 BOMB a poem By Gregory Corso London: Kamikaze Press, 2008. Edition of 100. 11 x 14"; 24 pages. Letterpress with Baskerville type and various wood typefaces. Images composed from reduction woodblocks, woodcuts, and circular saw blades. Printed on Heritage 200 gsm (white) hand-wiped in an olive drab grey, 160 gsm (Bookwhite) and Diamant Transprint 170 gsm. Case bound in a slipcase and embossed in red metallic. Kamikaze Press: "Bomb was written by Gregory Corso in 1958 whilst residing at the infamous 'Beat Hotel' at 9 Rue Git-le-Coeur in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Later that year this controversial poem was published by City Lights Books in San Francisco. It was originally designed as a 'concrete' poem and typeset in the shape of an exploding mushroom cloud. It has been described as an iconoclastic love song dedicated to the destructive power of a weapon of mass destruction, a heart felt homage to the terror of the H-bomb. "The Kamikaze Press has reproduced this epic poem to mark the fiftieth anniversary of its first publication. Over these years metaphors of fear have shifted and images of prevailing carnage have become increasingly distorted and sinister. However the sentiment behind Gregory Corso's ironic message remains remarkably pertinent half a century later. The book concludes with Corso's self-penned epitaph." |