Portraits

Through the eyes of a war-child violin prodigy who came of age in the era of Beat and Post-Beat poets comes this collection of homages, profiles, and brief flashes of singsong odes to pop culture and The Greats of centuries past. With the stream-of-consciousness that bookended the Beat age, Niditch-a longstanding staple of the outlaw poetry scene-taps into his love of jazz rhythms, the nature of oceanside New England, and the poets, artists, filmmakers, musicians, and theatrical performers who were his poetic forebears and influences through decades of shifting culture. From war-time French poets to ostracized gay artists to pop icons to persecuted religious and political prisoners, Niditch splashes bright acrylic over the canvas of analysis and essence, pulling from a bygone era its nuances and lasting legacies, and framing them in the lens of contemporary artistic, political, and social awareness. This book is part of the Wardenclyffe Series, a collection of books preserving the words of Beat and Post-Beat poets whose work first saw publication prior to the new millennium and the digital age. Alternating Current Press eagerly acquires the work of voices past to influence the voices of the future.