Gagaku: The Life and Poetry of Steve Richmond

Steve Richmond, along with friend and mentor Charles Bukowski, dominated the outlaw post mimeo revolution poetry scene of the 1970s and 1980s. He was a friend of the iconic rock star Jim Morrison, who was also a poet. Fiercely independent and poised against the academic literary establishment—what critic Ben Pleasants called the “poetry mafia”—Richmond invented a poetical style influenced by Japanese Shinto court music known as “Gagaku.” Driven by inner demons and fueled by drugs he produced thousands of poems over a thirty year period prior to his death in 2009. Gagaku Reader, the Life and Poetry of Steve Richmond is a selection of his best work.