Michael
McClure
( October 20,
1932 – May 4, 2020 )
With great
sadness, City Lights wishes to note the dead of our friend, the legendary beat
poet Michael McClure, who passed away March 4 due to complications from a
stroke he suffered last year. A larger than life figure of American poetry,
McClure first rose to prominence in 1965 when he read his poem “For the dead of
100 whales” at the famous Six Gallery reading where Allen Ginsberg debuted “Howl”.
His association with City Lights dates as far back as, 1961, when, with
Lawrence Ferlinghetti and David Meltzer,
he co-edited Journal for The Protections of All Beings; City Lights
subsequently published his Meat Science Essays
( 1963 ) and distributed his self-published Ghost Tantras ( 1964 ), which the press would republished
in 2003.
McClure’s
accomplishments over the course of his career as a poet, playwright, novelist,
journalist, essayist, and performer are staggering. He collaborated with
artists like Wallace Berman and Bruce Conner; roared at lions in a episode of
Richard O. Moore’s public TV documentary series USA Poetry ( 1965 ); wrote and
staged the controversial play The Beard ( 1966 ); read to tens of thousands of
people at the Human Be-In ( 1967 ); co-wrote Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz” (
1970 ); appeared in films like Peter Fonda’s “The Hired Hand” ( 1971 ) and
Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Waltz” ( 1978 ); won two Obie awards for his Off-Broadway plays ; performed and
recorded with musicians like Ray Manzarek and Terry Riley; and published over a
dozen volumes of his poetry. His final book with City Lights, “Mephistos and
Other Poems”, appeared in 2016.
( City Lights
Booksellers & Publishers )
