James Broughton

Under the heading “Big Joy,” Jack Foley wrote to tell us:

that poet, filmmaker, and bountiful, rare spirit James Broughton died peacefully on Monday, May 17, 1999 at the age of 85.

In a late poem, “What Big Joy Knows,” James wrote,

I arise from the source of that sea
formed by the tears of the world
I swim with the dance of dolphins
I float on the song of whales.

“Suffering can't be avoided,” he said in an interview. “I think the way to happiness is to go into the darkness of yourself. That's the place the seed is nourished, takes its roots and grows up, and becomes ultimately the plant and the flower. You can only go upward by first going downward. I've never been afraid of losing my beautiful neurosis as a source of my poetry.” (Laughter)

We are collecting memories, commentary, tributes & quotations of James Broughton in our Poetry Forum. Please stop by & post your favorites.

James Broughton on the Net:

• Jack Foley's interview with Broughton on the eve of his 84th birthday, “Big Joy: Octogenarian” (from which the quote above is taken), appears at The Alsop Review, together with Foley's review of Broughton's selected poems 1946 - 1996, Packing Up for Paradise.
• Grist On-Line published an electronic chapbook of Broughton's work, I Stood in My Shoes.
• Broughton was also known as an experimental filmmaker, & his film Mother's Day is on the roster of the Bolex Poetics as pitcher at the Cosmic Baseball Association.
• Broughton is one of the eight avant-garde filmmakers profiled in Stan Brakhage's book Film at Wit's End.
• Poeta Cubano's Broughton Web site, “A Man in Full Flower” has a bibliography & several of his poems (although the off-site links are all defunct): “God and Fuck Belong Together,” “Ways of Getting There” & “Quit Your Addiction.”

Broughton books available at Amazon.com:

• Packing Up for Paradise: Selected Poems 1946-1996 (1997: Black Sparrow Press)
• Making Light of It (1992: City Lights Books)
• The Androgyne Journal (1991: Broken Moon Press)
• Special Deliveries: New and Selected Poems (1990: Broken Moon Press)
• Hooplas (1988: Pennywhistle Press)
• 75 Life Lines (1988: Jargon Society)
• Ecstasies (1983: Small Press Distribution)
• Graffiti for the Johns of Heaven (1982: Syzygy)
• Tidings (1965: Pterodactyl Press)

*As a result of a commercial relationship between About.com, its Guides and Amazon.com online booksellers, these titles can be purchased directly from Amazon.com by following the links above. (Note: Amazon.com is solely responsible for fulfillment of book, videotape or CD orders placed through these links.)