Jim Haynes:

Ted Joans and I have been close friends and associates since our first meeting in Edinburgh in 1960. He stayed in my home in Edinburgh, later in London and often in Paris. I launched my kitchen-table publishing house, Handshake Editions, to publish a small collection of his poetry, Duck Butter Poems, to coincide with a reading at UNESCO in the early 80s. Handshake Editions later published in French translation a volume of poetry of Ted’s and Jayne Cortez. Handshake Editions also published another book of Ted’s entitled honey spoon. Thanks to Ted, many people are in my life. In the early 70s, I created a Sunday salon in my atelier in Paris and Ted attended everytime he was in Paris. Ted was a big fan of this salon and often brought new friends to it. At many readings he gave throughout the world, he almost always talked about the salon and gave out my telephone number and suggested that his audience call when they were in Paris and just say that Ted suggested it. To maintain this tradition, if any of you who read this are in Paris on a Sunday, call 01 43 27 17 67 and report that you are calling as Ted suggested. Just a few weeks ago, Ted was in Paris and we saw a great deal of each other. He always liked to celebrate his birthday, the 4th of July, in Paris. He said that he would return to Paris in June and we would have a party on the 4th. Since our first meeting, not sure how many of these birthday celebrations I have attended (or hosted), but there have been many. I have every intention of hosting a small party for TJ (as I often called him) on the 4th this coming July and every 4th of July as long as I am alive. A remarkable man, a dear friend, an inspiration. His passing is a loss for all of us. He will be missed. But he will not want us to grieve. We will celebrate his life by constantly celebrating our own. Eat, drink, dance, sing, love and be merry. Life is too quickly over to grieve. Thanks for all our moments together, T.J….

Nicole Henares:

It was last year, February to be exact when I first heard Ted Joans read his poetry — I was sitting at the Trieste, V. Vale walked by with his usual “heyyyyy Nicole”..however this time he expounded on his usual “heyyy” with an unusual tip, “there’s going to be an excellent reading tonight at City Lights tonight—Ted Joans.” “Who’s that?” I asked. “Ted Joans is a jazz beat poet, one of the best there is. Go, you’ll like him, I am sure of it.”

I arrived to the upstairs room at City Lights early, and curious. Ted Joans, wearing an orange blazer, took the floor with humor and ease, reading from his recent anthology,”Teducation.” I became quickly enchanted by his words and witty delivery and commentary. (Especially the remark of “someday Amiri Baraka is gonna meet LeRoi Jones and it ain’t gonna be pretty”)

At the end of the reading, I asked Mr. Joans to sign his “Teducation” for me: I told him how I taught high school and was attempting to build upon my students’ literacy skills through their love of hip-hop and how his combining of jazz with language inspired me towards my mission. Upon learning that I was a teacher, Mr. Joans winked and signed my book with a saying from one of his teachers, Malcom X — “If you don’t know, learn. If you do know, teach.”

Many, many, many times since that night a year ago February I have remembered Ted Joans’ inspiring words.

Eric Benveniste:

TED LIVES!

Dan Fox:

I only met Ted Joans once – in the late 80s, at a publication party for Gregory Corso’s Mindfield, hosted by Roger Richards. This was at a bar on Canal Street (Smokestack Lightnin’, I think).

I was wide-eyed when I saw him. I said, ‘I can’t believe you’re here.’

Ted said, ‘We will always be here.’

I liked that.

Bob Rosenthal:

What I loved about Ted was that he life did not embitter him. He remained steadfast as an artist who knew his value and was satisfied — inspiration to all of us who struggle on the path and only hope to keep to it.

Rob Wittig

Ted Joans Lives

One fine French noontime in Spring of 1978 found me:
_graduated
_alone in the world
_stone broke
_sworn to write
_determined to live in Paris as long as I could

and on that Spring noontime
I first heard, saw, and was swept into the whirlwind of
the phenomenon that is
(still is)
Ted Joans

because
Ted Joans Lives

Ted Joans Lives

yes,
Ted Joans Lives

One fine Spring noontime
Ted is holding court in Shakespeare and Co. bookstore
across from Notre Dame on Paris left bank;
Ted is ebullient and fearless
striking up conversations with bookstore browsers
introducing strangers to strangers
and within minutes
assembles a group of interesting world travelers
to join him on a picnic expedition
to the banks of the Seine

Such is his charm and disarming imagination
that he gets another few
cool young folk to join the growing group
by simply stopping them on the street

a non-stop stream of improvised language
opening up people’s conventional reserve
with humor, playful energy,
and the big-picture vision of the Poet

sitting by the River in a laughing group,
eating well according to the
Ted Joans Theory of Picnics
(everyone brings a complete picnic for one person;
thus you never wind up with imbalanced fare;
everybody shares bites all around)

Ted Joans leads the conversation sparklingly,
getting everyone talking about Real Subjects
(heart, mind, love, life)
— no bullshit, no hollow chit chat

and Ted Joans proclaiming his beatnik surrealist values:
“Jazz is My Religion”
“My Holy Trinity: Food, Sex, & Art”

and by his every action
declaring that Today need not be like every other day
Today can be Spontaneous and Free and Absorbed with Important Poetry

Ted Joans Lives

Ted Joans sat patiently in his tiny chambre de bonne in Paris with National
Geographic map on his knees and told me about Africa, all I never learned in
American school

Thank You Ted Joans

Ted Joans, my mentor, my direct teacher of rhino personal energy traditions
of Surrealism, Beats, African word sorcery

Thank You Ted Joans

Ted Joans taught me how to live cheap in Paris, where I stayed a year and
had lifechanging adventues

Thank You Ted Joans

He wouldn’t necessarily remember me (though he did, kindly),
but I ABSOLUTELY NECESSARILY remember him

Thank you Ted Joans

Ted Joans Lives

above all Ted Joans taught me this priceless lesson

_Poetry is an attitude that can be lived in everyday life_

 

Thank You Ted Joans

Hail Ted Joans Poet

Hail Ted Joans Jazz Musician

Hail Ted Joans Who Said He Dubbed Himself Joans for a Beloved Joan

Hail Ted Joans Who Brings a Room Alive by Being in it

Hail Ted Joans Fireball Beatnik Friend of Keraberg and Ginsouac

Hail Ted Joans resident of New York Paris Timbuktu, Mali

Hail Ted Joans African American, Who Knows What of Himself is African and
What of Himself is American

Hail Ted Joans Surrealist Because Breton Named Him Surrealist

Hail Ted Joans Man With the Power to Turn Blah Day Into Lifetime Memory

Hail Ted Joans Who Said “the only thing you have to fear from the poet . . .
is the truth”

Ted Joans Lives

Ted Joans Lives

Ted Joans Lives