Bob Kaufman, known in France as the American Rimbaud, was one of the original Beat poets to come out of the Fifties. He is rightfully regarded as one of the most influential black poets of his era, but his poetry transcends any race identification. In San Francisco's North Beach, home of the West Coast Beats, he was regarded as the original be-bop poet. As a jazz poet, he … [Read more...]
A.D. Winans and Andy Clausen Reading, 7.16.15
San Francisco native poet and writer A.D. Winans and NY poet Andy Clausen will be reading from their collective works at the Beat Museum. Both poets were friends with many of the Beat Era poets like Allen Ginsberg, Ray Bremser, Gregory Corso, Bob Kaufman, Jack Micheline, Harold Norse, Charles Bukowski, and others. The Beat Museum 540 Broadway … [Read more...]
Reading to Celebrate Poet Harold Norse, May 9, 2015
A poetry reading in celebration of a new selected edition of the acclaimed Beat poet and former Sonoma County resident Harold Norse will be held at Copperfield’s Petaluma bookstore on Saturday, May 9th at 1:30 PM. Joining the book’s editor and Sebastopol resident Todd Swindell will be renowned San Francisco poets Neeli Cherkovski and A.D. Winans. I Am Going to Fly Through … [Read more...]
A.D. Winans poetry reading in SF Sept. 16, 2014!
Award winning native San Francisco poet A.D. Winans and Oakland native poet and activist Nellie Wong will be reading from their works on September 16, 2014 at Adobe Bookstore. A.D. Winans A.D. Winans has been published internationally and translated into ten languages. He will be reading from his new book This Land Is Not My Land (NYQ Press) and from new poems. He is … [Read more...]
I Am San Francisco
I have witnessed the waterfront decay the ships disappear the piers given over to tourists and sunbathing sea lions Gone the Haight Theater in the old Haight Ashbury where as a kid I paid a dime to see two movies a serial and a newsreel Gone the old Embassy Theater on Market Street where they spun the Wheel of Fortune playing Ten-O-Win with a busty … [Read more...]
For David Moe
Like a crow caws into the night, like an owl with its questioning eyes, like a Shaman lights the night with magic words, like a hawk circles the sky, like a farmer plants seeds, like a magician skilled in illusion, you hurled the boulders of darkness into the face of death played the game out on your own terms forced death to her knees before surrendering on your own … [Read more...]
When a Black Boy Walks Home Alone At Night
who would have thought skittles and ice tea was a death sentence not even Dr. Oz when a black boy with a dream walks home alone at night hard rain falling lady death whisper in the air a boy with a dream walks home at night to watch an all-star basketball game gunned down by a wanna-be cop and Florida's "stand your ground" license to kill law when a … [Read more...]
In honor of ruth weiss on her 85th birthday
The following is from: “ruth weiss and the American Beat movement of the ‘50s and 60’s” by Horst Spandler, published in: ruth weiss, no dancing aloud – lautes tanzen nicht erlaubt. edition exil, Vienna, 2006. – also used as an introduction to ruth weiss’ book can’t stop the beat – THE LIFE AND WORDS OF A BEAT POET. Divine Arts, Studio City, 2011. ruth weiss’ and Kerouac’s … [Read more...]
Poet A.D. Winans’ Top Ten Books List
1. Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse 2. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 3. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller 4. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger 5. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey 6. On the Road by Jack Kerouac 7. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole 8. Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg 9. All My Friends Are … [Read more...]
Poetry Book Release! A.D. Winans – In the Dead Hours of Dawn
New Release from Bottle of Smoke Press:A.D. Winans - In the Dead Hours of Dawn Poetry, 32 pages. 8 1/2" x 11 1/4". A new book of poems by award winning poet A.D. Winans consists of poems not previously published in any of his previous fifty-three books of poetry. The cover is printed on Fabriano Tiziano paper using hand-set 12 line Bradley wood type and 54 point Satanic … [Read more...]
Six poems by A.D. Winans
Poem for ruth weiss she grooves with time day time, night time be bop jazz time dances with timeless time all rhythm no rhyme birds in flight flap their wings copulate with the wind a magician's illusion where time and words move from celibate to wild orgy feed off the flesh of the other pause in roller coaster freeze stop motion she sings her song another day … [Read more...]
Dancing with Words
There are poets who like To dance with words Dance for favors and illusionary Poetry careers But dancing for an audience Isn’t like feeling the rhythm That rubs up against the soul Odetta, Buffy Saint-Marie Phil Ochs, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger Billy Bragg Were living proof of this Money pigeonholes Power corrupts The spiritual truth The scriptures tell us … [Read more...]
San Francisco Poems by A.D. Winans
A.D. Winans' new 190-page poetry collection, San Francisco Poems, has been published by Little Red Tree Publishing, of New Haven, CT. A. D. Winans is a native San Francisco poet, writer and photographer. His poetry, prose, book reviews, and essays have appeared in over 1500 literary magazines and anthologies, including City Lights Journal, Margie, Poetry Australia, the New … [Read more...]
A.D. Winans – San Francisco Poems Book Launch! July 22, 2012
A.D. Winans founded the important Second Coming Press in San Francisco back in the 1970s, publishing some of the best Beat poets alongside crucial street and underground poets of the time. All along, his own work has been politically engaged and acerbic in its observations. He is an award winning poet and writer whose work has been published internationally and translated … [Read more...]
06.08.12: Local Heroes Poetry Honors A.D. Winans, Jack & Adelle Foley & Others
On Friday, June 8, 2012, the Quiet Lightning "Local Heroes" poetry series will honor and feature poets Lorna Dee Cevantes, A. D. Winans, Jack and Adelle Foley, and other local icons. The event will be held at the William Westerfield Mansion on Alamo Square. The mansion has been home to artists of all kinds since 1889, from The Grateful Dead to Kenneth Anger.* The event will … [Read more...]
Looking Back
When I was 18 I was on a troop train heading for basic training when we stopped to take on water or whatever it is trains stop for and after relieving myself I came out of the men's room when an elderly black man asked me where the men's room was and when I pointed in the direction of where I had just come from he said, "No, Sir. "The Colored room." And being from … [Read more...]
A. D. Winans: 11 Photographs
A.D. Winans on A.D. Winans
I was born in San Francisco, and have lived here almost my entire life. I was born at home, premature. My mother said the doctor told her I would not live a long life. Now I'm 71 and the doctor is long dead. My father was seventeen years older than my mother, and they fought constantly... When my mother wasn't yelling at my father, she was yelling at me. This left deep … [Read more...]
A.D. Winans: Ten Poems
North Beach Yuppie Bar Hard to believe Richard Brautigan Jack Spicer and other Beats drank here As I sit and watch two business men Playing liar's dice at Gino and Carlo's Bar In the heart of North Beach Their faces white as pie crust Wearing double breasted suits And Italian imported shirts The legal mafia making their own rules The one with the twisted … [Read more...]
A. D. Winans Looks Back at the Beat Generation
Generally speaking, counter-culture describes the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group or subculture in conflict with those of the cultural mainstream of the day, a visible phenomenon that reaches critical mass and persists for some time. The Beat Generation was composed of a group of American poets and writers who first congregated in New York and later joined … [Read more...]
Ted Joans Lives! A Tribute
When Charlie Parker died, Ted Joans coined the phrase 'BIRD LIVES' and wrote it in chalk or charcoal on walls. Laura Corsiglia suggests that we remember Ted in the same way:GRAB SOME SIDEWALK CHALK OR CHARCOAL AND WRITE "TED JOANS LIVES" EVERYWHERE YOU CAN! jimmy bruch Listen! can you hear it? i hear him now that old Ted Joans. i hear the beat, beat, beat, the beat of … [Read more...]
A.D. Winans Remembers Jack Micheline
Jack Micheline, a poet of the Beat Generation, died of a heart attack on Friday, February 27, 1988 aboard a Bart commuter train. The transit police at the Orinda Bart station discovered his body, which ominously was the end of the line. Micheline was a "Street" poet who lived out his life on the fringe of poverty, first in the Bronx neighborhoods of New York, where he was … [Read more...]
America – a poem by A.D. Winans
Drummed out of the infantry of death I came back to you carrying the Poems of my soul Opened the door of life And found only death inside America I have read the state of the union And listened to the state of the economy By statesmen in a state of hysteria America where the Poor and the black Are sentenced to Attica And the rich serve time at San Clemente America … [Read more...]
A Call to Poets
Poets unite Forget about a career In poetry And concentrate on the Poem Quit turning out Factory assembly Line poems Quit trying to imitate Bukowski. Poets unite Listen to your brothers And sisters Quit being the first poet To read and the first to leave Quit using words As preaching tools When all over the world People are starving Dying and committing … [Read more...]
Book Review — Beatitude Golden Anniversary: 1959-2009
Beatitude Golden Anniversary 1959-2009 / Edited by Latif Harris and Neeli Cherkovski / Latif Harris / San Francisco / 2009. The publisher provided Empty Mirror with a review copy. Beatitude magazine came into existence in 1959, in San Francisco's North Beach, the brainchild of Bob Kaufman, Allen Ginsberg and John Kelly. With Kelly acting as publisher, it quickly became a … [Read more...]
