Ruth Weiss, once called a "Beat Generation Goddess" by San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, "was a working poet for more than 70 years, still writing and reciting right up until her death" on July 31, the Chronicle reported. She was 92. Weiss "may not have invented what came to be known as 'jazz poetry,' but she is credited with introducing it to San Francisco, when she came west from Chicago, by way of New Orleans, in 1952 as the vanguard of the San Francisco Renaissance."
"Some people regard Ruth as the mother of the Beats," said Jack Hirschman, emeritus poet laureate of San Francisco. "She wrote in jazz rhythms and her work was fundamentally experimental. All the other poets had great respect for her."
The Chronicle noted that until the arrival of Diane di Prima in the late 1960s, Weiss "was often the only woman on the North Beach circuit, and she was the first Beat poet, man or woman, to read to the accompaniment of live jazz, according to Jerry Cimino, Beat historian and founder of the Beat Museum in North Beach."
"Jazz was the scene in the late 1940s and early '50s, so by combining her poetry with jazz, Ruth created a whole new performance art," he said. "When you see it with the drama and the force of the music, it brings (the poetry) to life.... Kerouac got all the credit, but the accepted understanding in San Francisco is that Ruth was performing her words to music even before Jack was doing it."
Steps, the first of her 20 books of poetry, was not released until 1958, and consisted of 50 mimeographed pages. She "was mostly self-published throughout her career and her name was always listed as ruth weiss, lower case, the way she preferred it," the Chronicle wrote. Her other works include Can't Stop the Beat: The Life and Words of a Beat Poet and Desert Journal.
Melody Miller, a close friend and director of the documentary film ruth weiss: the beat goddess (2019), recalled: "When I first saw her perform, I was stuck to my seat, mesmerized. I thought, 'Who is this woman with the teal hair and this tiara crown and dragon necklace, talking in this husky voice?' " Miller added: "Her poems are her children and her life's legacy, and that will continue her line. It is up to her fans to keep her legacy alive."