GINSBERG, Allen. Plutonian Ode. [Boulder, CO: Renaissance Press.] 1978.
Original yellow card folder containing four loose sheets, titled in black to the front cover in mock-calligraphic style, printed to rectos only; ff. [4]; fine.
The true first edition, first printing of Ginsberg's anti-nuclear poem; signed and dated by the author in 1978, with a holograph emendation establishing the accepted reading of a key line in the text.
Printed in an edition of 400 copies, Plutonian Ode was distributed free of charge on 3 August 1978 in conjunction with protests against the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant near Denver, Colorado. Ginsberg composed the poem on the eve of the demonstration, during which he joined protesters occupying railway tracks used for the transport of nuclear materials. Combining political protest, Buddhist meditation, and prophetic lament, the poem stands among the most important achievements of his later career.
Issued for the demonstration itself, this edition precedes the City Lights publication by four years. The present copy is signed and dated by Ginsberg to the verso of the folder and bears his correction in black ink to the second leaf, altering the line from ‘I vocalize you consciousness’ to ‘I vocalize your consciousness’. The emendation establishes the reading subsequently adopted in later printings and editions.
Morgan A40.
SKU: 2121554