In the 1970s, as editor of ZPress and its annual Z Magazine, Elmslie published many poets he admired. His own work went against the classification. There was a lot of wit, like “Touche’s Salon,” which was shamelessly dropped to remind us of the 1950s gathered at Mr. Ratouch’s penthouse.
Meet Jack Kerouac. Available unevenly.
I can’t read his novel On The Road. And it doesn’t sell.
John Cage is sober and loaded with Tennessee.
You shouldn’t ask how his last flop show took place.
But his more serious poetry is ambitious and can be dense. Ashbury once said it was like a note that “a mad scientist who swallowed the wrong medicine in the lab is desperately trying to write a calculation on paper before everything gets close.”
Elmsley combined his various hats (librettist, songwriter, poet) with his books (some of which were in collaboration with visual artists) and his poetry readings. In addition, you may be wearing a costume that delivers the song. Poetry. Susan Rosenbaum, Review his 2000 bookJacket magazine’s “Blast From the Past: Stories, Poems, Song Lyrics & Remembrances” states that the printed pages did not bring justice to his widespread interest.
“For a versatile artist like Elmsley, this book is in a limited format. I want to see and hear his musical work in performance. I want to visit the gallery where his visual collaboration is on display.” She writes. “But the ability to elicit this desire, the ability to reveal the affinity between poetry and song, theater and visual arts, is a measure of this unique poet’s talent.”
Kenward Gray Elmsley was born on April 27, 1929 in Manhattan. His father, William, met Constance Pulitzer, the youngest daughter of Joseph Pulitzer, when he was working as a tutor for another Pulitzer’s children. They got married in 1913.