Moonlight on water to ease you
1976–1983. A great many of us poets spent our afternoons and evenings collaborating, gossiping, joking and laughing in Alice and Ted’s tiny apartment at 101 St. Mark’s Place.
To have two such brilliant, dedicated, hard-working poets together, husband and wife in the same little space cross-pollinating and constantly writing new and better poems was a portal through which fresh, evolving poetry entered our creative universe.
We were drawn to the light of the great Notley-Berrigan love-fest and poetic duologue festooned with belly laughs and pointed irony plus unique double genius memories and retorts not to mention a buoyant, witty, irreverent song throughout. To wit:
THE GOLDEN SEAL
It tastes like groundup
dead bodies. It makes
you shit & cleans your
pussy. It soothes your
sore eyeballs & van-
quishes your disgusting
gum disease & your
ringworm. It is the
right hand of God—
green & horrible—
stamping His signature
all over your nature
to save your body from
more ‘further putrefaction’
than is good for you.
Have a dose of it now,
before your dick falls off
& the rocks melt with the sun.
(from THE VERNACULAR HERBAL)
Alice Notley
6/12/82
(My favorite ever swear learned from Alice was “fuck your socks!”)
Alice often worked on art projects (while words flew between salon and bedroom). She hand painted fans: fold out fans and fans on poles, gorgeous gifts for friends. She painted and wrote on a series of postcards. She constructed collages.
All that, while caring for her two young sons Anselm and Edmund, brainstorming with her big young Ted, and day by day writing 100s of lilting imagist poems.
Alice made me a lovely painted fan to commemorate Ted’s and my excellent adventure at Yankee Stadium that became the book called Yo-Yo’s with Money. She also gave me a hand painted book of eight poems with watercolor illustrations for Twelfth Night, 1978. I cherish those things as reminders of our beautiful youth.
Ted encouraged a friendly competition. Alice and I gave a number of readings together in Hoboken, the East Village, and at St. Mark’s. We showcased new work. Alice always won (according to Ted).
The ‘70s in the East Village was just the greatest time for poets who knew Alice and Ted. Then and now, Alice was our star. Scholars can tell you about Alice’s later epic works, the ones being read by hundreds of thousands of her fans. I can only say she was unique and so were her shorter works:
Alice of the epic poem, Alice of the watercolor, mother Alice, grandma Alice, jokester Alice, beautiful Alice, so clever, so funny, Alice! We miss you so.