Kenneth Patchen: An Art of Engagement

Text: "I am the world-crier, and this is my dangerous career…I am the one to call your bluff, and this is my climate," so declares rebel-poet Kenneth Patchen, and few would doubt the engaged stance of his bold art. The author of 38 books of daring poetry, fiction, and art, Patchen is widely praised as a creative genius and maverick. The film shows his evolution from his working-class roots in Ohio's industrial Mahoning River Valley of the 1920's, and follows him and his beloved wife Miriam through their years in Greenwich Village and San Francisco. His is the provocative position of an engaged poet, fiction writer, artist, and jazzman.