In 1961, the first of four issues of Locus Solus--edited by poets John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, and James Schuyler--was printed in Europe. Though entirely in English and targeted towards an American audience, each edition of the magazine drew from foreign influences, even taking its name from Raymond Roussel's classic. Locus Solus is not enitrely classical, however, despite its inclusion of both historical Western and Eastern literature; much of its content reflects the editors' deep affinity for modern art, and each covers mimics that of typical French publications.
Each iteration of this magazine attempts to further uncover the nature of written communication and the profound reverberations of language. Using newly-developed techniques and styles of poetry, Ashbery, Koch, and Schuyler effectively curated a collection that celebrated collaboration between old and new, American and European, and avant-garde and classical.
Though made for quick distribution, the plain, book-like copies of Locus Solus look nothing like other magazines of the time. Rather than a collection of hand-drawn visuals on large paper sheets bound by a stapler, Locus Solus is pocket-sized, dense, and stiff. It is simple, elegant, and respectful of the dignified language each edition contains, and yet, its method of creation is relatively easy and inexpensive. Packed densely with poetry and prose, Locus Solus's cleanliness and intensity reflects an appreciation for highly intellectual, European society. Additionally, its thin covers, contrasted against the substantial thickness of each edition, add an unexpected sense of delicacy to this syllable-heavy magazine.
In Locus Solus IV, Harold Rosenberg, an American writer, philosopher and art critic who coined the term Action Painting (later known as abstract expressionism), speaks to his affinity for art in "Ballad of Moral Beauty."1 A page-long poem, "Ballad" emphasizes the unquenchable thirst to create that is common among artists, as well as the notion that writing is not only a release, but a source of comfort. In fact, it's addictive. Rosenburg, like so many others, has committed himself to a lifetime of service to the English language, seeking to liberate his "flesh" from greed and bitterness and instead become deeply involved in art--both its culture and community. While not a foreign-based work, Schuyler likely included this in the fourth edition of Locus Solus for its admiration of language's profundity and heartiness.
Over the course of his 50-plus year career, American writer Amika Baraka, then called "Leroi Jones," often focused on topics of white racism and black liberation. In 1962, when "A Poem for Myself, the Fool" was published, Baraka had recently produced a book of poems--Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note--highlighting a deep frustration at the complacency of black middle-class American artists. To him, as long as this group sought acceptance in middle-class society, they would never speak their mind.2 "A Poem" further emphasizes this idea--asking Baraka's community to overcome this fear of ostracism and so move towards an easier coexistence with white persons. By including this piece, the editors of Locus Solus more accurately provide cultural context for the Western world at the time. In a year marked by increasingly racial violent racial tensions, the inclusion of not only a black artist, but a polarizing and outspoken individual, illustrates the editors' high regard for meaningful abstract expressionist art above all else. Additionally, "A Poem" is atypical in its format; with mismatched indents, fragments, and unfinished sentences, Baraka's piece reads a bit like the product of poetic splicing--a newly developed technique characteristic of the New York School. Its placement in Locus Solus is ultimately a feat of collaboration.
Kenneth Koch..........................................."On the Go." Two Poems
Barbara Guest...........................................Seven Poems
James Schuyler........................................."Current Events"
Anne Porter..............................................."The First of May"
Ebbe Borregard.........................................Three Poems
John Ashbery.............................................Six Poems
Harry Matthews........................................The Conversions (I)
Frank O'Hara..............................................Ten Poems
Edward Denby............................................Nine Sonnets
Robin Blaser..............................................."Cups"
George Montgomery.................................Four Poems
R. Burckhardt............................................."Love in Three Acts"
Fairfield Porter...........................................Four Poems
Unknown....................................................."To a Waterfowl"
Five Chinese Poets......................................"A Garland of Roses"
Sei Shonagon & the Empress Sadako......"Poem about Saisho"
Basho, Bonsho, Fumikuni & Kyorai........."The Kite's Feathers"
Kakei & Basho.............................................."November--"
Sogi, Shohaku & Socho..............................."Three Poets at Minase"
Blacatz & Vidal............................................."Tenso"
Vidal & Lanza................................................"Tenso"
Aragon, Salvatge, Foix & Auriac................."Coblas"
Fletcher & Shakespeare..............................."Song"
Donne & Goodyere........................................"A Letter"
Cowley & Crashaw........................................."On Hope"
Suckling & Waller.........................................."In Answer of Sir John Suckling's Verses"
Thomas Chatterton........................................Two Poems
Coleridge & Southey......................................From Joan of Arc
Marinetti & Cangiullo...................................."Public Garden"
Breton & Eluard..............................................From The Immaculate Conception
Eluard & Peret................................................."Surrealist Proverbs"
Breton & Tanguy............................................."Question and Answer Game"
Eluard & Others..............................................."Cadavres Exquis"
Char & Eluard...................................................Two Poems
Ern Malley.........................................................Two Poems
Ashbery & Schuyler........................................."A Nest of Ninnies"
Frank O'Hara....................................................."Choses Passagères"
Ceravolo & Perreault......................................."Milk"
Krakauer, Aeschylus, etc................................."Jack Who Yawned"
Benedikt & Gilman.........................................."Under the Stones"
Freilicher & Koch............................................."The Car"
Michael Benedikt..............................................Four Poems
Leroi Jones.........................................................Three Poems
D. Krakauer........................................................Two Poems
Bill Berkson........................................................Seven Poems
Welton Smith.....................................................Two Poems
Larry Rivers........................................................Six Poems
Robin Blaser........................................................"The Park"
Diane Di Prima...................................................."Moon Mattress"
Dennis Quinn.......................................................Five Poems
Alan Ansen...........................................................Three Poems
Robert Lax............................................................Four Poems
Jean Boudin..........................................................Two Poems
Frank O'Hara........................................................Three Poems
Frank O'Hara & Bill Berkson..............................From The Memorandums of Angelicus Fobb
George Stanley.....................................................Two Poems
Paul Carroll..........................................................."Postcard for Joseph Cornell"
Denis Roche..........................................................Three Poems
Marcelin Pleynet..................................................Three Poems
Pierre Martory......................................................"Les Soirées de Rochefort"
Pierre Martory......................................................"Tchat"
Joseph Ceravolo....................................................Four Poems
Joseph Ceravolo...................................................."Water, How Weather Feels the Cotton Hotels"
Musa McKim..........................................................Three Poems
Allan Kaplan...........................................................Three Poems
Hugh Amory...........................................................From The Federalists
Daisy Aldan............................................................."Zina"
Kenward Elmslie....................................................Four Poems
James Schuyler......................................................."December"
Gerard Malange......................................................"Psyche"
James Koller............................................................Crouched in mothers musk
James Merrill..........................................................."Letter from Egypt"
David Ball................................................................."A Recent Conversation"
John Ashbery..........................................................."The New Realism"
Furman Stout.........................................................."Prose Poem for Clara"
Landis Everson........................................................From The Little Ghosts I Played With
John Perreault.........................................................Three Poems
Barbara Guest..........................................................Two Poems
Barbara Guest & Sa'di Koylan..............................."Turkish"
Anselm Hollo..........................................................."Text 9. iii. 1961"
Kenneth Koch..........................................................Five Poems
Kenneth Koch.........................................................."Bon Dieu"
Kenneth Koch.........................................................."The Echo"
Jack Foss..................................................................."The Categorical Avoidance"
Robert Magowan......................................................Two Poems
Thomas Jackrell........................................................Seven Poems
Harry Mathews.........................................................The Conversions (III)
Gerard Malanga........................................................Three Poems
Harold Rosenburg...................................................."Ballad of Moral Beauty"
Chester Kallman.......................................................Two Poems
Edwin Denby............................................................."The Thirties"
Frank O'Hara.............................................................Five Poems
Ted Berrigan............................................................."Poem in the Traditional Manner"
Carol Morse...............................................................Three Poems
Musa Guston..............................................................Two Poems
Piero Heliczer............................................................Two Poems
Anselm Hollo............................................................."A Letter, Both Intimate and Didactic"
Tuomas Anhava........................................................"Elegy for the Night"
Frank Lissauer...........................................................Three Poems
John Ashbery............................................................."Into the Dusk-Charged Air"
Harold Rosenburg....................................................."Liberalism, Conservatism--and Literature"
Kenward Elmslie.......................................................Three Poems
Barbara Guest............................................................"Candies"
Donna Kerness.........................................................."Insomnia VI"
John Wieners.............................................................Three Poems
Richard Elliott..........................................................."9 Elaborations for 26 Characters"
Harry Mathews........................................................."The Ring"
Jean Boudin..............................................................."Politics"
Robert Harson..........................................................."Lacrimae"
John N. Morris..........................................................."Reno"
Daisy Aldan................................................................"Facility phrases"
Edwin Denby.............................................................."Snoring in New York: an elegy"
Raymond Roussel......................................................"Locus Solus (I)"
Michael Cain.............................................................."Lovepoetry"
Robert Dash..............................................................."Memoirs d'auters"
Kenneth Koch............................................................"The Islands"
Kenneth Koch............................................................"The Departure from Hydra"
Tony Whedon............................................................"Sounds"