المَطَرُ القَدِيمُ

by Bob Kaufman, محمد مظلوم (ترجمة وتقديم)

The Ancient Rain: Poems 1956-1978 is San Francisco poet Bob Kaufman’s third collection and his first to be published since the late 1960s. One of the original Beat poets (the coinage "beatnik" is his), Kaufman’s work has always been essentially improvisational, often done to jazz accompaniment. And he became something of a legendary figure at the poetry readings in the early days of the San Francisco renaissance of the 1950s. With his extemporaneous technique, akin in many ways to Surrealist automatic writing, he has produced a body of work ranging from a visionary lyricism infused with satirical, almost Dadaistic elements to a prophetic poetry of political and social protest. Born in New Orleans of mixed Black and Jewish parentage, Kaufman was one of fourteen children. During twenty years in the Merchant Marine, he cultivated an intense taste for literature on his long sea voyages. Settling in California, in the ’50s, he became active in the burgeoning West Coast literary scene. Disappointment, drugs, and imprisonment led him to take a ten-year vow of complete silence that lasted until 1973. The present volume includes previously uncollected poems written prior to his pledge and newer work composed in the years 1973-1978, before the poet once again lapsed into silence. 

Genres: Poetry, Classics

152 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1981

Reviews

[Mat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Speechless. This small book of poems is just incredible. Beat poetry at its best. Kaufman's poems fly and soar like no others - nobody can touch him.

There were quite a few great beat poets in their time - Gregory Corso wrote some brilliant, eternal verse but could be a little inconsistent at times. Lew Welch was another extremely gifted beat poet but whose life ended too soon and too young. Kerouac himself, although mainly a novelist and prose writer, did have his great moments as a poet too, especially in Mexico City Blues. The only other beat poet who comes close, anywhere close to Kaufman, is Jack Micheline (whom I'll be reading next). Micheline, a contemporary and friend of Kaufman's (both living mostly on the west coast) wrote great exuberant poems that commanded your attention. There's just one small flaw I can see in Micheline's work: he only a few different styles and tropes in his poetry, which he tended to recycle over and over. Howere, that's fine, because he was a master of them.

In Kaufman however, we see a poet fully formed, at the height of his powers, someone who had been persecuted, tortured, addicted, torn by his own afflictions as much by the poor hand that society had dealt him. None of this is more evident than in this work, The Ancient Rain, which I assume must be his masterpiece. I've read Solitudes Crowded with Loneliness, his first book which was also very good but that was just an appetizer for The Ancient Rain, which is the real feast. This book is so good, you immediately want to turn back to page 1 and start reading again upon finishing it. Bob Dylan once said he didn't know how anyone could write at all after Rimbaud. Well, I partly feel the same way about Kaufman who was incidentally dubbed 'the American Rimbaud' by the French.

If you want to have one, just one, volume of beat poetry on your bookshelf, then it should be this one. If you have any sense or feel for poetry, you cannot walk away from this book unscathed. You come out the other side of this book, changed. Enlightened. Absolutely brilliant. This deserves 10 stars!!!

[Lorena · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have a "beat generation" shelf, this book should sit squeezed in between the first 2 books, Howl and On the Road. I know I'm probably talking to the choir here, but the poem All Those Ships That Never Sailed continues to crumble me into tears when I read it aloud, and did even before I learned that he read this poem to break his 10 year silence after the assassination of JFK. The word "beatitude" cannot honestly be applied to anyone else.

[Jeff Crompton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strange and beautiful poetry. "Morning Joy," with its succession of surreal images, has long been one of my favorite poems. The later poems, which broke ten years of silence, are more linear, more political, perhaps "easier," but at their best, still very moving.

Any reader who admires Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti, or Baraka should probably check out Bob Kaufman if they don't know his work.

[Seth Shimelfarb-Wells · Rating 4 out of 5]

“If I can’t be an ugly rumor I won’t be the good time had by all”

-the traveling circus

“As usual
The usual axe
Falls on the usual neck
In the usual place
At the usual time
As usual”

-as usual

[muhameed Shehata · Rating 2 out of 5]

بعض القصائد كانت مُذهلة ، الباقي معجبنيش

[Gustavo Sénéchal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a bit disappointed with this book, most likely because I had (too) high expectations. Many poems were kind of dated or would have more impact if recited in a reading. No wonder the editor mentioned in the introduction to the collection that some of the works had to be transcribed from recordings because Kaufman didn't bother to write them down himself. In spite of the uneven quality of the works in the collection, it is a classic to anyone into the Beatniks' literature.

[Greg Bem · Rating 5 out of 5]

My head responded with poetry, pure poetry, reason, and a fault line of nostalgia, where landscapes blurred into countless incisions of persuasion, via a man I could never have imagined prior.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite poem in this brilliant collection: THE CELEBRATED WHITE-CAP SPELLING BEE

[Joshua Gonsalves · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the back cover of my copy, the book claims to cost $12.95, but the words therein are not beleaguered by price. Bob Kaufman’s not worth a dollar bill, he’s not worth a million, all he’s worth is your time and consideration, and compared to his poetry currency is worthless. Dispel the stigmas of casual meaning, they’re the discrepancies of our creative fiber which Kaufman had plenty of, creative fiber which fumed amongst the jazz clubs he frequented where the well dressed boys spoke through saxophones, made sweet love to clarinets and popped cherry flavored brew out trumpets, who with sputtering fingers tangoed to and fro on the keys of pianos and reminded Kaufman and his mind their exist other spaces: jazz.

[saja Adeeb · Rating 1 out of 5]

المطر القديم يعلم ، لكنه لا يريد القول
اصوغُ تكهناتي ، ولكنني لا أناقشها
لأن المطر القديم يهطل.
موسيقى المطر القديم تُسمع في كل مكان.

__

ما دام الشاعر على قيد الحياة
تموت السلطة
وقصيدته تعيش للأبد.

__

لا أفهم أبدًا آمال ورغبات الآخرين
حتى تتزامن مع آمالي ورغباتي ، عندها نتقاتل.

__

روحي أحرقها القمر
جسدي عصبٌ يتألم على كل اللاشيء الذي هو أنا ،
اللاشيء الذي هو كل خليطي من الشعر الإفريقي
حدثني ، فأنا أنسجُ الريح وأقبل الأمطار.

[Parker Rush · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just great. Jazz poetry at its finest. Some gorgeous imagery interlaced with keen social observation from the disenfranchised, minority, marginalized, beat point or view. Kauffman was a rare gem. As existence precedes essence, his art testifies to the grand adventure that was his life.

[Harrison G · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kind of poetry. The now-classic beatnik style, mixed with some eastern philosophy, makes one happy camper out of me. Not much to say as it is a very short collection, but I will be hunting down more of Kaufman's work after how effortlessly beautiful these poems were. 5/5 stars.

[Stan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jazz poet Beatni kplays his solos with pen and paper.

[Frank Karioris · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are moments that strike & others that ask questions I want an answer for. The book is spoken from & to, and I want to have more from it, to understand what is beneath/over/from/for.

[Owen Haines · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes the kind of poetry that is just strings of words I don't understand.

Some ones I like in there tho

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would have loved some of this in my early 20s, which sounds damning, but if you knew me back that you know I wasn't that bad.

[Seth Arnopole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bob Kaufman should be better known. He is the real deal, and in my opinion, he is better than the other Beat poets whose names most people know.

[Harrison Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully raw. The ancient rain is falling again.

[Jiho Burrows · Rating 3 out of 5]

the first three quarters of poems read as someone finding their voice.

but the second, oh man, great stuff.

[Paul Secor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading these poems, I was experiencing the writing of a man who was in love with words. (I almost wrote, the writings of a man who was drunk on words, but drunkenness implies a loss of control and I never had a sense that his writing was out of control.)
I have my favorite poems and moments in this collection, and I'm sure that others will have theirs also. Just a few mentions:

"PICASSO'S BALCONY"

"BLUE MIRO" -
MIRO...I WAS BORN ON YOUR STREET FORTY THOUSAND YEARS AGO IN A YEAR OF APRILS & SCREAMED A FLOCK OF DAZED GEESE STAGGERED.

From "BLUES FOR HAL WATERS":
Eternity has wet sidewalks, angels are busted for drunk flying.

"WALK SOUNDS"

"THE CELEBRATED WHITE-CAP SPELLING BEE"
WHEN OCEANS MEET, OCEANS BELOW, REUNIONS OF SHIPS, SAILORS,
GULLS,BLACK-HAIRED GIRLS
THE SEA BATHES IN RAIN WATER, MORNING, MOON & LIGHT, THE
CLEAN SEA.

"{ALL THOSE SHIPS THAT NEVER SAILED]"

The wildness of imagination if you let it go.
And he did.

Edit - I happened across the following quote from the pianist/composer Cecil Taylor regarding Bob Kaufman: "I spent time with Kaufman. One night, boy, I was at this building that was on First Avenue and First Street. It was a sort of triangular shaped building, and Ginsberg, [Peter] Orlovsky, LeRoi Jones and Kaufman and myself were in this room. And I just stood there. And there was no question in my mind who the force was in that room."
If Cecil Taylor said that, I pay attention.

[Mills College Library]

811.54 K25a 1981

[Matt Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you read poetry of any kind, and have not read or heard of Bob Kaufman-you're really missing out. A must read/have.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most unsung poets of the the beat era. An absolute must read.

[Roxy Reno · Rating 3 out of 5]

He coined the term beatnik, automatic win.