“A”-16

23 May 1963 / Origin 14, second series (July 1964)

 

PZ recounted to a number of people the initial incident behind this movement: on observing a potted flower on their apartment terrace being blown about by a strong wind, PZ observed it was hardly a fair contest. Scroggins notes that what appears to be the original draft or a copy of it was interpolated into LZ’s working notebook immediately above an entry dated 8 May 1963 concerning violent police action against civil rights protests in Alabama, to which has also been added a later note dated Sept. 1963 referring to the murder of four African-American girls in a church bombing. These incidents and notes were used in “A”-14.318.22-319.3 (HRC 3.16); see Scroggins, Bio 359.


Immediately following the interpolation in the notebook, LZ copies out extracts of a letter from Cid Corman dated 9 June 1963, from which details were used in the passage in “A”-14 on Ryokan’s scroll (325.7-326.31). LZ corresponded intensely with Corman during this period and they often spoke of Japanese classical poetry and Noh, which probably influenced the minimalism of “A”-16. This movement first appeared on the back cover of the last number of  Cid Corman’s Origin, second series, which featured LZ in all 14 issues (see Z-Notes commentary on LZ and Corman). 

 

276.1    An / inequality: Scroggins notes that this echoes the opening of “A”-15: “An / hinny” (Bio 391). See headnote: in his notebook LZ explicitly links racist violence and civil rights protests in Alabama with this opening phrase. 

276.3    wind flower: anemone, a widely distributed genus of herbaceous perennials, chiefly the wood anemone; the flowers are showy, readily varying in color and becoming double in cultivation. Etymologically derived from Gk. άνεμώνη, the wind-flower, < άνεμος, the wind (= L. anima, breath, spirit; cf. animus, mind) + –ωνη, fem. Patronymic suffix (CD). See 17.377.3. In Greek mythology the anemone supposedly sprang from the blood of Adonis, beloved of Aphrodite, when he was killed by a wild boar. 80 Flowers includes both “Grecian Windflower” and “Windflower” (CSP 342-343).