MINA LOY, AN ENGLISH POETESS* OF A VANISHING GENERATION, LIVED FOR SEVERAL YEARS (1951-1954) IN LOWER MANHATTAN NEAR THE BOWERY; WHERE SHE SAW THE FRUSTRATED EXCESS OF LOVE BY WHICH THE DERELICT HAS DRUNK, DREAMED AND DIED.

CONTRARY PICTURES, THESE CONSTRUCTIONS ARE LYRIC IN THEIR DRABNESS, WHOLE IN THEIR FRAGMENTATION. WITH UNABASHED VICTORIAN SUGAR MINA LOY HAS CONFECTED, NOT THE POOR AND HUMBLE, BUT THE BEATIFIC AND INTOXICATED, BUMS; THOSE WHO ARE, TOGETHER WITH POETS, "LEPERS OF THE MOON, ALL MAGICALLY DISEASED", THE ARISTOCRATS OF THE DISPOSSESSED — NOW GLORIFIED.

THIS INCREMENT OF "PULVEROUS PASTURES OF POVERTY"... WHAT JEWELS TO HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED IN THE ALMOST EXTINCT ASHCANS OF THE BOWERY.

JULIEN LEVY

1959

*RECENTLY RE-PUBLISHED: LUNAR BAEDEKER & TIME-TABLES

MINA'S POEMS À 2 DIMENSIONS ½ :

HAUTS-RELIEFS ET BAS-FONDS, Inc.,

MARCELDUCHAMP/ADMIRAVIT)