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A LITTER OF LISTS

by

ALEX GILDZEN

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A Litter of Lists by Alex Gildzen is a genre-defying collection of list-based poems and autobiographical fragments spanning over five decades. Drawing from journals, postcards, travel notes, and unpublished manuscripts, Gildzen transforms the act of listing into a poetic practice—cataloging meals, lovers, artists, encounters, and cultural touchstones that together form a vivid portrait of a life in art.

 

Rooted in the queer artistic underground of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the collection traces connections across literature, film, music, and personal history, with appearances by figures ranging from Allen Ginsberg and John Ashbery to Judy Garland and David Hockney. As noted in the introduction, Gildzen’s work demonstrates how “seemingly unrelated items assembled… can make art as well as careful history,” turning accumulation into meaning. 

 

Formally inventive and deeply intimate, A Litter of Lists blurs the boundaries between poetry, archive, and memoir—offering a singular exploration of memory, attention, and the art of preserving a life.

 

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ALEX GILDZEN has been part of the gay artistic underground since the mid-twentieth century. He danced at Stonewall with Jean-Claude van Itallie, was drawn by David Hockney, smoked pot with Allen Ginsberg, and shared a hash brownie with John Ashbery. He appears in the documentary Big Joy and in the diaries of Ned Rorem and the prose of Jonathan Williams, who also dedicated a chapbook to him. His poem about Jim Provenzano was translated into Greek by Dinos Christianopoulos. His papers are housed at Kent State University Libraries.

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"I salute his contribution of positive and clear creativity."

 

—GWENDOLYN BROOKS