{"product_id":"even-strange-ghosts-can-be-shared-the-collected-letters-of-jack-spicer-hardcover","title":"Even Strange Ghosts Can Be Shared: The Collected Letters of Jack Spicer - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJack Spicer\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eKevin Killian\u003c\/b\u003e (Editor), \u003cb\u003eKelly Holt\u003c\/b\u003e (Editor)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCollected correspondence showcases the dazzling intelligence of an iconic American writer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe more than 300 letters collected in \u003ci\u003eEven Strange Ghosts Can Be Shared\u003c\/i\u003e are a crucial component of Jack Spicer's unique oeuvre, and they radiate with the brilliance, ferocity, and vulnerability that characterizes his poetry. Spicer writes tenderly to lovers and friends in self-reflective series that recall the poetic sequences in \u003ci\u003eMy Vocabulary Did This To Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer\u003c\/i\u003e. Letters to elders like Charles Olson and Ezra Pound and to poetic collaborators like Robin Blaser and Robert Duncan provide insight into the inner workings of an avant-garde, and are indispensable documents for students of 20th century American poetry. Writing to younger poets, Spicer offers inspiring words of mentorship--sometimes with a sting--about how to live in total devotion to art. Spicer's letters paint a unique portrait of the political and personal challenges faced by a gay man at mid-century, including documents from his involvement in the early gay rights movement. The fully annotated letters in \u003ci\u003eEven Strange Ghosts Can Be Shared\u003c\/i\u003e contribute vital details to Spicer's biography, \u003ci\u003ePoet Be Like God: Jack Spicer and the San Francisco Renaissance\u003c\/i\u003e (by Lewis Ellingham and Kevin Killian). They stand alongside the recently published \u003ci\u003eBe Brave to Things: The Uncollected Poetry and Plays of Jack Spicer\u003c\/i\u003e (edited by Daniel Katz) as key components of Spicer's inventive and influential writings. Readers of Spicer's poetry will delight to find his extraordinary letters--previously uncollected and mostly never-before-published--in one volume.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePublication of this book is funded by the\u003cbr\u003eBeatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation Fund\u003cbr\u003eat the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJACK SPICER (1925-1965) was an American poet often identified with the San Francisco Renaissance. During his short but prolific life, he published numerous books with small presses, including \u003ci\u003eBilly the Kid\u003c\/i\u003e (1959), \u003ci\u003eThe Heads of the Town Up to the Aether\u003c\/i\u003e (1962), and \u003ci\u003eLanguage\u003c\/i\u003e (1965). Spicer's first book, \u003ci\u003eAfter Lorca\u003c\/i\u003e (1957), was recently reprinted by NYRB Poets with an introduction by Peter Gizzi (2021).Wesleyan University Press has published \u003ci\u003eThe House That Jack Built: The Collected Lectures of Jack Spicer\u003c\/i\u003e, edited by Peter Gizzi (1998), \u003ci\u003eMy Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer\u003c\/i\u003e, edited by Peter Gizzi and Kevin Killian (2008), and \u003ci\u003eBe Brave to Things: The Uncollected Poetry and Plays of Jack Spicer\u003c\/i\u003e, edited by Daniel Katz (2021). DANIEL BENJAMIN received his PhD in English and Critical Theory from the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of an afterword to Jack Spicer's \u003ci\u003eThe Wasps\u003c\/i\u003e (speCt! Books, 2016). With Eric Sneathen, he co-edited \u003ci\u003eThe Bigness of Things: New Narrative and Visual Culture\u003c\/i\u003e (Wolfman Books, 2017), and with Claire Marie Stancek, he co-edited \u003ci\u003eActive Aesthetics: Contemporary Australian Poetry\u003c\/i\u003e (Tuumba Press\/Giramondo, 2016). His academic articles have appeared in \u003ci\u003esmall axe\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eContemporary Literature\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eEuropean Romantic Review.\u003c\/i\u003e He teaches English at Abington Friends School in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. KELLY HOLT is a writer and teacher living in San Francisco. Her poems and essays have appeared in \u003ci\u003eAfter Spicer: Critical Essays\u003c\/i\u003e, edited by John Emil Vincent (Wesleyan University Press, 2011), \u003ci\u003e Bay Poetics\u003c\/i\u003e (Faux Press, 2006), and journals including \u003ci\u003eFulcrum\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNew American Writing\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e Jacket\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eMirage 4\/Period(ical)\u003c\/i\u003e. KEVIN KILLIAN (1952-2019) was a San Francisco-based poet, novelist, playwright, and art writer. He won the American Book Award for poetry in 2009 for \u003ci\u003eMy Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer\u003c\/i\u003e (Wesleyan University Press, 2009), which he co-edited with Peter Gizzi.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 512\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 02, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52057681559853,"sku":"9780819501905","price":39.55,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0938\/3185\/6429\/files\/even-strange-ghosts-can-be-shared-the-collected-letters-of-jack-spicer-hardcover-9210438.webp?v=1780168328","url":"https:\/\/ishookbooks.com\/products\/even-strange-ghosts-can-be-shared-the-collected-letters-of-jack-spicer-hardcover","provider":"iShook Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}