A Purchase in the White Botanica

Heliczer, Piero. Anselm Hollo and Gerard Malanga (eds)

ISBN 10: 1887123571 / ISBN 13: 9781887123570

Published by Granary Books, 2001

About this Item

6 x 8 in., 120 pp., smyth-sewn in wrappers. A Purchase in the White Botanica offers the first collected poetry of Piero Heliczer. It includes poems from his college days at Harvard as well as his published books among which are & I Dreamt I Shot Arrows in My Amazon Bra (1959) and The First Battle of the Marne (1962), both of which were printed and published by his own press, the dead language, and The Soap Opera (Trigram, 1967). Heliczer was featured 20 years ago in Dennis Cooper s Little Caesar, no. 9,a 200 page festschrift compiled by Gerard Malanga, long out-of-print. Heliczer s lyrical works incorporate classical notions of poetry combined with radical breaks in structure. The pieces explore the page itself, recreating spelling and placement of words to create "sheer visual clarity" in meaning and form. Heliczer blends abstract or "atmospheric" images to create an almost religious notion of poetry and life (Heliczer chose not to separate the two). The works move easily from throughout Europe, England and the United States, mirroring Heliczer s own roaming nature. A Purchase in the White Botanica is supplemented with an extensive illustrated biographical interview with Heliczer s half-sister Marisabina Russo-Stark, conducted by Gerard Malanga, and a foreword by Anselm Hollo. Cover design by Naomi Yang; cover photograph by Gerard Malanga, 1970; text design by Neko Buildings. As new.

Seller Inventory # GB_106

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Purchase in the White Botanica
• Publisher: Granary Books
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1887123571
• ISBN 13: 9781887123570
• Binding: Soft cover
• Seller catalogs:
  • Anselm Hollo
  • Lower East Side
  • Granary Trade Publications
  • Granary Publications All

About this title

Synopsis

This book offers the first collected works of the poetry of Piero Heliczer, an important underground poet, filmmaker, actor (Flaming Creatures), musician (he was present in seminal jams which evolved into the Velvet Underground) and small press publisher (Dead Language Press). Adapting Apollinaire's ambulatory present-tense notations to the postwar landscapes of London and New York, and projecting them through a delicate and humorous sensibility, Heliczer fashioned some of the greatest poems of the 1960s and 1970s, which are collected here for the first time.

About the Author

Piero Heliczer was a renowned filmmaker, poet, musician, actor, and small press publisher in the New York, Parisian, and international scene of the 1950s and 60s. A friend of Andy Warhol, Gregory Corso, Jack Smith, and Lou Reed; Heliczer's Dead Language Press and Aquarium Productions were a staple of the artistic community. Though not recognized by critics, he was a hero of many underground poets.