Category: Lax books & reviews

Robert Lax at Play

I just sent out the fall edition of the Lax Newsletter with this photograph in it of Robert Lax playing the bongo drums when he was quite young. I don’t know where or when the photograph was taken, or by whom, but it is one of my favorites of him. I think it shows his true inner spirit at an early age.

The photograph came to me from Jeffrey Weinberg, who used a version of it on the cover of his 2014 letterpress publication Dear Jack: Heart Not Head. The limited-edition book features an intimate letter Lax sent to Jack Kerouac when they were good friends in the 1950s. You can purchase a copy, with an introduction by Lax archivist Paul Spaeth, from Jeffrey’s Water Row Books eBay page.

If you don’t already receive the free Robert Lax Newsletter, which goes out four times a year, you can sign up for it by clicking here or inserting your email address in the white box on the upper-left-hand side of this page.

Give the Gift of Robert Lax!

If you’ve been touched, inspired, encouraged, or challenged by Robert Lax’s life and writings, consider giving the gift you’ve been given to those you care about this Christmas.

As a way of defraying the costs of running this website and putting out the Robert Lax Newsletter, I’ve signed up to be an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which passes on profits from books purchased on their site to independent bookstores, with a small amount going to referrers like me.

To help with this site and delight your family and friends, simply click on any of the images below!

p.s. If you’d like to sign up for the free Robert Lax Newsletter, with short essays, news, poems, and photographs related to Lax, click here and enter your email address on the left-hand side.

Audio Version of PURE ACT Released on Audible Today!

TODAY’S THE DAY the audio version of my book, Pure Act: The Uncommon Life of Robert Lax, is being released on Audible! If you click here, you can listen to a short sample.

I’m excited my book will be available to people who need or prefer to listen rather than read, but it’s strange to hear someone else read words I wrote about my own experiences.

Actor Joe Knezevich Will Read the Audio Version of PURE ACT

I just found out an actor named Joe Knezevich is doing the reading for the forthcoming audio version of Pure Act: The Uncommon Life of Robert Lax.

Here’s a link to Joe’s website, which includes trailers showing him in movies and commercials as well as snippets from audio books he’s done: http://www.joeknezevich.com/demo.html. Among his many credits is a recurring role on the long-running TV series The Vampire Diaries.

Joe has a great voice. I’m excited he’s doing the book.

The First German Translation of Lax’s 33 Poems Is Now Available!

Sprachichter Verlag has just released the first German translation of one of the best collections of Robert lax poems, 33 Poems (33 Gedichte). This first edition is limited to 100 hardcover copies. Sprachlichter will publish a second edition in 2022.

To read more about the book (in German) or purchase a copy, click here.

Note from MNM: I’m pleased to be listed as a contributing editor for the book. My German isn’t terribly good but I speak fluent Lax and was able to help improve the translations.

IL CIRCO DEL SOLE: The First Italian Version of Robert Lax’s THE CIRCUS OF THE SUN

Lax’s majestic poetry cycle The Circus of the Sun is now available in Italian for the first time. This finely crafted and illustrated book is published by Il Ponte del Sale, a cultural association for both Italian and international poetry.

Il Circo del Sole, with text in both English and Italian, was edited by Giampaolo De Pietro and Graziano Krätli (with translations by Krätli himself and Renata Morresi, an afterword by Andrea Raos, and drawings by Francesco Balsamo. You can see one of Balsamo’s illustrations here.) The book is 126 pp. and costs 20 euros + shipping.

For ordering information, write to: ilpontedelsale@libero.it.

For a sample of the book’s text in both English and Italian, click here.

New Robert Lax Book and Publisher

Franciscan Institute Publications at St. Bonaventure University (in collaboration with one island books of the Robert Lax Literary Trust) has just published a lovely little chapbook reprinting two of Lax’s best-loved poems, “21 pages” and “psalm.” The book includes a “prelude” and “interlude” preparing the reader for the main texts and connecting the poems to each other. It also offers a short afterword on each work (one each by the book’s co-editors, Paul J. Spaeth and Joshua Benson) and a brief note about the origins and publishing history of the texts.

One of the book’s most pleasing aspects is how it looks. Featuring an all-black cover with only the names of the two poems and the author in white on the front, it echoes the cover Emil Antonucci designed for Lax’s second book, New Poems, published in 1962.

This is the first in a planned series of Lax re-releases.

The book is available for $14.95  at the Franciscan Institute Publications website.

Have an Extra $3,000 Lying Around?


This is the price sheet for several handmade books being offered by a German press called Edition Schwarze Seite.  I took this picture at Passages Bookshop in Portland, Oregon, where Lax friend and editor John Beer and I gave a presentation on Lax a few days ago.  Also speaking that evening was Eckhard Froeschlin, who runs the press. The images below are from those Lax books you can buy for $1,500 each.  Lax loved that artists and bookmakers wanted to use his poetry.  What would he say to these prices?  I think he’d just smile.

And here’s a picture of Froeschlin displaying one of the Lax books (to give you a feeling for the size). Those are more Lax pages behind him.