Bob Kaufman

Bob Kaufman (April 18, 1925 – January 12, 1986), born Robert Garnell Kaufman in New Orleans, Louisiana, was an American Beat poet and surrealist whose poems were often inspired by jazz music. A self-styled "street poet," he was devoted to the spontaneous, oral tradition of poetry and often did not write down his poems.

Related Topics:
April 18 - 1925 - January 12 - 1986 - New Orleans - Louisiana - American - Beat poet - Surrealist - Jazz

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Kaufman was one of thirteen children, the son of a German-Jewish father and a Roman-Catholic Black mother from Martinique; his grandmother practiced voodoo. At age thirteen, Kaufman joined the Merchant Marine, which he left in the early 1940s to briefly study literature at New York's New School, where he met William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. He moved to San Francisco in 1958 and remained there for most of the rest of his life. Like many beat writers, Kaufman became a Buddhist. In France, where his poetry had a large following, he was known as the "American Rimbaud."

Related Topics:
Martinique - Voodoo - Merchant Marine - New York - New School - William S. Burroughs - Allen Ginsberg - San Francisco - Buddhist - France - Rimbaud

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His poetry made use of jazz syncopation and meter. The critic Raymond Foye wrote about him, "Adapting the harmonic complexities and spontaneous invention of bebop to poetic euphony and meter, he became the quintessential jazz poet."

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The poet Jack Micheline said about Kaufman, "I found his work to be essentially improvisational, and was at its best when accompanied by a jazz musician. His technique resembled that of the surreal school of poets, ranging from a powerful, visionary lyricism of satirical, near dadaistic leanings, to the more prophetic tone that can be found in his political poems."

Related Topics:
Jack Micheline - Improvisational

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The poet himself said about his work, "My head is a boney guitar, strung with tongues, plucked by fingers & nails."

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After learning of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Kaufman took a Buddhist vow of silence that lasted until the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. He broke his silence by reciting his poem "All Those Ships that Never Sailed," the first lines of which are

Related Topics:
John F. Kennedy - Vietnam War

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:All those ships that never sailed

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:The ones with their seacocks open

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:That were scuttled in their stalls...

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:Today I bring them back

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:Huge and transitory

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:And let them sail

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:Forever

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