Picture Poems
Kenneth Patchen
KENNETH PATCHEN was a novelist, poet, painter, recording artist, and passionate pacifist. Born in Ohio, he lived from 1911-1972, and early in his life earned a reputation as the “proletariat poet.” His many publications include The Journal of Albion Moonlight, Memoirs of a Shy Pornographer, Hurrah for Anything, Pictures of Life and Death, The Dark Kingdom, Cloth of the Tempest, Before the Brave, Poems of Humor and Protest, and Sleepers Awake. In 1937, a spinal injury left him nearly bed-ridden for most of his life, where from he wrote prolifically, created many of his famous picture poems, and collaborated on word/music hybrids, radio plays, and other recordings with the likes of John Cage and Charles Mingus. Patchen was a political radical and outspoken anti-war activist whose words reflected a fervent call for justice for all creatures on earth—often during times such as World War Two, when radical politics had not yet become part of larger counter-cultural movements. His work had a significant influence on the Beat Poets and other U.S. literary movements of the mid-twentieth century. Here, we pay homage to him by offering a humble selection of his picture poems, many more of which can be found in the collection What Shall We Do Without Us.
