Be Brave to Things

Book excerpt: Be Brave to Things shows legendary San Francisco Renaissance poet Jack Spicer at the top of his form, with his blistering intelligence, painful double-edged wit, and devastating will to truth everywhere on display. Much of the poetry here has never before been published, but the volume also includes much out-of-print or hard to find work, as well as Spicer's three major plays, which have never been collected. Here one finds major unfinished projects, early and alternate versions of well-known Spicer poems, shimmering stand-alone lyrics, and intricate extended "books" and serial poems. This new cache of Spicer material will be indispensable for any student of 20th century American poetry, proffering a trove of primary material for Spicer's growing readership to savor and enjoy. "When your body brushed against me..." When your body brushed against me I remembered How we used to catch butterflies in our hands Down in the garden. We were such patient children Following them from flower to flower Waiting and hoping. With our cupped hands we used to catch them And they answered us with a soft tickle For they never stopped flying. In bed I remembered them and cried for The touch of their fast wings, the impatience Of their bright colors I am too old for such games But even tonight, now your body has reminded me of butterflies I lie here awake, pretending.