A review of Who was Sinclair Beiles?

Before I opened Dye Hard Press‘ new volume, its title, Who was Sinclair Beiles? was a question I certainly didn’t know the answer to. His is a name I’ve occasionally come across, as a poet who, as a resident of Paris’ famous “Beat Hotel,” created cut-ups with William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, and Gregory Corso, and helped to edit Naked Lunch and as a resident of the famed “Beat Hotel” in Paris. But there’s where my knowledge stopped.

Gary Cummiskey and Eva Kowalska have brought together a collection of eleven essays and interviews which address the question, “Who Was Sinclair Beiles?” from multiple angles...Read more here

Gossip Column - a cut-up by Anne Rooney and Sinclair Beiles

Found in a drawer 44 years later, this cut-up first appeared in Jan Herman's arts blog Straight Up.

Sinclair Beiles talking about meeting William Burroughs and Brion Gysin

In Bone Hebrew, the White Kaffir speaks

A long-awaited copy of Bone Hebrew from Cold Turkey Press showed up in my mailbox. The title is taken from Paul Celan. The cover is by Antonin Artaud. The poems are by Sinclair Beiles. Here are two of them...read more here 

Bone Hebrew, published by Cold Turkey Press

Bone Hebrew is a special limited edition book of 76 pages with texts on Sinclair Beiles by Gerard Bellaart, Heathcote Williams, Lilian Lijn and Yannis Livadas, plus an interview with Sinclair by Michael Butterworth, portions of Gerard Bellaart's correspondence with the poet, sketches, drawings and a selection of rare poems by Sinclair Beiles. Published by Cold Turkey Press, France.

Cover painting by Antonin Artaud.

Edited by Gerard Bellaart.

Book orders at: coldturkeypress@gerardbellaart.com

Feedback on Bone Hebrew

What a fine book. The finest. And what a selfless service you've performed. I never told you this but I remembered as I turned the book's pages that, of course, you were the one person that Sinclair always spoke of with an uncritical glow. The man who was invigilating a great renaissance in Rotterdam was I think  how he first spoke of you. You've done him proud. The book's a great prize to have and to hold.    Heathcote Wiliams

dear gerard -- bone hebrew arrived an hour ago. it is magnificent! absolutely stunning. just finished reading Liliane Lijn's memory piece. I couldn't stop. i read the letter to Heathcote, too. and your own sweet poem. i am green with envy. your own "profoundest care" comes through in every page. I love the "look" of the book as much as the content. i haven't finished reading  the rest of the book. felt the need to msg you immediately. i want to go back to the beginning of the book and read straight thru without jumping around. God, I feel lucky.  Jan Herman

Dear Gerard, I'm really enjoying Bone Hebrew. The essays and memoirs really help round out a good portrait of a great poet. Do you have any other collections of Sinclair's poetry still in stock somewhere? I need to read more. You've done a great job with Bone Hebrew, and a great service to Sinclair. Thanks and cheers. Mark Terrill  

Sinclair Beiles, 1969

Courtesy: Cold Turkey Press. This photo is used as the frontpiece in Bone Hebrew, an appreciation of Sinclair Beiles, published by Cold Turkey Press, France.

Sinclair Beiles at the wedding of Michael and Pam Alamaz, England, 1970s

Photos: Sally Willis and Pam Almaz

A First-Class Letter from the Lost and Found

When I read Heathcote Williams' description of a bizarre project that for a time obsessed the South African poet Sinclair Beiles, who wanted to plant "the barren Sahara desert" with "industrial quantities of  discarded tea-leaves", I remembered a letter than Carl Weissner once wrote ....read more here

Letter from Carl Weissner to Sinclair Beiles, 1971

Carl Weissner:  Brief an Sinclair Beiles

30. März 1971

Dear Sinclair: Die Sahara ist bewässert. Was jetzt?  Während Armeen von Hippies am San-Andreas-Graben knien und auf ein Zeichen warten. Es ist faszinierend, zu welchen Blödheiten der Mensch sich herabläßt.

Ich sehe, dein Botschafter hat sich bei der Junta in Athen für deine Freilassung und Repatriierung verwendet. Es war ja auch nicht nötig, noch weiter  bei Wasser und Brot usw. , denn du hast in einer Fasson gepunktet, die dich bei den Trampern der Welt unsterblich macht. Pennyless in Greece? Haust du einfach im Hafen von  Piräus dem nächsten Marineoffizier eine rein, wirst verhaftet und eingelocht – bingo!  schon hast du ein Dach überm Kopf.  Das merke ich mir für den Fall, dass ich mal in einer Hafenstadt ohne Peso 1 an der Ecke stehe und keinen Ankerplatz finde.

Im WDR Köln machen sie jetzt eine Drei-Stunden-Sendung über die Black Panthers. Ich bin als Übersetzer und Zitatsprecher dabei und darf seitenweise Huey Newton rezitieren: "We intend, within the confahns of the oppressor state, to stay armed to the teeth for decades! Centuries!..."Howgh.

Noch etwas: Du kannst mir eine Freude machen, indem du es unterläßt, alle möglichen  Leute auf mich anzusetzen.

Da bekomme ich neulich von Paloma Picasso ein Briefchen in ihrer wunderschönen Handschrift, und was will sie? Daß ich was schreibe für ihre demnächst erscheinende europäische(!) Literaturzeitschrift.

Jetzt überleg mal. Sie ist knapp 21. Warum setzt du ihr solche Flausen ins Ohr?  Im nächsten Moment geht sie zu Christian Lacroix und sagt: "Monsieur, ich möchte Schmuck für Sie entwerfen. Wenn's recht ist."  Der Name öffnet Tür und Tor, mit dem Ergebnis, daß sie jede Woche drei oder vier neue Sachen anschiebt, und nie wird was daraus. Sag ihr, sie soll Mätresse von Salvador Dali werden. Ach, der hat schon eine? Na, dann eben nicht.

Ah – und schon wieder läßt du dich in ein englisches Irrenhaus einweisen (Wieso macht Annie diesen Scheiß mit?  Ach nein, ich seh grade, daß dich diesmal dein Zahnarzt eingewiesen hat – how come?  Ich wette, er kassiert einen Kickback.) bloß damit du in Ruhe ein Theaterstück in gereimten Versen schreiben kannst…

Sinclair, ich habe es schon mal gesagt und wiederhole es: Der fünfhebige Jambus ist nicht dein Freund. Und der gereimte schon gar nicht.

Laß die Finger davon und schreib wieder gutbezahlten Schweinkram für Maurice Girodias. Den werden wir dir in hündischer Verzückung aus der Hand fressen. Ein Erfolgserlebnis, auf das du nicht verzichten solltest.

Carl Weissner: Letter to Sinclair Beiles

March 30^th, 1971

Dear Sinclair: The Sahara is watered. Now what? While armies of hippies are on their knees along the San Andreas Fault waiting for a sign. It’s fascinating, which stupidities the human being will let himself be subjected to. I see that your ambassador put in a pitch to the junta in Athens for your freedom and repatriation. It wasn’t necessary to continue with bread and water, etc., as you’ve managed to make points in a way that will make you immortal in the eyes of the hobos of the world. Penniless in Greece? Just punch the next Marine Officer in the face in the harbor of Piraeus, you’ll get arrested and locked up—bingo! You’ve got a roof over your head. I’ll remember that, in case I ever find myself in a harbor town without 1 peso, standing in a corner with no place to drop anchor.

At WDR Cologne they’re producing a three-hour program about the Black Panthers. I’m involved as translator and speaker and get to recite pages of Huey Newton: "We intend, within the confahns of the oppressor state, to stay armed to the teeth for decades! Centuries!..." Howgh.

Another thing: You can do me a favor by not directing all possible people toward me. I recently got a letter from Paloma Picasso in her wonderful handwriting, and what does she want? That I write something for her soon-to-be-appearing European(!) literary magazine. Now think about that. She’s barely 21. Why do you give her ideas like that? In the next moment she goes to Christian Lacroix and says: “Monsieur, I’d like to design some jewelry for you. If that’s okay.” The name opens doors and gates, with the result that every week she’s got three or four new things going on, out of which nothing ever materializes. Tell her she should become the mistress of Salvador Dali. Ah, he’s already got one? Then never mind.

Ah—and again you let yourself be committed in an English nuthouse (Why does Annie comply with this shit? Oh no, I see now that this time your dentist committed you—how come? I bet he gets a kickback.) just so you can write a play in rhymed verse in peace and quiet…

Sinclair, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the iambic pentameter is not your friend. And rhymed verse definitely not. Hands off that stuff and write more well-paid filth for Maurice Girodias. Then we’ll eat from your hand with dog-like ecstasy. A sense of achievement you won’t want to miss out on.

(English translation by Mark Terrill)
 

(Courtesy: Cold Turkey Press archives)

The Idiot’s Voice: More Dissidence from Cold Turkey

Leonard Cohen, who is not given to easy praise, has called Sinclair Beiles "one of the great poets of the century". Meaning the 20th century - they met back in the early 1960s on the Greek island of Hydra. Was Cohen being uncharacteristically hyperbolic? Well, William S Burroughs, also not given to easy praise, once  wrote: "The poetry of Sinclair Beiles is distinguished and long distilled; its unexpected striking images bring forth a flash of surprised recognition. The poems open slowly in your mind, like Japanese paper flowers in water." ...  Read more here