Cid Corman poet, translator, and legendary editor (of Origin magazine) was born on this day. He and Allen had a fractious but not unfriendly relationship – (and one stretching over many decades)
As the poet Clayton Eshelman has written – “When I met Cid (in 1960) he was brooding about Ginsberg, Burroughs, and The Beats, whom he felt were “sick”. The new Origin series to be anchored by the serialization of (Louis) Zukofsky’s “A” was to provide an “open” alternative. Eight years later, Corman wrote an “open letter” nominating Allen Ginsberg and Muhammed Ali for President and Vice-President of the United States, which I published in my magazine, Caterpillar
Corman recognized he and Allen had much in common (“fellow/poet”), a shared vision that transcended any “territorial differences ”
Here is his poem to Allen (that was included in Bill Morgan’s 1986 collection, Best Minds)
To One of The Good Ones
Allen – there’s only
your word for you. What
I – as a fellow
poet – can append
is a thank you for
having been kind to
so many others –
even if not to
me – Little enough
to go around . Once
life – but the one death’s
life to celebrate.
Extensive resources (materials on Corman) can be founds here at the always-exemplary PennSound
and Cid’s posthumous reputation rests in the more-than-capable hands of Bob and Susan Arnold and Longhouse – see here
