‘FRAGMENTATION’ double page fold-out.

Colophon page.

‘BOMB’ Title page on transparent paper over first page of text.

Colour woodcut.

Gregory Corso’s epitaph.

Simon Redington
London, United Kingdom
http://www.kamikazepress.com

Bomb
2008
Letterpress type, woodblocks & circular saw blades
edition size of 100
24 pages
35cm x 28cm (closed)
35cm x 56cm (open)

Artist Statement

Bomb was written by Gregory Corso in 1958 whilst residing at the infamous ‘Beat Hotel’ at 9 Rue Git-le-Coeur in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Later that year this  controversial poem was published by City Lights Books in San Francisco. It was originally designed as a ‘concrete’ poem and typeset in the shape of an exploding  mushroom cloud. It has been described as an iconoclastic love song dedicated to the destructive power of a weapon of mass destruction, a heart-felt homage to the  terror of the H-Bomb.

The Kamikaze Press has reproduced this epic poem to mark the fiftieth year  anniversary of its first publication. Over these years metaphors of fear have shifted  and images of prevailing carnage have become increasingly distorted and sinister.  However the sentiment behind Gregory Corso’s ironic message remains remarkably pertinent half a century later.  The book concludes with Corso’s self- penned epitaph.