Michael McClure, "the young poet recruited to put together the famed Six Gallery readings in 1955 that launched the San Francisco Renaissance and the legend of the Beats," died May 4, the Chronicle reported. He was 87. His first public reading, at 22, "was overshadowed by the introduction of Howl by Allen Ginsberg," but McClure's career ultimately spanned more than 60 years, during which he published over 30 books of poetry, plays and anthologies, most recently Persian Pony and Mephistos and other Poems.
"Michael was incredibly gracious, erudite, and totally dedicated to the poet's calling," said Elaine Katzenberger, publisher and CEO of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers, which published some of McClure's works, beginning in 1963 with Meat Science Essays. "He was a sometimes-trickster, most definitely a provocateur, and yet, quite solicitous and patient, a sage who was beautiful inside and out."
McClure read at the Human Be-In at Golden Gate Park that launched the Summer of Love in 1967 and at the Band's "Last Waltz" at Winterland in 1976. He also wrote songs, most famously "Mercedes-Benz," which he co-wrote for Janis Joplin. Actor Dennis Hopper once said: "Without the roar of McClure, there would have been no '60s."
Garrett Caples, a close friend and editor at City Lights, observed: "Michael was one of the most significant American poets of the latter half of the 20th century. He had a place in popular culture in addition to literary culture that not many poets have been able to occupy."
For 43 years, McClure was a professor of poetry at California College of the Arts, where in 2005 he was bestowed an honorary doctorate degree as the longest-tenured faculty member at the art college. Juvenal Acosta, dean of Humanities and Sciences and professor of writing and literature at CCA, told the Chronicle in 2018: "There is no way that you can read a poem by Michael McClure without experiencing some kind of connection with something primal and cosmic. He has changed the way we speak and read American poetry."
His other books include Mysteriosos and Other Poems; Rain Mirror; Simple Eyes & Other Poems; Rebel Lions; Ghost Tantras; Of Indigo and Saffron: New and Selected Poems; Passage; and the nonfiction work, Scratching the Surface of the Beats.
"Michael was the youngest of the poets that became known as the Beats," Ferlinghetti told the Chronicle three years ago. "He was not only the youngest, he was completely different than anyone else. He spoke in beast language."