The Buddhist Third Class Junkmail Oracle: The Art and Poetry of d.a.Levy by D. A. Levy

by d.a. levy

The Buddhist Third Class Junkmail Oracle collects d.a. levy's poetry, his collages--in both color and black-and-white--and other examples of his art, in a splendid large-format celebration of levy's unique contribution.A visual artist, and an important figure in the concrete poetry movement, levy was also an activist and mystic who either committed suicide or was murdered at the age of twenty-six in East Cleveland. This occurred after two and a half years of intense media coverage, police harassment and court trials, and just as he was starting to be recognized as one of the most important geniuses of his generation.Edited, with an investigative essay on levy's life and mysterious death by Mike Golden.

Genres: Poetry, Art

Paperback

First published April 1, 1999

About the author

d.a. levy, born Darryl Allan Levy, was an American poet, artist, and alternative publisher active during the 1960s, based in Cleveland, Ohio.

Reviews

[David Trautz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best available collection spanning all of DA Levy's life. It's not limited to the Junkmail Oracle though, and unless your a fan of concrete poetry and paranoid hippie ramblings, sit this one out till something better comes around.I'm much more interested in his newspapers and stuff, which can be mostly found in their entirety here: [http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/r...]

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

may not satisfy non-clevelanders as much as it satisfied me. levy managed to be Cleveland's resident wolfish beat poet, a publisher of no mean accomplishment, a victim of what appears to be deeply undemocratic harassment by authorities, and also a suicide at at age 26 after making repeatedly comments about ending his own life in his work and correspondence. a fair chunk of these poems are caught up in the injustice that levy felt at his repression. they still have some bite but outside of the context of counter-culture and its counter-counter-reformation, can feel small. but levy had serious chops, which he flashes in more serious, more composed, but still wild longer poems. loved this. the accompanying essay is a little rushed by the editorial selection is good. solid selection and some excellent accompanying reproduction of levy's collage work for his various magazines. will revisit this from time to time when emotional barometer calls for it. somewhere between a hetero allen ginsberg and lenny bruce.

[Mustafa Al-Laylah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great example of what street/slam poets should be doing more of - samizdat, broadsheets, cut-n-paste 'zines, etc.

Levy unfortunately like so many poets then as now didn't have the constitution to prevail and perished way too early.

This book though is an exceptional tribute to him lovingly put together and very slickly designed in a way that accentuates Levy's collage style of text and image.

[Sarah Surratt · Rating 5 out of 5]

the complete Tombstone as a Lonely Charm is one of the best things I've ever read

[Camille · Rating 4 out of 5]

not much of d.a. levy's work has been published, but i think he was a remarkable poet and a progressive artist in his own right. i love the full-color collages they included with this book.

[Jim Chambers · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was alright. Poetry isn't quite my jam.
Agree the
world
is
quite
fucked up.

[Zemaemidjehuty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily the best collection of d.a. levy's work, this book acts as the tombstone for one of the best yet overlooked Beat generation poets.