I, Too, at the Beginning I am the early Black Beat I read with some of the Best Beat minds When the Apple was Beat Generating I lived in Greenwich Village I was there Where I read poems and painted poetry Whilst worthy constituents Dwelled elsewhere It was me/myself/and I Who created the original "BIRD LIVES" I wailed & wailed In coffee shops wayback … [Read more...]
For Ted Joans: poems and a collage by Steve Dalachinsky
Le Corbeau et Le Courbet – for Ted Joans (written at Café Le Roquet – Paris 1/30/06) today the light is so bright diffused light tracing det snoaj like a backward shadow @ the origin of the world memoir of a pr. of bronze balls too cold to fuck along the insane river where the rhino dwells / or say hello Mr. Joans as the sun writes these shadows on my page facing … [Read more...]
Liz Taylor’s Lovers – for Ted Joans
he wants desperately to do different things he stretches out his arms & the leaves come to him he is a poet he puts out his american hands & grain grows from their fingertips like the fine hairs of his whitened beard he wants to do things differently he turns grain into loaves of bread & offers it to beggars they turn & run for in truth it is a … [Read more...]
David Amram: To Laura for Ted Joans
Dear Laura: I just heard about Ted's passing and wanted to tell you how sorry I was, and hope you will know that you are not alone, and that many like myself (I knew Ted since 1956) will always miss him, as you and his children. So will all the people around the world of all ages, whose lives he touched. As I wrote in my book Offbeat; Collaborating with Kerouac, Ted … [Read more...]
Robert Creeley: Ted Joans, Primary Poet
Sad news indeed that old friend and ally Ted Joans has died in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he'd been living for the past few years. Apparently his health, affected by diabetes, had not been good, and though there is as yet no clear report, that seems at the root of what's happened. What to say about this terrific, unbeatable and indefatigable person, wedder of bop and … [Read more...]
The Teducated Mouth: John Barbato interviews Ted Joans
Ted Joans, one of the original Beat poets, was born in Cairo, Illinois on 4 July 1928. By his twenties, living in New York City, he moved in the surrealist world of painters, jazz players, and poets. If a scene was happening Joans had it covered. A partial list of his friends reads like a who's who of the important creators of the 20th century: Allen Ginsberg, Ella … [Read more...]
Jack Foley: Goodbye, Ted Joans
GOODBYE, TED JOANS Don't let the minute spoil the hour. --Ted Joans Ted Joans died April 25th, 2003 at the age of 74. He was alone in his apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia. His body wasn't found until May 7th. It seems odd--and was in fact merely accidental--that Ted should have died alone: he was an immensely social man who … [Read more...]
Ted Joans Lives! Words by T. Paul Ste. Marie
My fortune in life, my true fortune of connecting with wonderful people, grew intensely as a result of knowing Ted & Laura here in Vancouver, B.C.. I had first met them at a reading Ted was giving at Bukowski's Bar & Grill. Being a poet and an artist myself who draws heavily upon jazz and surrealist influences, it was a joy to witness one of the forerunners of these genres … [Read more...]
Ted Joans Lives! Coreley Coit, Kenya Rodriguez, Valery Oisteanu, Hidani Ditmars
Cordley Coit Ted Joans (unfinished documentary) Music: Ornette Coleman's Empty Foxhole Red beans and rice, wet pussy, nice. We know where the .38 lives where the rule of switchblades reign. We waited for Brother Malcolm, Orly: only for him he was diverted by death. Pause a full measure: Sax Solo From the last of Ted to Shakespeare & Co. Armed … [Read more...]
Ted Joans Lives! Tribute: Harry Nudel
please Mr. Sweetness/ Miss Light ... horny is as.. 2 yrs later..he gave me & A...a cupcake and one … [Read more...]
Ted Joans Lives! Tribute (13)
Stephen Ronan: By the time of Ted's visits to City Lights I had attended at least one of his readings. Usually he would read at Cody's Books in Berkeley. I remember good turn-outs and a general delight with Ted's charismatic renditions of his poems of profundity and humor. He always seemed borne up by everyone's appreciation. He was singular in many ways not the least … [Read more...]
Ted Joans Lives! Tribute (12)
Robert Elliot Fox: For Ted Joans He sprang from Ole Man River tracked every groove in the diasporic spiral a wailer who harpoon- tanged on three continents Afro-beat purveyor of seer realism prowling graffiti street w/ rimbaud license & saxy moan his blackophone antics teasing the word for all he wrote Now he jams in … [Read more...]
Ted Joans Lives! Tribute (11)
John Bibby: I met Ted twice - in Timbuktu (1966) and in Algiers (1969). I remember his immortal first words - "Haben Sie Sardinen?" (I was wearing Lederhosen - he assumed I was German - and he was on the edge of the Sahara pining for sardines!) We spent much of the next week together on the top of a lorry trying to get to Niamey - I must admit, I found a week with … [Read more...]
Ted Joans Lives! Tribute (10)
C. Edward Bernier: Ted Joans came to us in the late 70s fresh from his wanderings throughout the Sahel. I was Cultural Affairs Officer at the US Embassy in Dakar. He began slowly, with poetry readings about town and in the countryside. Then he moved in with us. Brought his trunk full strange and mystical things from the brosse. Bird skulls, feathers, sticks, and other … [Read more...]
Ted Joans Lives! Tribute (9)
John Bibby: I met Ted twice - in Timbuktu (1966) and in Algiers (1969). I remember his immortal first words - "Haben Sie Sardinen?" (I was wearing Lederhosen - he assumed I was German - and he was on the edge of the Sahara pining for sardines!) We spent much of the next week together on the top of a lorry trying to get to Niamey - I must admit, I found a week with … [Read more...]
Ted Joans Lives! Tribute (8)
Anne Baxter: The written word is not my medium, but I feel Ted would be pleased if I at least made an attempt to honor him and his "Teducation" though this great website. I first met Ted in Paris. It was 1988, and he came to my sculpture exhibit. My hermit tendencies didn't seem to phase him - we understood each other in a certain way as fellow Cancerian crabs. Ted has … [Read more...]
Ted Joans Lives! Tribute (7)
Dudley Merchant: I met up with Ted Joans in June of 1978 in Paris. He was great to read with and we had two readings together and a few more parties. Ted is alive as I think of him often. He was really against the French learning to rent their cars, car leases, and the debts of the ordinary citizen. I last saw Ted at a barge party on the Seine in August of 1978, before I … [Read more...]
Ted Joans Lives! Tribute (6)
Denise Enck: I've been writing a piece about Ted and will post it here in a few days. But this this morning while looking through a cache of letters, postcards, and ephemera Ted sent me over the years, I found this recent item which I thought I'd share with you now. Getting mail from Ted was always a treat. His newsy letters were often embellished with drawings or … [Read more...]
Ted Joans Lives! Michael Hayward, Jake Lamar, Bernie Mindich, and Guy Pierre Buchholtzer
Michael Hayward True story: yesterday afternoon, writing at the window table in my favorite café (Caffé Buongiorno in Vancouver) I looked up to see Ted Joans running across the street towards me, and then carrying on, heading west, his eyes alight. I wrote about this visitation: re: Birth Ted Joans just ran past the café window, where I wrestle with a piece on … [Read more...]
Ted Joans Lives! Tribute: Keith Scotcher and Larry Keenan
Larry Keenan Keith Scotcher I was shocked to hear of Ted's death, having met him in Paris in March, first outside the Shakespeare and Co bookshop and later at his regular cafe in Blvd St Germain, he seemed in good spirits and looked well. He was looking forward to getting some income from a book he was preparing and hoped to use the money to visit the African … [Read more...]
Ted Joans Lives! Tribute: Rik Lina, Hammond Guthrie, Richard Krech and more
Rik Lina This is one of the many cadavre-exquises Ted made people to do, must be more than thousand...note the small text he wrote in it: "cadavrexquis is not dead." Laura Corsiglia, Ted and I made it 19 June in Amsterdam 2001. Hammond Guthrie AlphaRhythmicAfterBeats At best, or at the very least, Be - Bop - Beatnik and Beatitude Concern subterranean … [Read more...]
Ted Joans Lives! Tribute (2)
Howard Park: I only met Ted Joans once, at the 1994 NYU Beat Conference. According to my somewhat altered consciousness and memory of the time, Ted and Jack Micheline stole the show. At the time, Ted was living, at least part-time, in Timbuktu (did I spell it right?). He seemed to delight in the reactions of young white kids like myself who had never met anyone from … [Read more...]
Ted Joans Lives! Tribute (1)
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. … [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...]
Remembering Ted Joans – Beat / Surrealist Poet & Artist
Tributes & Celebrations: TED JOANS LIVES! A TRIBUTE is found on this website. To contribute, please email us. A celebration of Ted Joans' life took place in Vancouver B.C. on Wednesday, May 14. The Isis Gallery in Seattle hosted an evening in remembrance of Ted on June 6, 2003. These snapshots were taken at the event, which included a collage of Ted Joans photos & … [Read more...]
Ted Joans Lives! Gary Cummiskey
I met Ted Joans when he came out to South Africa in late 1993. I attended a workshop of his and was most impressed by his warmth, humour, humility and infectious creative spirit. He had emphasised the importance of simply 'writing down the poem', not worrying about issues of form or even reception, just get the poem out, let it live. I will also always remember his words: 'The … [Read more...]
