Openers.

Austin, TX: Pyramid Publishing Company. 1972. 8vo. White cloth-covered boards, a peace/cross symbol in gilt design on front board, gilt lettering on spine without dust jacket, pp. [6], 69, [3], soiled front and back boards with rubbing to rear spine, slightly stained on pastedown, otherwise very good.Extremely rare signed first edition.Openers is a collection of poems writen by the singer and songwriter for the 13th Floor Elevators, Roky Erickson, during his incarceration at the Rusk Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Texas. Written alongside his childhood friend George Kinney, Erickson would publish this volume whilst still institutionalised. This is an unusual collection in that the poems are arranged in alphabetical order and, despite the dark context, are nearly all extremely jovial and positive with titles such as "Lets have a Never-Ending Love Contest", "Thank God for Civilisation" and "Looking with The Light". Despite this optimistic outlook, upon his release, Erickson would form the heavy rock band Roky Erickson and the Aliens who would compose songs exclusively satanic in nature.A second collection Openers II, a compilation of Erickson's essays, interviews and song lyrics would be published in 1995, twenty three years later.…