Huge Dreams republishes two books, out of print for thirty years, which together are a cornerstone of the Beat movement: The New Book/A Book of Torture and Star. Both were influential in expanding poetry into a larger world: the West Coast Beat phenomena, which focused on nature, the environment, antiwar activities, individual anarchism, Zen Buddhism, jazz, and a kind of romantic mystical thought. With these books Michael McClure brought an animal energy and a knowledge of art and physical human nature that was new to the scene.

The New Book/A Book of Torture was written spontaneously while McClure was in a "dark night of the soul" brought on by psychedelics. A single long poem of experience and exploration, it offers the means of liberation from the darkness it examines. Star is a wide-ranging book of chalice seeking, spiritual discovery, and political protest, grounded in the emotions and sensations of eros and play.

Author: Michael McClure
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Published: 05/01/1999
Series: Penguin Poets
Pages: 192
Weight: 0.58lbs
Size: 9.06h x 6.04w x 0.55d
ISBN: 9780140589177
Audience: Young Adult

About the Author
Michael McClure has published novels, interviews, essays, and plays. In recent years he has performed his poetry in collaboration with the Doors keyboardist, Ray Manzarek.