Allen Ginsberg inspired the Van Gogh’s Ear Anthology Series for allowing complete creative freedom to everyone everywhere from all walks of life. All languages welcome. There is no censorship. Do your own thing. This is your creation. Dare to be different!

Founded by Ian Ayres, Van Gogh’s Ear: Best World Poetry, Prose & Art is an international anthology series based in Paris, France and published in conjunction with Allen Ginsberg’s Committee on Poetry in New York City. Since its debut in 2002, Van Gogh’s Ear has gained considerable acclaim for its eclecticism and publishing such legends as Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Yoko Ono, John Gilmore, Xaviera Hollander, Serge Gainsbourg, Taslima Nasreen, Edmund White, Maya Angelou, Thich Nhat Hanh, William S. Burroughs and a great many more renowned poets, novelists, political activists, alongside never-before-heard voices from every walk of life in all parts of the world. Van Gogh’s Ear is now breaking new ground through an innovative community of poets, novelists, artists, political activists, celebrity legends, and never-before-heard/seen artists whose work stems from the traditional to the experimental, daring, thought-provoking, and imaginative. Distributed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South Africa and Australia, this internationally acclaimed anthology series has become an affluent resource for universities, teachers, students and readers alike.

We sincerely hope you enjoy the new site and are always seeking all things creative, daring and brutally…honest. If you are interested in contributing your works or have any further questions please email Tina Ayres at thall2@highland.net. Thank you!

“The idea for starting an international anthology of prose, poetry and art from people of all walks of life, everywhere in the world, began with Allen Ginsberg. He said creativity is a great way to bring people together. We discussed giving a chance to never-before-known talents by publishing them alongside the famous. He said everyone’s a genius. It’s just a matter of how one’s genius is expressed. Since Allen was the inspiration for the anthology series, it seemed only right to read through all of the contents of Allen Ginsberg’s Collected Poems 1947-1980 for a title. When my eyes landed on his poem ‘Death to Van Gogh’s Ear,’ I immediately knew. The poem begins: ‘Poet is Priest / Money has reckoned the soul of America.’ Those first two lines pretty much sum up what the poem is about. And it was written in Paris, December 1957. I knew then that Van Gogh’s Ear would be the anthology’s title.”     ~ Ian Ayres, creator of the original Van Gogh’s Ear Anthology Series

VAN GOGH’S EAR: VOLUME ONE

ISBN: 978-2-914853-00-2

Volume one of Van Gogh’s Ear primarily focuses on poetry characterized by experimentation with form, a revitalized interest in the lyric, and journeys into daring realms of imagination. Among the book’s many highlights you’ll find Joyce Carol Oates’s intense prose poem of sex and murder “Erotic Fantasy in Fast Forward”; Victor Bockris’s haunting, prophetic poem “New York City Footsteps”-written just five days before 9/11; Susan Howe’s “The Chair”, which achieves a rare synthesis of linguistic rigor and humor; “Labor: A company job”, the last poem John Wieners ever wrote-includedis a letter by him (in his writing)about the poem; plus Rod Smith’s “Junkspace Canto”, a canto as tremblingly accurateas the jab of a needle, with perceptions wound into a jagged sweet music like a gypsy violin.

Contributors: Shane Allison, Beth Anderson, Bruce Andrews, Mary Angeline, Antler, Louis Armand, Ian Ayres, Amiri Baraka, Margo Berdeshevsky, Bill Berkson, Anselm Berrigan, Edmund Berrigan, Ted Berrigan, Victor Bockris, Mary Burger, David Caddy, Tom Clark, Andrei Codrescu, Ira Cohen, Robert Creeley, Quentin Crisp, Dave Cunliffe, Albert Flynn DeSilver, Diane di Prima, Edward Dorn, Jennifer Dunbar Dorn, Buck Downs, Kari Edwards, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Ethan Gilsdorf, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Glück, Marilyn Hacker, Linda Healey,Lynne Hjelmgaard, Anselm Hollo, Amy Holman,Paul Hoover, Susan Howe, Christopher Ide, Lisa Jarnot, David Lehman, Lyn Lifshin, Brendan Lorber, Bill Luoma, Gerard Malanga, Michael McClure, Wendy Mulford, Eileen Myles, Hoa Nguyen, Michelle Noteboom, Alice Notley, Joyce Carol Oates, Frank O’Hara, Douglas Oliver, Peter Orlovsky, Ron Padgett, Molly Peacock, Sarah Petlin, Simon Pettet, Bob Rosenthal, Jerome Rothenberg, Leslie Scalapino, Sozan Schellin, Andrew Schelling, Susan M. Schultz, Leonard Schwartz, Charley Shively, Eleni Sikelianos, Iain Sinclair, Dale Smith, Rod Smith, Edwin Torres, John Updike, Jean Valentine, Roberta Vellvé, Anne Waldman, Phillip Ward, Chocolate Waters, Philip Whalen, John Wieners

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VAN GOGH’S EAR: VOLUME TWO

ISBN-10: 2914853017

ISBN-13: 978-2914853019

Volume two of Van Gogh’s Ear, with its cover painting by Vincent van Gogh, offers a knock-out array of fresh, exciting poems—Beat, Slam, Nuyorican, Experimental, you name it-by such daring poets as Peter Orlovsky, Gayle Danley-Dooley, Pedro Pietri, and the list goes on. The result is a dynamic volume chock-full of the verve and artistry of a new millennium of poetry. You’ll experience Bob Perelman’s “Writing Time With Quotes“, showing he can keep more themes and images active simultaneously in a reader’s imagination than almost any other poet alive; Paul Auster’s “Notes From a Composition Book”, a poem that challenges our concepts of what is real and what is word; Dennis Cooper’s chilling “A Symphony of Confusion for the People I Killed” and “The Theorist has No Samba!” by Edwin Torres, selected from this volume for inclusion in Best American Poetry 2004.

Contributors:

Sam Abrams, Dannie Abse, Guillaume IX d’Acquitaine, Louis Armand, John Ashbery, Paul Auster, Ian Ayres, Charles Baudelaire, Bill Berkson, Charles Bernstein, Anselm Berrigan, Robin Blaser, Lee Ann Brown, Dennis Cooper, David Cope, Quentin Crisp, Gayle Danley-Dooley, Michael Dennison, Albert Flynn DeSilver, Jennifer K. Dick, Linh Dinh, Gordon Downie, Kari Edwards, Mark Ewert, Ruth Fainlight, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Susan Fox, Allen Ginsberg, Sara Goodman, Thich Nhat Hanh, Alamgir Hashmi, Linda Healey, Lyn Hejinian, Amy Hollowell, Amy Holman, Bob Holman, D. J. Huppatz, Michael Huxley, Fred Johnston, Nikki d. Katherine, Eliot Katz, John Kinsella, Lisa Lubasch, Gerard Malanga, Robert Marx, Pansy Maurer-Alvarez, Michael McClure, Tracey McTague, Sylvia Miles, Drew Milne, Marilyn Monroe,Eileen Myles, Alice Notley, Joyce Carol Oates, Ulick O’Connor, Joe Okonkwo, Peter Orlovsky, Jena Osman, Bob Perelman, Felice Picano, Pedro Pietri, Diane di Prima, Tom Raworth, Bob Rosenthal, Michael Rothenberg, Sapphire, Sozan Schellin, Leonard Schwartz, Sudeep Sen, Ron Silliman, W. D. Snodgrass, Gary Snyder, Onna Solomon, Sparrow, William Strangmeyer, Todd Swift,Eileen Tabios, Judith Taylor, Thomas R. Thorpe, Nicole Tomlinson, Edwin Torres, John Updike, Phillip Ward, Philip Whalen, George Whitman, Zhang Er

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VAN GOGH’S EAR: VOLUME THREE

ISBN: 978-2-914853-02-6

Volume three of Van Gogh’s Ear is a groundbreaking collection of poems from five continents celebrating the erotic spirit in all of its forms. From the passion of sexual desire to the intense longing for spiritual union, this extraordinary bon voyage turns each page of Van Gogh’s Ear 3 into an exciting discovery. Among the many memorable works included are “And Have You Been Forgotten“, a far-reaching poem by one of the most challenging and engaging radical female poets at work today, Alice Notley; “Holy Drag“, by John Rechy, dares peek into the sacristy during changing time for a high Mass presided over by the Cardinal in Rome; Carolyn Cassady’s controversial letter on poetry; “If This is Love” and “Hako” are imaginative, piercing poems by Yoko Ono that appear with two of her intimate Franklin Summer drawings. Other impressive drawings, one by Allen Ginsberg, are also included in this landmark anthology.

Contributors:

Dannie Abse, David Amram, Bruce Andrews, Antler, Louis Armand, Rae Armantrout, Ian Ayres, Amiri Baraka, Elizabeth Bartlett, Dawn-Michelle Baude, Barbara Beck, Bruce Benderson, Eric Bentley, Margo Berd,Jim Carrol, Carolyn Cassady, Emily Claman, Lynette Cloutier, Susan Cody, Holly Crawford, Quentin Crisp, Michel Delville, Linh Dinh, Kari Edwards, James A. Emanuel, Betsy Fagin, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Marilyn Yvonne Ford, Susan Fox, John Gilmore, Allen Ginsberg, Stephen Gray, Barbara Guest, Sandra Guy, Keith Haring, Herbert Huncke, Michael Huxley, Guy Kettelhack, Thomas Kinsella, James Kirkup, Le Comte de Lautréamont, Denise Levertov, Lyn Lifshin, Brendan Lorber, Raymond Luczak, Norman Mailer, Susan Maurer, Tana McCarthy, Janet McDonald, Sharon Mesmer, Sylvia Miles, Yaroslav Slava”Mogutin, Marilyn Monroe, Thom Nickels, Alice Notley, Joyce Carol Oates, Ulick O’Connor, Edgar Oliver, Yoko Ono, Sarah Petlin, Felice Picano, Jeff Poniewaz, Diane di Prima, John Rechy, Bob Rosenthal, Michael Rothenberg, Sapphire, Lawrence Schimel, Moe Seager, Chris Stroffolino, Eileen Tabios, Thomas R. Thorpe, John Updike, Roberta Vellvé, Anne Waldman, Phillip Ward, Karen Weiser,  Evan Calder Williams, A. D. Winans,Florencio Yllana,Fay Zwicky

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VAN GOGH’S EAR: VOLUME FOUR

 ISBN: 978-2-914853-03-3

Volume four of Van Gogh’s Ear: Best World Poetry and Prose is now to be experienced! A powerful poem for peace by one of the great voices of contemporary literature, Maya Angelou, seizes the soul; Margaret Atwood’s insightful, often amusing essay on poetics inspires; Beat legend Carolyn Cassady’s intriguing new prose piece explores the energies that create and sustain all life; a high-speed letter from Beat icon Neal Cassady sweeps one away with his thoughts on Intellect and the arts; acclaimed renaissance man Leonard Cohen’s poem excites both the imagination and emotions; James Dean’s hardhitting poem gives a brutal glimpse into the acidic mixture of love and hate the legendary actor had for his father (a scan of Dean’s actual poem appears with photos from a private collection); John Gilmore’s snuff poem for Elizabeth Short “The Kiss of the Black Dahlia” churns the blood; Norman Mailer’s tasty “If Poetry Is The Food” will not only have you salivating for more, but on an inward journey beyond flesh and bone; Bangladesh poet Taslima Nasrin, who had to flee her country following death threats by Islamic fanatics, contributed a poem which reveals much through the rape of two young sisters who are ordered by a judge to be whipped in public for speaking out against the man who raped them; Yoko Ono’s piercing “Maybe I Was Too Young” and lovely “A Rose is A Rose is A Rose” appear with one of her intimate Franklin Summer drawings; Sue Russell shatters the Hollywood portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the movie Monster with her probing essay. There’s also Sonia Sanchez’s startling poem about a mother torn between love for her 7-year-old daughter and addiction to crack; Irish poet Eabhan Ní Shuileabháin’s intense journey into the minds of the main people involved in executing a criminal at the time of execution; and even more powerful work by Tony Curtis, Joyce Carol Oates, C. K. Williams, Diane di Prima, John Updike, Daisy Zamora, Michael Rothenberg, Joanne Kyger, Tess Gallagher, Richard Kostelanetz, Marc Smith, Alice Notley, J. T. LeRoy, Aram Saroyan, Billy Collins, in total 91 great talents. After reading this landmark anthology, you’ll feel as if you’d lived intensely in the skins of many different people in different parts of the world. Highly recommended as a rich resource for teachers and a library basic.

 Contributors:

Maya Angelou, Shamsul Arefin, Colin Askey, Margaret Atwood, Michelle Auerbach, Elizabeth Ayres, Ian Ayres, Joe Bacal, Amanda Bay, Itzhak Ben-Arieh, David Bergman, Bill Berkson, J. J. Blickstein, Pat Brien, Mary Burger, Carolyn Cassady, Neal Cassady, Andrei Codrescu, Leonard Cohen, Billy Collins, Caitlin Condell, Holly Crawford, Victor Hernández Cruz, Dave Cunliffe, Tony Curtis, Jen Dalton, Andrew Darlington, James Dean, Albert Flynn DeSilver, Peter James Drew, Jordan Essoe, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Marilyn Yvonne Ford, Gloria Frym, Tess Gallagher, Marcene Gandolfo, John Gilmore, John Giorno, David Helwig, Jill Hill, Marie Houzelle, Scott Hutchison, Michael Huxley, Brendan Kennelly, Galway Kinnell, Richard Kostelanetz, Richard Krech, Joanne Kyger, J. T. LeRoy, Lyn Lifshin, Mark Lipman, Ken Mackenzie, Jayanta Mahapatra, Norman Mailer, Randall Mann, Sylvia Miles, Laure Millet, Taslima Nasreen, Thom Nickels, Alice Notley, Joyce Carol Oates, Tommy Frank O’Connor, Nessa O’Mahony, Yoko Ono, Lisa Pasold, Barbara Philipp, Kristin Prevallet, Diane di Prima, Terry Rentzepis, Bob Rosenthal, Barney Rosset, Michael Rothenberg, Carol Rumens, Sue Russell, Sonia Sanchez, Aram Saroyan, Larry Sawyer, Eabhan Ní Shuileabháin, Donny Smith, Marc Smith, Carolyn Stoloff, Nelson Sullivan, Mark Terrill, John Updike, Gerard Van der Leun, François Villon, Lina ramona Vitkauskas, Phillip Ward, Karen Weiser, C. K. Williams, Daisy Zamora, Harriet Zinnes

http://www.frenchcx.com/press/

VAN GOGH’S EAR: THE CELEBRITY EDITION (Volume Five)

ISBN-10: 2914853076

ISBN-13: 978-2914853071

“Congratulations on one wild issue!” — Billy Collins

Van Gogh’s Ear: The Celebrity Edition, which is volume 5, celebrates art, poetry, and the ultimate sex goddess of the 20th century, Marilyn Monroe. There’s a one-act play by Joyce Carol Oates that brings to life Marilyn’s posing for the nude calendar shot, new insights from Marilyn biographer Sarah Churchwell, plus never-before-revealed Marilyn memories by her personal masseur, Ralph Roberts, friend John Gilmore, and others who actually knew her. More exciting highlights are memoirs by movie stars and celebrities such as Tony Curtis, Mamie Van Doren, Sylvia Miles, and Xaviera Hollander. Not to mention the many renowned poets, novelists, cultural icons and political activists also included in this truly international collection with contributors from Australia, India, Dubai, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Canada, the USA, Ireland, England, France, Holland, Germany, Finland, Serbia, etc. Volume 5 of Van Gogh’s Ear addresses taboo, politics and the human condition from every walk of life. Plus there’s a compelling letter from Patricia Nell Warren, author of best-selling novel The Front Runner , in which she warns about the negation of free speech and the rise of fascism in the USA. And a scan of a recent prison letter from Charles Manson, in which he expresses concern about what’s happening to the planet, tells of how he’s treated in prison, as well as how he feels about his fame and the exploitation of him in the music scene. Volume 5 is an odyssey through cultural landscapes, revealing more about our times than any internet news-source or guru ever has. Exhibiting paintings that honor the life and times of Marilyn Monroe by such artists as Demetrie Kabbaz, Werner Horvath, and Tony Curtis, this collection is a must for Marilyn fans everywhere. Due to nudes, however, along with explicit works by the world’s most daring writers, i.e., the Marquis de Sade, a “Parental Advisory” warning appears on the cover.

Featured Contributors:

Franklin Abbott, Shane Allison, Antler, Jorge Artajo, Ian Ayres, Joe Bacal, Dawn-Michelle Baude, Barbara Beck, Guy R. Beining, Kimberly Biggers, Gojko Bozovic, J. R. Brady, Rolf Dieter Brinkman, Pam Brown, Michael Brownstein, Peter Cherney, Sarah Churchwell, Billy Collins, Dennis Cooper, Barbara Costa, Holly Crawford, Quentin Crisp, Tony Curtis, William Curtis, Jen Dalton, Albert Flynn DeSilver, DML, Eduard Escoffet, Landis Everson, Marcus Ewert, Marilyn Yvonne Ford, Serge Gainsbourg, Maureen Gallagher, Johnny Gevalia, John Gilmore, John Giorno, Daphne Gottlieb, Stephen Gray, J. Kenneth Grider, Andreas Gripp, Jane Hathaway, Michael Hathaway, Trebor Healey, Thomas M. Herndon, Lynette S’phiwe Hlongwane, Xaviera Hollander, Paul Hoover, Werner Horvath, Justice Howard, Gary Indiana, Fred Johnston, Demetrie Kabbaz , Kit Kennedy, Romella D’Ore Kitchens, John Kliphan, Aki Lehtinen, Linda Lerner, J. T. LeRoy, Lyn Lifshin, Jason Lynn, Jayanta Mahapatra, Norman Mailer, Charles Manson, Lori A. May, Ben Mazer, Gabrielle McIntire, Sharon Mesmer, Robin Metz, Sylvia Miles, Peter Minter, Pete Mullineaux, Eileen Myles, Thom Nickels, Joyce Carol Oates, Ulick O’Connor, Molly Peacock, Daniel Pendergrass, Robert Peters, Felice Picano, Jane Piirto, Jennifer Pinard, Wayne Ray, Dee Rimbaud, Ralph Roberts, Bob Rosenthal, Lauren Russell, Albert Russo, Marquis de Sade, Aram Saroyan, Richard Siken, Mark Terrill, Paul Trachtenberg, John Updike, Mamie Van Doren, Phillip Ward, Patricia Nell Warren, Lewis Warsh, Regina Weinreich, Janean Williams, A. D. Winans, Saint James Harris Wood, Jeffrey Cyphers Wright, Gerald Zipper

http://www.frenchcx.com/press/

VAN GOGH’S EAR: THE LOVE EDITION (Volume Six)

ISBN: 978-2-914853-09-5

From the earliest records in the Western tradition of poetry, throughout the classical period and during the Middle Ages, spanning the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and beyond, romantic love has been the obsessive object of poetic attentions. However, modern and postmodern poets tend to avoid writing about love, focusing instead on political, social and theoretical terrains.

When Dawn-Michelle Baude took on the job of guest-editing the sixth edition of the internationally acclaimed poetry anthology Van Gogh’s Ear, she deliberately chose love as her theme in order to challenge this modern poetic system in which the vocabularies for alienation and violence have outstripped those of attachment and affection.

More than seventy cutting edge poets from around the globe have answered Dawn-Michelle Baude’s call for poems about love. Van Goghs Ear 6: The Love Edition takes the throbbing pulse of love now, in 2009, in countries around the world. Sexual, romantic, altruistic, fetishistic, Platonic, political, happenstance and all the rest – the poems and prose in this edition are vital, and, in abrupt contrast to the foundational irony of postmodernism, even sincere. The writers engagement with the topics ranges from the subtle to the overt, the off-hand to the engaged, just like in life.

Contributors:

Etel Adnan, Greg Bachar, Aaron Belz, Guy Bennett, Pierre Bismuth, Jean-Luc Blanc, Charles Borkhuis , Kate Braverman, Lee Ann Brown, Robert Chrysler, Julia Connor, Andrei Codrescu, Joel Craig, Carl Miller Daniels, Jean Day, Patrick Dillon, Trisha Donnelly , Yan Duyvendak, Amanda Earl, Daniela Elza, Mia Enell, Michael Farrell, Alex L. Ferguson, Bonny Finberg, Kathleen Fraser, Gloria Frym, Vidya Gastaldon, Robert Glûck, Susy Gómez, E. Tracy Grinnell, Fabrice Gygi, Brenda Hillman, Anselm Hollo, Alexander Jorgensen, Ken Kagami, Aryan Kaganof, Amin Khan, Artus de Lavilléon, Joseph Lease, Shannon Lucy, Bernhard Martin, Clay McCann, Rob McLennan, David Meltzer, Michelle Miller, Laura Moriarty, Mryzk & Moriceau, Jennifer Moxley, Laura Mullen, Mel Nichols, Michelle Noteboom, Amy O’Neil, Ethan Paquin, Simon Pettet, Raymond Pettibon, Kristin Prevallet, Stephen Ratcliffe, Tom Raworth, Sarah Riggs, Didier Rittener, Eléna Rivera, Elizabeth Robinson, Steve Rodefer, Anna-Laure Sacriste, Hiroe Saeki, Leonard Schwartz, Alain Séchas, Jim Shaw, Rod Smith, Laura Solomon, Cole Swenson, Mark Tardi, John Tranter, Serdar Turkeli, Pierre Vadi, Jean-Luc Verna, Rosmarie Waldrop, Andrew Zawacki

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VAN GOGH’S EAR: THE SUPERNATURAL EDITION (Volume Seven)

ISBN: 978-2-914853-118

The seventh and final edition of the Van Gogh’s Ear anthology, “The Supernatural Edition,” focuses on works featuring the weird, wonderful, imaginary, and thoroughly supernatural. Full of stories, poems, artwork, and various creative essays, the culmination of the Van Gogh’s Ear anthology is anything but a smooth, predictable ride; rather, the range of styles and themes sweeps the reader away, promising an unforgettable experience. The ‘supernatural’ theme appears both overtly and subtly, in spirituality and imagination, in experiences both real and ethereal. Edited by Felice Picano, this volume features works by an international contingent of authors, including Jorge Artajo, Camille Feinberg, Fern C.Z. Carr, Samuel Ace, Saint James Harris Wood, Edmund White, Imani Tolliver, McArthur Gunther, Steven Reigns, Reginald T. Jackson, and Jayanta Mahapatra. Particular treats include a social commentary by Plutarch, a short story by Turkish writer Serdar Türkeli, and a nonfiction piece about riding on Juan Peron’s coffin by travel journalist Michael Luongo.

Featured Contributors:

Franklin Abbott , Samuel Ace , Dominic Ambrose , Apollonious of Rhodes , Rob Arnold , Ian Ayres , Margo Berdechevsky, Perry Brass, Jason Cant, Fern G.Z.Carr, M. Christian, Robert Cole, David Gerrold, Corey Green, Richard Halperin, Trebor Healey, Walter Hollander, Andrew Holleran, Reginald T. Jackson, Daniel M. Jaffe, Michael Luongo, Jayanta Mahapatra, Jeff Mann, Austin McCarron, Gunther McArthur, Carlos T. Mock, Felice Picano, Jerry Pyle, Plutarch, Steven Reigns, Charles Silverstein, Matthew Silverstein, D.N. Simmers, T.M. Spirit, Imani Tolliver, Paul Trachtenberg, Serdar Turkeli, Edmund White, Terry Wolverton, Saint James Harris Wood…

To purchase any or all past copies please visit:  http://www.frenchcx.com/press/