Yes, Helen was the balladeer among Spicer, Duncan et al - those poetry
circles of the Fifties and early Sixties. Duncan was into the power of
séances - the orphan calling the spirits of his parents, etc. Helen must
have been something special in those sessions!
Apart from the inherent spookness of her best work, she was a sweet,
generous person and naïve - thinking her play, "San Francisco Burning" would
also be a success in New York. T'wasnıt. She moved there with her sister in
the Sixties where I believe she worked in the UNICEF card shop. It was not
really until the late eighties that she got published again, and became a
local celebre.
In the 1980's I saw her give a terrific performance in San Francisco with
Robert Duncan - she danced, sang. She was - it seemed - in full lyric charge
of her spooks.
I think she passed away before the end of the century.
Stephen V
http://stephenvincent.net/blog/
> Ah Helen Adam, whom I only know through Duncan et al. But, as you say,
> fascinating.
>
> Digging, then, in a graveyard of imagery...
>
> Doug
> On 17-Nov-05, at 8:56 AM, Stephen Vincent wrote:
>
>> Thanks, Doug. The poem my little bow to Edgar Allen Poe and Helen
>> Adam, my
>> two favorite 'spooks' in the business - at least in USA lit. Scotland
>> must
>> be full of them. Helen was Scottish by birth - and a lovely person who
>> I
>> knew when she was in the SF Bay Area. But the readings of her Ballads
>> could
>> provide a scare for days. As in, hide under the blankets at night, so
>> the
>> spirits won't see you and come through the windows.
>>
>> Stephen
>> Blog: http://stephenvincent.net/blog/
>>
>>
>>
>>> With the photo even more powerful, Stephen. But it catches, for
>>> sure....
>>>
>>> Doug
>>> On 16-Nov-05, at 1:17 AM, Stephen Vincent wrote:
>>>
>>>> Ghost Chest
>>>>
>>>> My mother keeps a ghost upon
>>>> Her hand carved chest. You lift
>>>> And open the lock with a certain fear
>>>> You know what lies within
>>>> Emptiness or Spirits:
>>>> What flies there
>>>> What cries there:
>>>> Who knows the configurations -
>>>> The silks, the cottons, the wool
>>>> She might have otherwise - in multiples -
>>>> Delicately woven, folded, kept?
>>>> I knew a woman once
>>>> The coffin outside her house
>>>> Deep under the family Oak
>>>> At night a thread sped forth
>>>> From behind the wooden latch
>>>> Across the lawn and up the porch
>>>> The white thread wound to
>>>> Take her life - in one quick jerk -
>>>> By the flute of her delicate throat.
>>>> Night after night I sit and wonder
>>>> Who is the ghost - what can she tell me? -
>>>> Latched to the lock upon my mother's chest.
>>>>
>>>> Stephen Vincent
>>>> Picture of the "Ghost Chest" is available on my blog:
>>>> Blog: http://stephenvincent.net/blog/
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Douglas Barbour
>>> 11655 - 72 Avenue NW
>>> Edmonton Ab T6G 0B9
>>> (780) 436 3320
>>>
>>> Each leaf a runnel the
>>> roofs now skiffs in green
>>> Iıve never done anything
>>> but begin.
>>> Lisa Robertson
>>
>>
> Douglas Barbour
> 11655 - 72 Avenue NW
> Edmonton Ab T6G 0B9
> (780) 436 3320
>
> Each leaf a runnel the
> roofs now skiffs in green
> Iıve never done anything
> but begin.
> Lisa Robertson
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