Still Another Pelican in the Breadbox

Born in the Mahoning

Valley of Northeastern Ohio in 1911, Kenneth Patchen rose from a town of soot

and steel to stand before

the world. He is the author of over forty books of poetry, prose, and drama, as well as the creator of innumerable

silkscreen prints, paintings, and drawings.

He also pioneered the poetry-and-jazz movement, reading his works with noted

musicians around the country, and making several recordings in that genre. The

victim of a disabling back injury and botched operations, Patchen spent the

last years of his life in a state of semi-paralysis, accompanied by fits of

depression and moments of un­bearable

pain. He died on January 8, 1972.

With the publication

of this book, virtually all that Patchen wrote and preserved has now been published. Included

here are the unpublished poems written late in his life and several pieces of substantial fiction from

his "rambling" years in the early 30's, none of which were ever

published. Several poems from Patchen's high school years and two critical pieces complete the

collection. Historical photographs and manuscript samples are also included. In his introduction and

chronology, Richard Morgan traces Patchen's literary career and personal agonies. Kenneth Patchen's wife, Miriam, to whom he was

married from 1934 until his death, contributes a foreword.