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"C," vol. 2, no. 11 (Summer 1965). Cover by Joe Brainard.
"C," vol. 2, no. 11 (Summer 1965). Cover by Joe Brainard.
in May
1963 by poet and editor Ted Berrigan (with Lorenz Gude as publisher), "C"
Press and its mimeograph-produced magazine and books provided an important
early outlet for the writings of younger poets and their immediate predecessors.
The first issue printed work by the core group of Dick Gallup, Ron Padgett,
Joe Brainard (who was also a visual artist), and Ted Berrigan. These four
had recently relocated to the East Village from Tulsa, where they had produced
and/or contributed to the White Dove Review (five issues, 1959-1960).
However, the immediate precursor to "C"was The Censored Review,which
was published, also via the mimeo machine, in 1963; its contents had been
gathered by Columbia student Ron Padgett for the university literary magazine,
but had been suppressed by the dean. The title poem, by "Noble Brainard,"
was a collaboration between Berrigan and Padgett. Berrigan's "C"
magazine published poems, plays, essays, translations, and comics by a
growing number of writers and artists, but always bore the distinctive
imprint of its charismatic editor. Issue 4 featured poet and dance writer
Edwin Denby and included contributions by Frank O'Hara, John Wieners, and
Berrigan. The cover sported a silk-screen by Andy Warhol of an image of
Denby and Gerard Malanga. 2/2 Stories for Andy Warhol by Ron Padgett,
also with a cover by Warhol, was published by "C" Press in 1965, as was
Joseph Ceravolo's Fits of Dawn. Berrigan's own great book of the
period was The Sonnets (1964), which featured a cover by Brainard.
For many people, this work has come to symbolize Berrigan, who was, in
the words of Ken Tucker, "fiercely unpretentious, intensely self-absorbed,
prodigious in his ambition and energy, (and who) did more than create a
substantial body of poetry. He also embodied a spirit that gave meaning
to many other writers' lives."
Joseph Ceravolo, Fits of Dawn (1965) . Cover by Rosemary Ceravolo.
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