At Terror Street and Agony Way arrived today

[Rekrab]

Too bad. I remember my own dark days before I had a scanner and a digital camera. Well, maybe someday you can show us that taped up ERECTION (gee, that has an odd, unintended medical sound to it).

 

[cirerita]

Time to resurrect a good ol' thread!

I received my copy of At Terror Street... a week ago or so and was impressed by the blind-embossed stuff. Pretty cool and unusual, at least in the BSP books. I think the guy behind this idea was Graham Mackintosh.

 

[mjp]

...unusual, at least in the BSP books.

Another unusual thing about Terror Street is it is the only Black Sparrow poetry collection that wasn't kept in print. Any idea why? Mockingbird and Play the Piano are slim, but BS never let them go out of print. Why the prejudice against Terror Street?

 

[bospress.net]

Probably because it was included in "Burning in Water" and it did not make sense to have them both in print.

Bill

 

[cirerita]

Most poems -not all- from It Catches, Crucifix and Terror Street were reprinted sooner or later -especially in Burning in Water and Roominghouse Madrigals. It wouldn't make any sense at all to keep Terror Street in print as many poems were in Burning in Water. If Martin had NOT included those poems from Terror Street in Burning in Water -and then in Roominghouse Madrigals- I bet it would have been in print as the other BSP titles. But Martin clearly decided not to do that and reprinted the poems in Burning in Water. I have no idea as to why he did that. It was kind of early in the BSP Bukowski books career and maybe Martin wasn't thinking of his book status in the long run. Or maybe he didn't like the book as it was -which I doubt.

 

[mjp]

Maybe it was just due to the number of poems. Terror Street only has 44 poems in it. The next slimmest volume is Play the Piano Drunk which has 64. That's the shortest collection that remained in print.