https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9686-6471

This book is an excellent small (100 pages) collection of essays, interviews and discussions with and about four important twentieth-century poets and writers from the author’s own friendships, acquaintances and conversations with them. What makes this such an original and important work is that while one of the four authors highlighted here is likely a near-universal household name and another is probably unknown to most younger readers yet retains dubious infamy for something huge in which he was a part, the other two writers probably have never received their deserved just due, so any typical reader might only be familiar with one (25%) of the subjects while some readers will know more.

I might sound a bit arrogant in stating that I’m pretty well read in a lot of areas, have been reading since age four, have averaged hundreds of books a year for over 50 years, myself knew and felt fortunate enough to count not only the author but one of these four writers as a personal friend of my own while acknowledging varying levels of familiarity with the other three.

Another writer had work that impacted many but had a life-changing incident that impacted millions. Of the other two, they’re more obscure, and while I’m somewhat familiar with a third, it’s the fourth writer I really wanted to get to know because for those who focus on or specialize in a few narrow topics, he’s known and possibly even read. However, he’s almost certainly completely unknown for the rest and even more, it’s often next to impossible to find any of his work, making his name little more than a footnote in some books on the history of the Beats, west coast poetics and little else.

Although I’ve never met AD Winans in person, I feel like we’ve long been friends and certainly I have been a longtime fan. I’ve been published on and off with him since probably about 1990, and while I was poetry editor for Ray’s Road Review, was fortunate enough to publish him a couple of times during the 2010s. (A point of note and an odd coincidence: I just received the proofs of an upcoming journal to review that contains some of my work and of course some of Winans’…)

I’m actually not going to wax on about these four writers because I want to support Winans and encourage people to obtain this book and find out for themselves what made these authors so relevant. I’m going to list them though and possibly provide a couple of sentences for each just so readers of this review will have the basics. They are

1. Alvah Bessie
2. Bob Kaufman
3. Jack Micheline
4. Charles Bukowski

There, I told you. I doubt I have any need to explain Bukowski, as he’s likely America’s most famous and internationally “successful” poet and writer in history (in terms of books published, sold, and listed on numerous top selling lists around the world). I’ll mention something about the others after also stating that one thing that really makes this book stand out is that Winans was personal friends and acquaintances with most all of them, and if not, was introduced to the one reclusive one, allowing him to converse with all, some over a period of decades, and thus share things from a personal context few others possibly can.

Briefly, Alvah Bessie was one of the blacklisted Hollywood 10, screwed by McCarthy and that House committee interrogating most of the country to root alleged Commies out and destroy their lives. If one remembers, some 10 Hollywooders refused to cooperate, actually did jail time, and in most cases their lives and careers were destroyed as they were forever blacklisted for refusing to cooperate with a witch-hunt they opposed. Any Dalton Trumbo fans (me) will especially appreciate Bessie’s shared memories of Trumbo, not only for this shameful episode in American history, but for other things such as his involvement in the Spanish Civil War.

Bob Kaufman has long been associated with the San Francisco Renaissance Period (which I was to do my PhD on) which influenced the Beats and their later cultural dominance, and indeed has been labeled a Beat writer himself for many years. Founder/editor of Beatitude magazine, he was published by Ferlinghetti’s City Lights like so many other Beats. He was also one of the few Beats who was black.

But Jack Micheline – who’s that, right? Like I said, some will have heard of him though few will have read him. That describes me so I was looking forward to Winans’ chapter on him with any perspectives he’d share. Yet though virtually completely unknown, google him and you’ll be surprised to find much out there. Micheline, too, was affiliated with the Beats though many might resist calling him one. The irony in that is he was one of San Francisco’s most prominent Beat writers and in fact Kerouac wrote the introduction to his first book. That said, not only did he rarely seek out the limelight, he almost seemed to go out of his way to avoid it. It didn’t help his cause that in addition to being controversial, many considered him a bit of a grouch, to be generous in my choice of description. Was that chapter worth it for me? Winans did not disappoint and with that said, I found this book to be a unique and important work on the history and lives of four of America’s more important writers of the past century and a “must-read” for any with an interest in such periods and topics.

A final aside. I’ve been fortunate enough to have been published alongside Winans and Bukowski many times over the years, as well as to know Winans remotely and Bukowski personally. While I’m unaware of having been published with Kaufman or Jack Micheline, I have been published with about/at least close to 20 other Beats, some of whom I counted as friends and felt fortunate to meet, know and even hang out with. I have copies of books and other items autographed by some to/for me which I treasure to this day. Pictures of some may be found on my website, either in the “My Famous Writers” section or in the “Hankrules2011: A History-by-pics” section

Needless to say, I’m giving this book 5 stars and a strong recommendation and all I have left to say is, “Winans, You Owe ME!” (j/k)

Scott C. Holstad

December 25, 2023

Christmas 2023

[Influenced by my Goodreads review]