Fragments of Perseus: Poetry

by Michael McClure

“NOW IT IS TIME FOR A NATION,/ a spiritual Nation/based/and formed on open freedom,/on flesh and biology…” The antipolitical activism, biologically based aesthetics, and exuberantly sensuous spirituality that have won Michael McClure acclaim since the birth of the San Francisco poetry renaissance in 1955 are affirmed with new range and eloquence in  Fragments of Perseus . The title poem presents fragments of an imaginary journal by Perseus, son of Zeus and Danae, slayer of the snake-haired Medusa, and husband of Andromeda. With “The Death of Kim Chuen Louie,” we move from myth to reportage, ancient Greece to modern San Francisco’s Chinatown, where the poet has come upon a murder. Following are “Baja Bundle,” six poems composed under the spell of travel through Baja California, Mexico, as well as invocations, proclamations, love poems, and dream narratives. Radiating symmetrically from a central axis, McClure’s poems spiral across the page with the grace of organisms. As Aram Saroyan has noted, “he sees poetry itself as a ’muscular principle––an athletic song or whisper of fleshly thought,’ and in his poems he is able to make his vision compelling.”

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published May 17, 1983

About the author

Michael McClure (born October 20, 1932 in Marysville, Kansas) is an American poet, playwright, songwriter, and novelist. After moving to San Francisco as a young man, he found fame as one of the five poets (including Allen Ginsberg) who read at the famous San Francisco Six Gallery reading in 1955 rendered in barely fictionalized terms in Jack Kerouac's Dharma Bums. He soon became a key member of the Beat Generation and is immortalized as "Pat McLear" in Kerouac's Big Sur.

Reviews

[Mat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book of poetry by McClure. His output during the 70s is just incredible - Jaguar Skies, Antechamber & Other Poems and now Fragments of Perseus all rank up there among the best poetry books in the Beat canon. September Blackberries is probably his most celebrated book but I feel that this book and Jaguar Skies in particular really contain his strongest work.
My favourite poem from this collection is called 'Watching the Stolen Rose'.

WATCHING THE STOLEN ROSE

THE ROSE IS A PINK-YELLOW
UNIVERSE UNFOLDING

layer upon
luminous layer

petal to petal
spreading

unsteady yet
perfectly balanced

as the curling
of smoke

from a mind
on fire.

[wulvz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much better than the former but still too much.
He can’t paint beautiful pictures of life and connection but nothing really revelatory though I enjoyed it mostly.

Felt like a very Buddhist-anarchist perspective compilation, politics are a poison to connection which is the foundation of existence (at least this is the way I took it). Except the author often times made me feel like either I or he was going mad discussing these revelations.

Pleasant enough of a read but it drags a lot in extended poems that lead to little in my opinion, too much fantasy, too much cryptic prose.

Another one that was not for me 💔

[Svetlana Sterlin]

‘and I write this down / for no one to read.’

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars