Everyman is me,
I am his brother.
No man is my enemy.
I am Everyman
and he is in and of me.
This is my faith,
my strength,
my deepest hope,
and my only belief. - k.p.
"In my eyes Kenneth Patchen is now and will remain one of the outstanding figures in American letters. He represents all that a poet should represent, whether expressing himself in verse, in prose, in paint, or in action. By his example he has given courage, direction, and inspiration to more poets than anyone I know of on this continent. Patchen stands out like a shining warrior, a herald of peace and truth, endowed with invincible heart and integrity. No one can read him without being affected — and influenced in his own life and work. It is not only the youth who are indebted to him but all of us, unto the last and most fanatically ardent defender of the Word." - Henry Miller
"Kenneth Patchen is one of the very few people over thirty who can and should be believed. The contemporary forces of assault should know that his voice was raised, and his sword was bright at the walls of darkness when almost all other American poets were still and tamed." - Kenneth Rexroth
"In these fierce and hurrying years, Patchen's apocalyptic prophecies have come and are coming all too true. Listen if there is still time, to the words of this man." - Lawrence Ferlinghetti
"The Way Men Live Is a Lie"
The way men live is a lie.
I say that I get so goddamned sick
Of all these pigs rooting at eachother's asses
To get a bloodstained dollar-Why don't
You stop this senseless horror! this meaningless
Butchery of one another! Why dont you at least
Wash your hands of it!
There is only one truth in the world:
Until we learn to love our neighbor,
there will be no life for anyone.
The man who says, "I don't believe in war,
But after all somebody must protect us"-
Is obviously a fool-and a liar.
Is this so hard to understand!
That who supports murder, is a murderer?
That who destroys his fellow, destroys himself?
Force cannot be overthrown by force;
To hate any man is to despair of every man:
Evil breeds evil-the rest is a lie!
There is only one power that can save the world-
And that is the power of our love for all men everywhere.
"First came the Lion-Rider"
First came the Lion-Rider, across the green fields of the morning,
holding golden in his golden hands a thing of great wonder
and loveliness-and it had your name.
Next came the Provider of Birds, and over fields white-shrouded
he walked crying Mercy, mercy, O cold winds for these are the
visible thoughts of the air I carry-and it was you talked then.
Now came The One Most Kingly, all unseen in the pulse of this
anciently new world: Who thought the waters into being! Who
first imagined a woman's face! Who conceived the splendor of an
apple bough! And the fields He came across were as a beautiful
heart beating within the skies-and ah, all that He ever saw
there, I have seen looking out of your eyes.
A Vision for the People of America
The poets with death on their tongues
shall come to address you.
The fat nonsense will end.
You will drown in your rot.
The poets with death on their tongues
shall come to address you.
The slimy hypocrisy will end.
You will go down in your filth.
O the poets with death on their tongues
shall come to address you.
