Charles Plymell (born April 26, 1935, in

Holcomb, Kansas Holcomb is a city in Finney County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,245. History Holcomb took its name from a local hog farmer. The city was a station and shipping point on the Atchison, Topeka ...

) is a poet, novelist, and small press publisher. Plymell has been published widely, collaborated with, and published many poets, writers, and artists, including principals of the

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generatio ...

. He has published, printed, and designed many underground magazines and books with his wife Pamela Beach, a namesake in

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

publishing. He published former prisoner Ray Bremser and

Herbert Huncke Herbert Edwin Huncke (January 9, 1915 – August 8, 1996) was an American writer and poet, and an active participant in a number of emerging cultural, social and aesthetic movements of the 20th century in America. He was a member of the Beat ...

, whom he identified with from the hipster 1950s. He was influential in the

underground comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

scene, first printing ''

Zap Comix ''Zap Comix'' is an underground comix series which was originally part of the youth counterculture of the late 1960s. While a few small-circulation self-published satirical comic books had been printed prior to this, ''Zap'' became the model for ...

'' artists such as

Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American cartoonist and musician who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contem ...

and

S. Clay Wilson Steve Clay Wilson (July 25, 1941 – February 7, 2021) was an American underground cartoonist and central figure in the underground comix movement. Wilson attracted attention from readers with aggressively violent and sexually explicit panoramas ...

, whom he first published in

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70, between the Kansas River, Kansas and Waka ...

. Plymell received a citation for being a distinguished poet by Governor

Joan Finney Joan Marie Finney (née McInroy; February 12, 1925 – July 28, 2001) was an American politician who served as the 42nd governor of Kansas from 1991 to 1995. Prior to her tenure as governor, Finney served four terms as the Kansas state treasurer ...

of Kansas and was cited in the 1976 ''

World Book Encyclopedia The ''World Book Encyclopedia'' is an American encyclopedia. The encyclopedia is designed to cover major areas of knowledge uniformly, but it shows particular strength in scientific, technical, historical and medical subjects. ''World Book'' wa ...

'' as a most promising poet.

Biography

Charley Douglass Plymell was born in Finney County, Kansas during the worst dust storms of that time. He was born in a converted chicken coop near Holcomb. His grandfather, Charley Plymell, was deeded a homestead in

Apache The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...

Palo lands by

President Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in America ...

. The stage line began in Plymell, a few miles south of Garden City where now stands the Plymell Union Church and Pierceville-Plymell Elementary school. Like many, his face was covered by wet rags as his mother went out to shoot jackrabbits and gather cacti for meals. His father and mother were later divorced, and his father bought a home for Charles and his sisters so they could attend school in Wichita while his father traveled. In Wichita in the 1950s Plymell dropped out of his first year at North High School, lied about his age, traveled the western states in a new car his father bought him, working on pipelines, dams, factories and riding bareback broncs and Brahma bulls in rodeos. Returning to Wichita he became a hipster, taking

peyote The peyote (; ''Lophophora williamsii'' ) is a small, spineless cactus which contains psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline. ''Peyote'' is a Spanish word derived from the Nahuatl (), meaning "caterpillar cocoon", from a root , "to gl ...

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

, and

benzedrine Amphetamine (contracted from alpha- methylphenethylamine) is a strong central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, and obesity. It is also commonly used a ...

, the drugs of the day. He listened to jazz, R&B, and “

Race music African-American music is an umbrella term covering a diverse range of music and musical genres largely developed by African Americans and their culture. Their origins are in musical forms that first came to be due to the condition of slaver ...

” across the tracks in Wichita. He worked at factories and took courses at

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

credited him with creating the "Wichita Vortex." Plymell's Vortex in his own words does not relate to Ginsberg's "

Wichita Vortex Sutra "Wichita Vortex Sutra" is an anti-war poem by Allen Ginsberg, written in 1966. It appears in his collection '' Planet News'' and has also been published in ''Collected Poems 1947-1995'' and ''Collected Poems 1947-1980''. The poem presents Ginsberg ...

" but took place west of Wichita near the center of the U.S. at Space Needle Crossing in the Chalk Pyramids. His Vortex is spiritual/mythical and based on when he heard the Voice of the Game Lord, which he later authenticated through his mentor and influence,

Loren Eiseley Loren Eiseley (September 3, 1907 – July 9, 1977) was an American anthropologist, educator, philosopher, and natural science writer, who taught and published books from the 1950s through the 1970s. He received many honorary degrees and was a fel ...

. His other influences included

Hart Crane Harold Hart Crane (July 21, 1899 – April 27, 1932) was an American poet. Provoked and inspired by T. S. Eliot, Crane wrote modernist poetry that was difficult, highly stylized, and ambitious in its scope. In his most ambitious work, '' The Brid ...

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

, Robert Ronnie Branaman, and

Samuel Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poe ...

. He did not meet

the Beats The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generation ...

until 1963 when associated with Ginsberg,

Neal Cassady Neal Leon Cassady (February 8, 1926 – February 4, 1968) was a major figure of the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the psychedelic and counterculture movements of the 1960s. He was prominently featured as himself in the "scroll" (first d ...

, and

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

. His Vortex is written about in his Tent Shaker Vortex Voice. Before that he considered himself a hipster and outsider. Plymell moved to a quiet Russian neighborhood in 1962 at the corner of Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco. After the neighborhood filled with hippies and was taken over, Plymell moved to a famous flat, 1403 Gough Street. It was there at Plymell's LSD party that the Beats met the Hippies. Promptly Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady moved in with him where Plymell played

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

to Ginsberg for the first time. It was during that time Plymell made two films that were shown at the

Ann Arbor Film Festival The Ann Arbor Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Ann Arbor in the U.S. state of Michigan. Established in 1963, it is the fourth-oldest film festival in North America (after the Yorkton Film Festival, 1947; Columbus International Film ...

and his collages, which opened at the "Batman Gallery" where fellow Wichitans Bob Branaman and

Bruce Conner Bruce Conner (November 18, 1933 – July 7, 2008) was an American artist who worked with assemblage, film, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, and photography. Biography Bruce Conner was born November 18, 1933 in McPherson, Kansas.His well- ...

had shown. Plymell's show sold out except for a few pieces that ended up in Australia. Billy "Batman" Jahrmarkt gave Plymell his classic 1951 MGTD.Plymell, Charles. ''Kansa, Land of the Wind People''. His work ''Robert Ronnie Branaman'', published in 1964, is credited with being an early example of

. Kennedy, Jay. ''The Official Underground and Newave Comix Price Guide''. Boatner Norton Press, 1982. Recently Plymell's book ''Benzedrine Highway'' was published by

Norton Records Norton Records, is an independent record label founded by musicians Miriam Linna and Billy Miller in 1986. The label concentrates on rock, rockabilly, primitive music, punk, garage rock and early rhythm and blues.Mike Watt Michael David Watt (born December 20, 1957) is an American bassist, vocalist and songwriter. Watt co-founded and played bass guitar for the rock bands Minutemen (1980–1985), Dos (1985–present), and Firehose (1986–1994). He began a solo ...

& Sam Dook (U.K.) They recently featured one of his songs on their CUZ tour. He has also written songs for Clubberlanggang, and is working on a book with his poems for

and Bob Branaman put to

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

Bloodshot Bill Bloodshot may refer to: Music * Bloodshot (The J. Geils Band album), ''Bloodshot'' (The J. Geils Band album) (1973) * Bloodshot (Choir album), ''Bloodshot'' (Choir album) (2018) *Bloodshot (song), "Bloodshot" (song), a 2019 song by Dove Cameron * ...

of Norton Records. Plymell holds an M.A. Degree in Arts and Sciences from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

, 1970.

Books

*''Apocalypse Rose'',

Auerhahn Press {{Unreferenced, date=September 2012 Founded by printer-poet Dave Haselwood in 1958, the Auerhahn Press published many key poets of the San Francisco Renaissance. Stated in advertisements appearing in '' Evergreen Review'', ''Poetry'', ''City Lights ...

, 1967 *''Neon Poems'', Atom Mind Publications, 1970 *''The Last of the Moccasins'',

City Lights Books City Lights is an independent bookstore-publisher combination in San Francisco, California, that specializes in world literature, the arts, and progressive politics. It also houses the nonprofit City Lights Foundation, which publishes selected tit ...

, 1971; Mother Road Publications, 1996 *''The Trashing of America Phase 1'', Tuvoti, 1973 *''Over the Stage of Kansas'', Telephone Books, 1973 *''The Trashing of America'', Kulchur Foundation, 1975 *''Blue Orchid Numero Uno'', Telephone Books, 1977 *''Are you a Kid?'',

Cherry Valley Editions A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The nam ...

, 1977 *''Moccasins Ein Be*''Cut Here'', at-Kaleidoskop'', Europaverlag, 1980 *''Panik in Dodge City'', Expanded Media Editions, 1983 *''The Harder They Come'', Am Here Books 1985 *''Forever Wider, 1954–1984'', Scarecrow Press, 1985 *''Was Poe Afraid?'', Bogg Publications, 1990. *''journals of Lysidia'', Synesthesia Press, 1999 *''Reefer Madness in the Age of Apostasy'', Butcher Shop Press 2000. *''Hand on the Doorknob'', Water Row Books, 2000 *''in Memory of My Father'', Cherry Valley Editions, 2003 *''Cut Here'', 12 Gauge Press, 2002 *''Song for Neal Cassady'', 12 Gauge Press, 2002 *''Bennies From Heaven'', 12 Gauge Press, 2002 *''Rabid Ronnie Rap Back Jive Kansas, 1955'', 12 Gauge Press, 2002 *''Some Mothers' Sons'', Cherry Valley Editions, 2004 *''Neal and Anne on Gough Street'', The Beat Scene Press, 2007 *''News'', Glass Eye Books, 2007 *''Beginning Millenium: No More Vinyl Bush War'', Glass Eye Books, 2008 *''The Lost Poems of Charley Plymell'', M Press, 2010 *''Eat Not Thy Mind'', Eye Books Ecstatic Peace Library, 2010 *''Curricula Me Vita'', Glass Eye Books/Ecstatic Peace/Cherry Valley Editions 2011 *''Animal Light'', Verlag Peter Engstler, 2012 *''Tent Shaker Vortex Voice'',

Bottle of Smoke Press A bottle is a narrow-necked container made of an impermeable material (such as glass, plastic or aluminium) in various shapes and sizes that stores and transports liquids. Its mouth, at the bottling line, can be sealed with an internal stopp ...

, 2012 *''Benzedrine Highway'', Kicks Books, 2013 *''Planet Chernobyl'', Verlag Peter Engstler, 2015 *''Apocalypse Rose'', Lenka Lente, 2015 *''Incognito, Ergo Sum'', Ragged Lion Press, 2016

Discography

*''Rod McKuen Reads in Memory of My Father'',

, Vinyl, 1978. *''Man Overboard'', Charles Plymell (Voice), The Clubber Lang Gang, CD, 2012. *''Blackbird'' by Andrea Schroeder, "Bebop Blues",

Glitterhouse Records Glitterhouse Records is a German independent record label and mail order company based in Beverungen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It was founded in the mid-1980s. From the late 1980s until the mid-1990s it was the European branch of the American la ...

, Berlin, 2012 *''Where The Wild Oceans End'' by Andrea Schroeder, "The Rattlesnake", Glitterhouse Records, Berlin, 2014 *''Tamatebako'' by CUZ, "Sand and Bones", bleeding heart recordings, UK, 2014. *''Cuz'', Mike Watt & Sam Dook, Bad Veronica, Charles Plymell (Voice), UK, 2015. *''Animal Light'', Charles Plymell (Voice), Verlag Peter Engstler, CD, 2015 *''Planet Chernobyl'', Charles Plymell (Voice), Verlag Peter Engstler, Germany, CD, 2015 *''Void'' by Andrea Schroeder, "Was Poe Afraid?" Glitterhouse Records, Berlin, 2016 *''Apocalypse Rose'', poem bilingual text; music CD by

Bill Nace Bill Nace is an American experimental guitarist from New Jersey. Nace has collaborated with Joe McPhee, Steve Gunn, Thurston Moore, Yoko Ono, Okkyung Lee, and Kim Gordon. With Gordon, Nace is part of the experimental electric guitar duo Body/Hea ...

, Lenka Lente, Nantes, France, 2016. *''Bloodshot Bill Sings Charles Plymell'', Feeding Tube Records and

, 2017. *''Apocalypse Rose'', Charles Plymell (Voice), Bill Nace (music), openmouthrecords, 2017

Anthologies

*''Mark in Time'', New Glide Publications, San Francisco, CA, 1971. *''And The Roses Race Around Her Name'', Stonehill, NYC, 1975. *''Turpentin on the Rocks'', Maro Verlag, Augsburg, W. Germany, 1978. *''A Quois Bon'', Le Soleil Noir, Paris, France, 1978. *''Planet Detroit'', Anthology of Urban Poetry, Detroit, MI, 1983. *''Second Coming Anthology'', Second Coming Press, San Francisco, CA, 1984. *''The World'', Crown Publishers, 1991. *''Editors' Choice III'', The Spirit That Moves Us, New York, 1992. *''The Age of Koestler'', The Spirit of the Wind Press, Kalamazoo, MI, 1990. *''Found & Lost Magascene'', Vol. 1 / No. 0 & 1 ontributor Back Room/Temple of Man, 2010

References

External links

Cherry Valley Edition Website
* ttp://www.vlib.us/beats/charlesplymellmoccasins.html Charley Plymell, from Last of the Moccasins, Vortex excerptbr>Charles Plymell Collection, Wichita State University Libraries
*Two Charles Plymell collections
MS 137
in Special Collections an
RH MS P760
in the Kansas Collection) are housed at th
Kenneth Spencer Research Library
University of Kansas
Wichita Vortex
KTPS, Documentary, 26 February 2016
Beat Generation Poets & Artists, City Lights bookstore, August 1963, San Francisco; Photograph by Charley Plymell
includes Pat Cassidy, Philip Whalen, Robert Branaman, Alan Russo, Ann Buchanan, Bob Kaufman, Allen Ginsberg, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Interviews

An outsider’s inside history of the Beat Generation, as told by Charles Plymell
by Catfish McDaris
Charles Plymell : The Benzedrine Highway by Paul HawkinsBenzedrine Highway revised especially for RealityStudio
the interview now contains additional material about Plymell and William S. Burroughs by Paul Hawkins * {{DEFAULTSORT:Plymell, Charles Living people American male poets American publishers (people) Beat Generation writers 1935 births People from Finney County, Kansas