CA: Sun Moon Bear Editions. Fine with no dust jacket. 1992. Limited/Numbered Signed Edition. Softcover. Several poems from this former antiquarian bookseller and author of at least 8 books of poetry. In his characteristic style, most poems are in short 5-line verses. From Silent Crow: "gold december / in the room / and breaking a light sweat / you whisper / totally worth it" From Seeking the Hills: "there's no universe / there's just things / -a moth wing transparent / & strong enough for two universes / flips over in the wind" Copy 41 of a limited edition of 75, signed and numbered by the author. Some poems first appeared in the Sun Moon Bear Editions chapbooks Pocket Poems and Silent Crow. Monochrome cover illustration by Lee Perron. The vertical cover illustration is replicated horizontally on the title page. Printed offset by Amoruso Printing, Healdsburg, CA. Printed on fine, stiff paper. Darkish-gray, mould made endpapers. In off-white,… Read More

New York: Brentano's. Very Good+ with no dust jacket. N.D.. Hardcover. Lacks the elusive dust jacket. Rubbing to edges, corners, hinges, and spine ends. Previous owner's name in ink on front pastedown. The front endpaper has a small abrasion, possibly from sticker removal. Pastedowns and endpapers lightly toned.; Tannhäuser, the full title being Tannhäuser and the Minnesängers' Contest at Wartburg, is Richard Wagner's epic, poetic, opera of the opposition of sacred, otherworldly love and profane, worldly love. The mythical character Tannhäuser is a medieval German poet and songwriter who abandons his chaste Elizabeth and descends to be with Venus in her ethereal, subterranean realm of Venusberg. Dissatisfied, he ascends to the real-worldly Wartburg. reunites with Elisabeth, enters the songwriting contest of the Minnesängers, and horrifies the staid, pious listeners with his song of earthly, sensual love. In disgrace, he repairs to Rome to do… Read More

Madison, NJ: Brayers Club. Near Fine. (1947). Limited Edition. Softcover. Tiny nicks to the head edge of the front wrap.; This tiny book contains a facsimile of the holograph manuscript of Wood Flower, a 2-verse poem by Richard Le Gallienne. The narrator finds a flower growing in the woods and wishes to pluck it. Comparing the flower to "The old wild-wood's fairy daughter," the narrator falls under a spell that prevents a hand from taking the flower, so delicate that it might be broken by a touch. Born Richard Thomas Gallienne, the author affected the surname Le Gallienne in early adulthood. A prolific author, his life was tumultuous, encompassing affairs with Oscar Wilde, actor/playwright Wilson Barrett and numerous women, and three wives who dealt with his debt-ridden, alcoholic, womanizing, unstable life. "The frontispiece is printed direct from the silk of a milk-weed seed without any plate or mechanical means of reproduction, on a Washington hand press by Arthur… Read More