''The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry'', edited by Alan Kaufman, is an anthology of American underground poets and fringe poetry from the 1950s to the 2000s."Bunker Down with a Good Book" by Meagan Black,

Arc Poetry Magazine ''Arc Poetry Magazine'' is a triannual literary magazine established in 1978, publishing poetry and prose about poetry. History ''Arc'' was started in 1978 by Carleton University professors Christopher Levenson, Michael Gnarowski and Tom Henigh ...

, Fall 2016, Issue 81, page 113. First published in 1999, the collection features work from several notable poets, including Jack Micheline, Patti Smith,

Harold Norse Harold Norse (July 6, 1916, New York City – June 8, 2009, San Francisco) was an American writer who created a body of work using the American idiom of everyday language and images. One of the expatriate artists of the Beat generation, Norse w ...

David Trinidad David Trinidad (born 1953 in Los Angeles, California) is an American poet. David Trinidad was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in the San Fernando Valley. He attended California State University, Northridge, where he studied poetry wi ...

, Tuli Kupferberg,

D.A. Levy D.A. Levy (October 29, 1942 – November 24, 1968), born Darryl Alfred Levey (later changed to Darryl Allen Levy), was an American poet, artist, and alternative publisher active during the 1960s, based in Cleveland, Ohio. Biography Levy wa ...

, Bob Kaufman,

Jim Chandler Jimmy Lee Chandler (July 19, 1941 - August 10, 2017) was a Southern poet (see Southern literature) and novelist from Tennessee. Chandler's poetry evolved from the post- beat generation through the underground scene. His 276-page poetry collection ...

, Jim Brodey,

Daniel Higgs Lungfish is an American rock band formed in 1987 in Baltimore, Maryland. All of their music has been released by the Washington, D.C. punk label Dischord, except for their first album. History As of 2005, Lungfish's lineup consisted of Daniel H ...

, ruth weiss,

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian a ...

, Bonny Finberg,

David Lerner David Lerner (November 23, 1951 – July 1, 1997) was an American outlaw poet who helped lead the influential poetry group the Babarians at Cafe Babar in San Francisco. Life Lerner was born in New York City and came from a family of Russian ...

Richard Brautigan Richard Gary Brautigan (January 30, 1935 – c. September 16, 1984) was an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. A prolific writer, he wrote throughout his life and published ten novels, two collections of short stories, and four bo ...

, Allen Ginsberg, Tom Waits, William S. Burroughs, Carlos ac Libera, Ken Kesey, Justin Chin, DianDi Prima, and

FrancEyE FrancEyE aka Frances Dean Smith (March 19, 1922 – June 2, 2009), was an American poet. Biography Frances Dean Smith was born Frances Elizabeth Dean, in San Rafael, California, on March 19, 1922. During her childhood her family moved to the Ea ...

, among others.

S.A. Griffin S.A. Griffin (born March 16, 1954) is an American poet, actor, performance artist, and publisher. He co-edited ''The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry''. He spells his name without a space between the first two initials. Biography Griffin was born ...

served as a contributing editor. Kaufman uses the term "Outlaw poets" in reference to poets whose work is featured in the ''Outlaw Bible''. The definition of the term was characterised as "pretty broad" by Maria Russo in '' Salon.com'', including poets of different ages and backgrounds. The book was reviewed in ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'', where the reviewer called it an "unwieldy hodgepodge" of texts. John Strausbaugh reviewed it in ''New York Press'', commenting on the large amount of beatnik poetry being published and questioning the need for another anthology, but stated that "there's writing here worth reading, if you can put up with the silly I'm-such-a-rebel attitudinizing that taints the whole project".

References

1999 poetry books Outlaw poets Poetry anthologies American poetry collections {{poetry-stub