Catastrophes choisies et autres poèmes

Catastrophes choisies et autres poèmes -- selected poems of South African Beat poet Sinclair Beiles, translated into French by Bertrand Grimault, published by Monoquini, Bordeaux, France.  Limited to 99 numbered copies.

Two poems by Sinclair Beiles in The bloody horse

 

Courtesy: Bruce Fereday

Two Cities, May 1960: An advertisement for Minutes to Go and Taking Aim at Souza ( an open letter) by Sinclair Beiles

 

Front cover of Two Cities, May 1960. Sinclair Beiles listed as a contributor.

Back cover of Two Cities, May 1960. Advertisement for Minutes to Go by William Burroughs, Gregory Corso, Brion Gysin and Sinclair Beiles.

Taking aim at Souza (an open letter) by Sinclair Beiles, Two Cities, May 1960.

A poem for Sinclair Beiles from Jean Fanchette

 

Courtesy: Gerard Bellaart 

New in French translation: Sinclair Beiles’s Selected Catastrophies & Other Poems

Catastrophes Choisies is not Sinclair Beiles’s first poetry collection to appear in French, but it is the most elaborate. The South African emigré poet, writer, and editor was born in Uganda of Russian-Jewish descent, in 1930, and grew up in Johannesburg from the age of six. An ex-patriate for most of his life, Beiles lived at various times in Tangiers, Athens, London, Rotterdam, and Paris, and sporadically had himself committed to hospital wards to deal with his sometimes fragile mental health  ...  Read more.

Portrait of SInclair Beiles, 1997

 

Artist: Reshada Krouse. Courtesy of the artist.

Sinclair Beiles in Cape Town

 Good to see that Gregory Penfold in Cape Town has received his copy of Who was Sinclair Beiles?, published by Dye Hard Press.

On-Stage

On-Stage is a collection of poems by Sinclair Beiles, published by Ivor Kruger's Limited Editions in 1993. There is a copy at the library of the University of South Africa.

Khakiweeds

Khakiweeds was a collection of poems by Sinclair Beiles, published by Ivor Kruger's Limited Editions, in 1995. There is a copy at the library of the University of South Africa.

Bukowski mentions Beiles reviewing Penguin Modern Poets 13

 'also Penguin Poetry [sic] 13 is out. but it won't be published in U.S. until June 26, this year. Bukowski-Norse-Lamantia. but we are already in trouble. the slick-poetry academy boys and poets are already after our asses. Sinclair Beiles wrote a good review of Penguin 13, said it was the best of the series, but London Magazine refused the print the review and Beiles sent it to a South African paper which also refused to publish the bit. Beiles wrote Norse that he thought Hal and I were the best living writers using the English language ...'

Letter to Jon and Louise Webb, Feburary 5, 1969

(published in Charles Bukowski, Selected Letters, Volume 2: 1965-1970, edited by Seamus Cooney, Virgin Books, 2004.) 

Alice in Progeress by Sinclair Beiles and Annie Rooney

 

In the biography note to Ashes of Experience (Wurm, 1969) it was stated that Sinclair Beiles and his wife Annie Rooney were due to have a book called Alice in Progress published by the Nova Broadcast series in the US, which was run by Jan Herman. In was even listed as a forthcoming title by Nova Broadcast in an advertisement published by City Lights. However, this book never appeared and enquiries about the possible whereabouts of the manuscript led nowhere ... until about a month ago when musician and Burroughs enthusiast Jeffrey Ball kindly answered a question of mine about the contribution that Sinclair and Annie Rooney had published in the journal The San Francisco Earthquake 4, published in 1968 -- it was Alice in Progress! Jeffrey also kindly photocopied the respective pages, though due to concerns over the spine cracking was not able to photocopy them flat - but no matter, the pages can be read. The San Francisco Earthquake was also edited by Jan Herman, so obviously for whatever reason(s), it appeared in journal form instead. Thank you, Jeffrey!