Lamantia's THE BLOOD OF THE AIR

2010 marks the 40th anniversary
of the publication of

Philip Lamantia's
THE BLOOD OF THE AIR

come read and celebrate this amazing book
on the Vernal Equinox, March 20th
at 5pm
at the benches at
4th and Bainbridge (one block south of South Street)

(NOTE: AT 7PM ONE BLOCK AWAY AT BRICKBAT BOOKS
COME CELEBRATE STAN MIR'S BOOK PARTY)

from Lamantia's THE BLOOD OF THE AIR :


Altesia or the Lava Flow of Mount Rainier


You are come to me like fondling depths I'm at the Pont-Neuf
Say I shackle and unshackle the meat drippings of art
A threshold of owl eyes spanning Mount Olympus
Turning coat tails and hood menageries of certain Parisian streets

The grave look sizzling pages of Nicholas Flamel's lost book

I would free the prison snarling from your feet

Your smile is my hurricane
And the ache of traversing San Francisco with guillotines of history
At every intersection North Beach to Mission Dolores

A gilt-edged XIXth-century edition of Edward Young's Night Thoughts opens in your hair
           What if it were
My turn at blindman's bluff and you were "it"
Running over a gigantic mirror
        On a cow field in Normandy