SOME LINES FOR YOU
WRITTEN UNDER A REDWOOD IN THE CITY PARK
NOT YET THREE MONTHS SINCE YOU DIED IN MY ARMS
IN OUR HOME ON CHESTNUT STREET, SAN FRANCISCO
Drawn to the Temple where you worshipped
I slink along the edges of the city like a cat
Hawk family nesting in our Autumn Garden
Turning overhead like something out of Yeats’s Second Coming
Marble Angel still holding her bowl of sacred water
Is that you?! Sitting in the shadow of the Weeping Willow?
— t. walden
|
FOR HOWARD HART
Heavenly Heart’s Howie Helium — Roderick Iverson |
Selected Bibliography:
books:
- FOUNTAIN SQUARE. New York: Pennyeach Press, 1954
- THE SKY OF ORANGE WHISPERS. New York: Gallery: Gertrude Stein, 1964
- THE APPLE BITES BACK. Mill Valley, CA: Klook Press, 1974
- CHARMELLE AND THE WHITE SMOKE. San Francisco: Despair Press, 1980
- SELECTED POEMS: SIX SETS 1951-1983. Berkeley, CA: City Miner Books, 1984
- ICE FREEZES RED. Alexandria, VA : Deep Forest, 1987
- BEAUTY. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1988
- DJANGO. Alexandria, VA : Deep Forest, 1989
- AND THE AUTUMN LEOPARDS CAN RINSE THEIR PAWS. (CD) San Francisco: Privately Published, 2000
- ONE THIRD INN. San Francisco: Deep Forest, 2001
plays:
- NOONTIDE, based on Paul Claudel’s “Partage De Midi.” Produced in New York, 1961.
Very favorably reviewed in the New York Times, June 2, 1961. - “THE GRAND VIZIR” and “CAYENNE PEPPER” both by Rene de Obaldia, adapted by Howard Hart & directed by Robert Cordier, were also produced in New York & received excellent reviews in the New York Times on Dec. 13, 1961.
- DEEP EVIL. A one act play performed at The Judson Poets’ Theater, 55 Washington Square South, NYC, 1961.
- REVENGE ON LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE.
- BETWEEN TWO THIEVES. A translation from French of Diego Fabbri’s “Trial of Jesus.”
music:
Played drums with the John Benson Brooks trio’s album, Avant Slant (One Plus 1 = II?) — a Twelve-Tone Collage; Decca Records DL-75018. 
Howard studied musical composition with the famous composer Charles Mills who set Howard’s poem “Wail For Our Dead Guitarist” to piano music.
also of note:
Jazz performances with Jack Kerouac, Philip Lamantia, and David Amram in New York, 1957 & 1958. The first of these, at the Brata Art Gallery, was the very first jazz-poetry reading in New York.
Later performances were at the Circle in the Square. David Amram’s recollection of these performances, first published in Evergreen Review in 1969, is available on his website.
To see the reproduction of the handbill for one of the Circle in the Square gigs at full size, click the image at left.
Howard Hart wrote theatre & book reviews for the Village Voice, 1959-1961. Those reviewed included Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Thelonius Monk, Jack Kerouac, Albert Camus, Eugene Ionesco, & Marguerite Duras.
Other
Also see an untitled poem & photo at Beatitude website.
Read a review of Howard Hart’s poetry in the January 1959 issue of Mademoiselle magazine. Sylvia Plath is also reviewed.
Thanks
Many thanks to Tisa Walden, who graciously supplied the photos & nearly all the information for this page.
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