Jackson Mac Low
22 Light Poems
Los Angeles, USA: Black Sparrow Press, 1968
84 pp., 23.5 x 16 cm., softcover
Edition of 750
Mac Low began the Light Poems series in early June of 1962, as a chart listing 280 names of kinds of light. Publication of the volume was troubled by the poet's roof caving in and the subsequent misplacing of the light chart.
Another setback followed:
"Then Sunday morning – I know you won’t believe it but the painting rack over the bed fell on us at 7 AM & we both nearly got killed. I got a terrible hitna head from the heavy shelf that had overhung the bed or from one of the stretchers – dunno which – & several bad bruises & cuts on my arms and legs. Iris got away with a cut elbow. So I wasn’t in any shape to do proofreading until about the middle of the week."
The book was eventually released in October of 1968, by the Black Sparrow Press in Los Angeles. In addition to the 22 poems, the volume contains six pages of notes on the artist's methodology.
The Light Poems continued over the ensuing years, written intermittently, with the final being the “60th Light Poem: In Memoriam Robert Duncan, 8–9 October 1988.” A collection of the complete series was published by Granary Books in 2015.
In addition to the 750 copies of the 'trade' issue, there were also 125 signed cloth copies of the book released, and four 'presentation copies' (see below).
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