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Background of Soup.
When attempting to understand the influences and experiences that became the basis for the literary magazine Soup, it is important to look at the individual contributors and their experiences with such literary scenes and groups, especially that of Steve Abbott, the mind behind the magazine. Before moving to San Francisco and developing the foundations for what would eventually become the Soup magazine, Abbott was involved with one of Atlanta’s most popular underground newspapers in the early 1970s titled The Great Speckled Bird, as he was completing his graduate studies at Emory University. The newspaper functioned as that of a regular newspaper, but using its platform to shed light on issues that often go neglected and overlooked, tackling feminism, the wealth gap between the poor and the wealthy, racism topics, and LGBTQ+ liberation. Throughout Abbott’s time with each of these literary scenes, The Great Speckled Bird, the “New Narrative”, and Soup, one aspect that remained persistent appears to be his subject matter and what he ultimately aimed to talk about, using this opportunity to touch on subjects that he passionately felt and acted on. After moving to San Francisco, Abbott finds himself amongst a new generation of writers and poets from the Bay Area that were inspirations from their predecessor the New York School of poets and painters, emerging with political, personal, and emotional modes in their writing.
Soup and "New Narrative",
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Adopting qualities from The Great Speckled Bird, the “New Narrative” was formed with a group of these Bay Area poets, out of the Small Press Traffic bookstore in 1980 after several readings and poetry showcases. The group emerged as a mode of writing that was language conscious, the question of if language can be self aware in the generation of new forces being woven throughout the group’s work, asked and answered. The group arose out of specific social and political concerns of a variety of communities in society, which spearheaded the relational yet still provides room for the community to have a voice and critique through literary devices that open up traditional narrative writing. This set apart the “New Narrative” from the New York School, the fact that they were able to encapsulate their poetry and visual art combination from the New York School and completely embrace it to make it their own, while venturing into a space in which that could thrive amongst the political and activism spectrum, something that the New York School chose not to do. Abbott struggled with being a theory-based writer and representing his experiences as a gay man yet chose to write about this personal struggle that are displayed in works from the “New Narrative”, and eventually in Soup. Soup as a magazine is the most important when analyzing this timeline and generation in the San Francisco Area during this time. The magazine was where the “New Narrative” first found its definition, containing a range of important published works from friends and collaborators that were part of the “New Narrative” from different corners of different communities, including Kathy Acker, Bruce Boone, Robert Gluck, Ron Silliman, etc. and much more. Soup gathered together the first of the writings from the “New Narrative” to comprise most of the magazine’s issues. The similarities between the three works that Abbott spearheaded are glaringly evident as with each one, he becomes more and more passionate and comfortable merging together theory-based writing with personal and societal issues that he felt needed to be talked about in the literary scene. As a tireless community builder, he worked to bring communities together through the “New Narrative” and advocated for gay rights, political stances, etc. through different benefits and panel discussions. Abbot once wrote, “The writer/artist becomes exposed and vulnerable: you risk being foolish, mean-spirited, wrong. But if the writer's life is more open to judgment and speculation, so is the reader's."
Graphic from Soup #2
Graphic from Soup #1
Soup #1 - 1980
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Alphabet Soup - Jon Jackoway [3]
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Fixel Flight Patterns - Lawrence Fixel [3-4]
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History & Romance - Duncan McNaughton [5]
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The Mind Will Accept Anything - Duncan McNaughton [7]
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Scheherezade - Duncan McNaughton [8]
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“Cap of Monomach” - Duncan McNaughton [9]
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Holiday - Thom Gunn [10]
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On Being A Witness - Joyce Jenkins [11]
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Now - Joyce Jenkins [11]
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untitled - Maureen Owen [12]
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A Train Story - Maureen Owen [12-13]
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Waiting For Release - Sukey Durham [14]
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What She Said - Sukey Durham [15]
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The Black Christ - John Grube [15]
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Like Child’s Play - Cheri Fein [16]
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Her Still Face - Cheri Fein [17]
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Two from One ( a series ) - Diane DiPrima [18-19]
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Conversions/Winter Solstice - Aaron Shurin [20]
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Rhumba: Giving Up The Ghost - Aaron Shurin [21]
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Matrix- Aaron Shurin [22]
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Accepting Spring - Karen Brodine [23]
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They Outlawed Touch - Karen Brodine [25]
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All of Us With Twins In Sleep - Karen Brodine [26-28]
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A Dream Called The House of Jews' - Michael Palmer [29]
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To Robert E. Symmes - Michael Palmer [29]
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For A Gift Of Resemblances - Michael Palmer [29]
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Interview/Workshop - Robert Duncan [30-57, 79]
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Tricky Cad (cartoon collage) - Jess Collins [58-59]
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Fifty-One - Ruth Weiss [60]
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Altar-Piece - Ruth Weiss [61-62]
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Period Piece, Finial For A Spire - Ronald Johnson [62]
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Somebody Who Is Hooked On The Color Red - Kathleen Fraser [63]
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This. Notes. New Year. - Kathleen Fraser [64-65]
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The Collingwood Wood Wagon (cartoon) - S. Clay Wilson [66-68]
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Learning to Write/Yeats - Robert Gluck [69]
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/ Jr. High School - Robert Gluck [70]
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/ Henri Clouzot - Robert Gluck [71-72]
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/ Zero Degree - Robert Gluck [72-73]
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What Cracked The Mirrors - Norman Finkelstein [73]
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The Tenderness of Wolves - Dennis Cooper [74-78]
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Hit By A Space Station - Steve Abbott [34]
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Elegy - Steve Abbott [80]
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To Myself - Steve Benson [81-83]
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Et Cetera - Meyer Hirsch [84-85]
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Documentary - Lyn Hejinian [86-87]
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Not That Car - Lyn Hejinian [88]
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Seven - Lyn Hejinian [89]
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Eclipse - - Chandra Granha - Ira Cohen [89]
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Interlude for Kali - Ira Cohen [90]
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Musical Space - David Moe [91]
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Ghost of State - David Moe [92]
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Notebook Poems - Jack Kerouac [94-96]
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After Sappho - Anne Waldman [97]
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Sex & Intrigue - Anne Waldman [97-98]
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The Little Sea Maid - Rochelle Ratner [99-101]
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Nets - Michael Karl (Richie) [102]
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Memoirs Of A Syphiltic French Artist, Male - Shirley Garzotto [103-108]
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Wanda - Alan R. Dowie [108]
Photos/Graphics
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Ginny Lloyd - [Inside front cover, 6, 18]
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Tommi Trantino - [7]
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Lew Tomas - [10, 24, 69]
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Jess Collins [30, 53, 55]
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Harry Jacobus - [47]
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Ken Weichel - [74, 76, 77]
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Robert Pruzan - [92]
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Kush - [93]
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Alysia Abbott - [101]
Table Of Contents
Soup #2 - 1981
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Soup Intro – Steve Abbott [1]
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Language Writing The Pluses & Minuses of New Formalism – Bruce Boone [2-9]
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China – Bob Perlman [3]
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Kerr-McGee Victor Enola Karen Gay Silkwood – Gil Ott [8]
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Ole Black Emelda — Luisah Teish [12]
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Hey Muse — James Arnold [13]
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Dedicated to Eddy Haskell — James Arnold [13]
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To a Composer of Hip Necklaces — James Arnold [13]
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the middle ages, poem — Peter Cashorali [13]
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Toxic Shlock Interview — Sara Lee Woods, Sylvan Woods, Twinkee [14-15]
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Secrets — Elaine Equi [16]
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Mr. Innocence — Elaine Equi [16]
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First Days of Life — Kathy Acker [20-22]
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First Person, Third Person Notes — Shirley Garzotto [22-23]
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Letter-Poem — Virginia E. Smith [23]
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Spirits of Clay — Julia Vose [24-29]
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Considering How Exaggerated the Music – Leslie Scalapino [28-31]
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Boston Tea Party — Maurice Kenny [32-33]
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Dream Poem Which Proves the Possibility Of Being In Three Places at Once – Ronnie Burk [34]
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Children Of The Night — Pancho Aquila [35]
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From Elements of a Coffee Service — Robert Gluck [36-40]
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Parallel Views — Aaron Shurin [37-45]
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Modes of Autobiography — Ron Silliman [41-45]
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Chez Nous — Gloria Frym [46]
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Reduced Cahoots — Gloria Frym [46]
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You Will be Identified by the Company you Keep — Lynn Lonidier [47]
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Faithful to the Text — Lynn Lonidier [47]
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“... What Gertrude Stein was to the 1920s…” — Lynn Lonidier [47]
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Disco Chinatown — Yuri Kageyama [48-49]
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With the proliferation of advanced weaponry, nuclear war becomes an increasing statistical probability — John Curl [49]
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Faulkner — David L. Fisher [50]
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Stalingrad — A.J. Wright [50]
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I don’t want to read — Tom Beckett [51]
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Desire — Artful Goodtimes [51]
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Sardines — Artful Goodtimes [51]
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False Apocalypse — David Trinidad [52]
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Text Photos (8) — Ginny Lloyd [53]
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Biographs [56]
Photos and Graphics
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Disorientation — Richard Irwin/Jack Gray [9-11]
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Text Photos — Bill Sigfried [17]
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Text Photos (2) — Bill Sigfried [18]
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Text Photos (3) — Bill Sigfried [18]
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Text Photos (4) — Bill Sigfried [19]
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Text Photos (5) — Bill Sigfried [19]
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Empty Words — Dave Morice [26]
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Text Photos (6) — Dave Morice [27]
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Text Drawings — Wendy Rose [32-33]
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Text Photos (7) — Michael Bry [35]
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Text Drawings (2) — Dave Maurice [47]
Soup #3 - 1983
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Introduction - Steve Abbott [2]
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Homer (Trans: Nanos Valaoritis) - A/Iliad [3]
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Homer (Trans: Nanos Valaoritis) - Omega/Iliad [4]
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Homer (Trans: Nanos Valaoritis) - Chi/Odyssey [4]
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Homer (Trans: Nanos Valaoritis) - Omega/Odyssey [5]
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Sappho (Trans: Tom Meyer) - Edmonds 1 [6]
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Sappho (Trans: Tom Meyer - Edmonds 30 [6]
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Sappho (Trans: Tom Meyer) - Edmonds 42 [6]
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Sappho (Trans: Tom Meyer) - Edmonds 82 [7]
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Sappho (Trans: Tom Meyer) - Edmonds 145 [7]
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Sappho (Trans: Tom Meyer) - Edmonds 118 [7]
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Sappho (Trans: Stephen Rodefer) - Sappho [7]
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Aeschylus (Trans: Michael McClure) - Coyote in Chains [8]
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Catullus (Trans: Harold Norse) - 14 [12]
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Catullus (Trans: Harold Norse) - 73 [12]
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Catullus (Trans: Geoffrey Cook) - #32 [12]
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Catullus (Trans: Geoffrey Cook) - #73 [12]
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Catullus (Trans: Ron Padgett) - XXXII [13]
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Catullus (Trans: Ron Padgett) - 32 [13]
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Ron Padgett - Translating Catullus [13]
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La Fontaine (Trans: Bruce Boone, Robert Gluck) - Essay [15]
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La Fontaine (Trans: Bruce Boone, Robert Gluck) - Husband, Wife, Thief [15]
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La Fontaine (Trans: Bruce Boone, Robert Gluck) - Wonders in Aesop’s Life [16]
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La Fontaine (Trans: Bruce Boone, Robert Gluck) - Essay [16]
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Photographic Translations - Ginny Lloyd [17,48]
Stephen Spera [24]
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Rimbaud (Trans: Carl Grunberg) - Metropolitan [18]
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Rimbaud (Trans: Carl Grunberg) - Genius [19]
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Rimbaud (Trans: Felice Picano) - Side Show [19]
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Crevel (Trans: David Rattray) - La Mort Difficile [20]
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Laure (Colette Peignot) (Trans: Kathy Acker) - The Diaries [31]
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Rilke (Trans: Jack Marshall) - Rilke’s Duino Elegies [35]
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Rilke (Trans: Stephen Rodefer) - Rilke’s Sixth Elegy [37]
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Rilke (Trans: Jack Marshall) - Eighth Elegy [38]
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Rilke (Trans: David Fisher) - Where The Last Huts Are [39]
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Muhsam (Trans: Christopher Winks) - “The Artist in the Future State” [40]
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Brecht (Trans: Fred Pietarinen) - Who’ll Teach the Teacher? [45]
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Brecht (Trans: Fred Pietarinen) - Unhappy Event [45]
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Brecht (Trans: Fred Pietarinen) - Teacher, Learn! [45]
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Enzensberger (Trans: Fred Pietarinen) - Middle Class Blues [46]
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Mandelson (Trans: Barbara Einzig) - Untitled [47]
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Mandelson (Trans: Barbara Einzig) - Translation’s Skin (while translating Khlebnikov) [47]
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New Mexican, Cuban & South American Writing Introduction - Francisco X. Alarcon, guest editor [50]
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Cortazar (Trans: Stephen Kessler) -“Bottle in the Sea” [51]
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Alegria (Trans: Stephen Kessler) - “The Goose Step” [53]
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Portal (Trans: Allan Francovich, Kathleen Weaver) - The Command [56]
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Morejan (Trans: Kathleen Weaver) - The Supper [57]
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Morejan (Trans: Kathleen Weaver) - Untitled Poem [57]
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Morejan (Trans: Kathleen Weaver) - An Oakland Apple Tree [58]
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Storni (Trans: Barbara Paschke, David Volpendesta) - The Other Friend [58]
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Storni (Trans: Barbara Paschke, David Volpendesta) - Ancestral Weight [58]
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Storni (Trans: Barbara Paschke, David Volpendesta) - You Want Me White [59]
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Storni (Trans: Barbara Paschke, David Volpendesta) - Words To My Mother [59]
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7 New Cuban Poets; Crespo (Trans: Fransico Alarcon) - “Help, I Need A Body” [60]
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7 New Cuban Poets; Alfonso (Trans: Fransico Alarcon) - A Midday’s Report [60]
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7 New Cuban Poets; Larrea (Trans: Fransico Alarcon) - Summary According to Auden [61]
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7 New Cuban Poets; Serret (Trans: Fransico Alarcon) - If God Exists [61]
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7 New Cuban Poets; Andres(Trans: Fransico Alarcon) - If I Were ToTell My Friends [61]
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7 New Cuban Poets; Bobes (Trans: Fransico Alarcon) - Private Elegy [61]
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7 New Cuban Poets; Lima (Trans: Fransico Alarcon) - New Testament [62]
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5 New Mexican Poets; Vargas (Trans: Michael Koch) - 1968 [62]
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5 New Mexican Poets; Macias (Trans: Michael Koch) - Macias [63]
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5 New Mexican Poets; Banuelos (Trans: Michael Koch) - Banuelos 1 [63]
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5 New Mexican Poets; Banuelos (Trans: Michael Koch) - Banuelos 2 [63]
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5 New Mexican Poets; Langagne (Trans: Michael Koch) - Ballad [64]
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5 New Mexican Poets; Castillo (Trans: Michael Koch) - Auto-Goal [64]
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3 Mexican Prison Poets; Remigio (Trans: Michael Koch) - I Have No Regrets [64]
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3 Mexican Prison Poets; Remigio (Trans: Michael Koch) - Insomnia [64]
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3 Mexican Prison Poets; Torre (Trans: Francisco Alarcon) - I Am Your Enemy [65]
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3 Mexican Prison Poets; Torre (Trans: Francisco Alarcon)) - From The Inside [65]
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3 Mexican Prison Poets; Torre (Trans: Francisco Alarcon) - To Lecumberri [65]
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3 Mexican Prison Poets; Torre (Trans: Francisco Alarcon) - Farewell II [66]
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3 Mexican Prison Poets; Torre (Trans: Francisco Alarcon) - An Explication [66]
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3 Mexican Prison Poets; Torre (Trans: Francisco Alarcon) - Narcissist [66]
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3 Mexican Prison Poets; Torre (Trans: Francisco Alarcon) - Dreamer [66]
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3 Mexican Prison Poets; Meneses (Trans: Michael Koch) - Meneses [66]
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Mexican, Cuban, Latin American bio’s [68]
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Translator bio’s [70]
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Cardenal (Trans: Juan Felipe Herrera) - In Managua At Midnight [back cover]
Soup Onodo Contributor Visualization
The community behind Soup extends into a map of interconnected artists, writers, and poets. This Onodo visualization helps construct the web of collaboration that went in to producing these little magazines. In this visualization the blue dots represent writers that submitted work to the magazine while the yellow dots represent the translators that also worked to create Soup #3.
Selected Works, Soup #1: "The Black Christ"
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"The Black Christ" by John Grube is representative of Soup #1 both for what it is and what it says. The priest covered in black shoe polish is, in a sense, the magazine, Soup. Soup is “social dynamite.” Soup #1 meant to take something common-place and mundane, a magazine, and make it revolutionary, just like is done in this poem. Abbott explains in the introduction how he could not find a magazine that “stress[es] history, ideas, [and] politics”(Abbott 5). Therefore, he created Soup to satisfy this need. The story told in "The Black Christ" is symbolic of the creation of Soup, and its content. Abbott and the creators caused a riot.
Selected Works, Soup #2: "Dedicated to Eddy Haskell"
Soup 2 focuses primarily on fighting back with words and language. The contributors are outspoken about their negative feelings towards inequality in America, and the enabling nature of war. In the introduction, Abbott describes this as “New Narrative” writing which he says, “arises out of specific social and political concerns of specific communities”(Abbott 5). This is seen in James Arnold’s "Dedicated to Eddy Haskell", which is a direct criticism of the lies and false realities that are fed to Americans. It discusses how people are expected to remain complacent and even proud of their country despite the hardships that plague society. Racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, and war are all rampant, but people must act as though everything is picturesque. The entirety of Soup #2 pushes back against this standard. This poem calls awareness to the conditions and announces that they see through the indoctrination.
Selected Work
Soup #3:
"Sappho 31"
Translated by Stephen Rodefer
Although it was written in the mid-600s B.C., this poem is powerful, relevant, and surprisingly representative of the gay rights movement of 80s. Sappho passionately writes about her love for another woman, but she is guarded and nuanced. As Abbott notes, “‘Forbidden sexual orientations may thus usher in a new grammar of writing as well as of being'”(Abbott 2). Sappho is not explicit in her love but rather her jealousy and anger towards the woman’s male lover. Sappho could not confess her love to this woman which is how many LGBTQ+ individuals in the 1980s had to live, even in a liberal, queer community in San Francisco. Sappho explains the physical and emotional agony this can cause. First, she exclaims, “It tears me to see”, and then later explains how she physically cannot speak and is dying. Being unable to be yourself or love who you want, is not living. By selecting this poem for Soup #3, the contributors are demonstrating how homophobia creates anguish and pain. Sappho discreetly explains this horrific sensation.
“Language's final assault against the status quo”
- from Comic Book Poem #16
by Steve Abbott, Soup #2
Works
Cited
1 /
Beautiful Aliens: A Steve Abbott Reader by Steve Abbott pg. 12-23. Accessed March 1, 2022.
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2 /
“Long Note on New Narrative”, by Robert Gluck https://www.sfsu.edu/~newlit/narrativity/issue_one/gluck.html