Douglas Blazek

Douglas Blazek (born 1941) is a poet who affected American letters during the 1960s as the publisher of the literary chapbook Ole and proprietor of the Open Skull Press. Blazek was a major force in "underground", i.e., non-mainstream press poetry. The author and editor of 35 books and magazines who has appeared in over 1,300 periodicals since first being published in 1961, Blazek is recognized as one of the founders of the Mimeo Revolution, a literary movement that sprang up concurrently with The Beats.[1] He was instrumental in bringing non-establishment poets such as Charles Bukowski into the limelight, by publishing their work.

In 1984, Blazek publicly declared dissatisfaction with his accomplishment and vowed not to further seek book publication until he had acquired the powers that would, as he stated, "drive my work to ultimate ripeness."

As described in the introduction to James DenBoer's A Bibliography of the Published Works of Douglas Blazek: 1961-2001 (Glass Eye Books, 2003), the author then proceeded to enter a 25 year process of intense rewriting of virtually every previously published poem while continuing to write new poetry.

In 2010, Glass Eye Books agreed to publish the first of the author's 12 volumes of extensively rewritten life's work: the first collection by Blazek in nearly 25 years. A more comprehensive understanding of his process, the reason for it and its objective can be found in the introduction to his book, After Walking To and Fro and Up and Down In It.

Bibliography

• We can be Gentle and Undeceived Both (Andabata Press, 1964)
• Long Dongs (with Joe Nickell & Steve Richmond) (7 Flowers Press, 1966)
• Life in a Common Gun: An Informal Book of Communications (Quixote, 1968)
• All Gods Must Learn to Kill (Analecta Press, 1968)
• Forever Worship the Second Coming (editor) (San Francisco, CA: Black Rabbit Press, 1968)
• Broken Knuckle Poems (San Francisco, CA: Black Rabbit Press, 1969)
• I Advance With a Loaded Rose (Twowindows Press, 1969)
• Fuck Off Unless You Take Off That Mask (Gunrunner Press, 1969)
• Climbing Blind (Second Aeon Publications, 1970)
• Flux & Reflux: Journeys in a Magical Fluid (Oyez, 1970)
• Skull Juices (Twowindows Press, 1970)
• Why Man Goes To The Moon (Morgan Press, 1970)
• Zany Typhoons (Berensville, IL: Open Skull Press, 1970)
• This Is What You Wanted, Isn't It?: Poems by Douglas Blazek (pamphlet) (Watertown, MA: AugTwoFive, 1970).
• Inner marathons (chapbook) (Killaly Press, 1973)
• A Bukowski Sampler, editor (Druid Press, 1973)
• I Am a Weapon (chapbook) (Ox Head Press, 1975)
• Lethal Paper (chapbook) (The Stone Press, 1975)
• Exercises in Memorizing Myself (Small Press Distribution, 1976)
• Edible Fire (Morgan Press, 1978)
• We Sleep as the Dream Weaves Outside Our Minds (Alantansi Press, 1994)
• A Bibliography of the Published Works of Douglas Blazek: 1961-2001 (Glass Eye Books, 2003)
• News of a Useless Thing (Prismatic Navigator Press, 2009)
• The Pied Piper of Advanced Perception (48th Street Press, Philadelphia, PA, 2010)

External links

• Poem: "A Political Documentary" by Douglas Blazek, Agni magazine (Boston, MA: Boston University, 1975)