Laura Ulewicz (May 18, 1930 – October 5, 2007) was an American poet.

Biography

Born in Detroit, Michigan to Polish-American auto workers with strong union ties, she lived in Chicago and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

before moving to San Francisco in 1950. There, she soon discovered the literary scene in North Beach, where she became friends with many of the area's Beat poets, including Allen Ginsberg,

Kenneth Rexroth Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth (1905–1982) was an American poet, translator, and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, and paved the groundwork for the movement. Although he did not consider h ...

, and Ruth Weiss. She was also in a significant long-term relationship with poet Jack Gilbert during the latter part of that time period. Ulewicz was a great influence on his early work; in fact much of his characteristic style for which he was later well-known came directly from her, and his acclaimed first book ''Views of Jeopardy'' was dedicated to her. Ulewicz refused to ever be branded a Beat herself. In 1955, at the height of media attention on North Beach and the Beats, she left for Seattle to study with Stanley Kunitz where her work took on a more formally structured approach. In 1960 she traveled in Europe, eventually moving to London where she met with THE GROUP at Edward Lucie-Smith's and joined with other members to give public readings of their work. She won the

Guinness Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in ove ...

Poetry Award at the Cheltenham Literature Festival in 1964. Her chapbook ''The Inheritance'' was published by Turret Press in 1967. In 1965, Ulewicz returned to live in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, the new Hippy neighborhood, where she opened and managed the I-Thou Coffee House. There, she organized

poetry readings A poetry reading is a public oral recitation or performance of poetry. Reading poetry aloud allows the reader to express their own experience through poetry, changing the poem according to their sensibilities. The reader uses pitch and stress, and ...

, art exhibits and folk concerts. Shortly after her return, a

Penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

editor wrote to propose a volume in which her work would be joined with Denise Levertov and Sylvia Plath. Six months later he wrote back to say that he could not get his fellow editors and marketing to support a book of three women poets. During the late 60s, she hosted a radio program on KQED-FM in which writers read and were interviewed. In 1968, while she continued to publish in magazines, she was the recipient of an NEA grant to "assist gifted but unrecognized writers".Stevens, Roger L
"National Endowment for the Arts Annual Fiscal Report 1968"
1969-01-15. Retrieved on 1020-02-09. Ulewicz withdrew to the delta town of Locke, California in 1973. Initially, she worked at a local tomato cannery, but was later employed with Child Protection Services in the county's Social Welfare Department. After retirement, she managed an

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

in Locke. Always an inveterate gardener, she raised various kinds of garlic and everlasting flowers to sell at farmers’ markets. During the last thirty years of her life, she continued to write but published little after 1975. She died on October 5, 2007, aged 77, after a short illness. The local community commemorated her in its memorial site. Stephen Vincent, poet, editor, and artist, is the executor of her literary estate.

References

External links

*
"Stephen Vincent's Blog, upon Laura's death"Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University
Laura Ulewicz papers, 1951-2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulewicz, Laura 1930 births 2007 deaths American women poets 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers Writers from Detroit Poets from Michigan Writers from San Francisco People from Sacramento County, California Poets from California 21st-century American poets 21st-century American women writers