Mudlark Poster No. 14 (1998)
Alan Kaufman
The Saddest Man on Earth
Alan Kaufman's most recent book is Who Are We? (DAVKA Limited
Editions, 1998, ISBN 1-881822-01-X; distributed by SPD, 1-800-869-7553.)
His other books include Before I Wake (Cyborg Productions, 1992)
and The New Generation (Anchor/Doubleday, 1987). An anthology and
documentation of 'Outsider' poetry from the 1950's to the present day,
The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, which he has done with S.A.
Griffin, is in press. It will be available from Thunder's Mouth in April
1999.
Kaufman's poems have been translated into
Swedish by Carl Johaan Valgren and have appeared in Sweden in Bonniers
Litterära Magasin and Pequod. His work has
also been translated into German and has appeared in SLAM! Poetry,
Heftige Dictung Aus Den USA and AM LIT: Neu Literatur Aus Den
USA, both of which were published by Druckhaus Galrev (Berlin),
and Chelsea Hotel: A Magazine Of The Arts (Frankfurt). He has
performed his work in Germany, too, by invitation at Literaturhaus
Hamburg, Literaturhaus Frankfurt, and Literaturwerkstatt Berlin, among
other places.
In the U.S. Kaufman's work has been
published in many print anthologies and magazines, including Aloud:
Voices From The Nuyorican Poets Cafe (Henry Holt) and Coffeehouse
Poetry Anthology (Bottom Dog Press); Witness, Tikkun, and
Long Shot. Online his poems and essays can be found in Salon,
ZuZu's Petals, Poetry Cafe, et cetera.
ignored how the rain felt
as he left home
for the last timeWore down
his boot heels
searching for the woman
of his dreams
but never understood
that life is a womanLived in a town
where sadness was illegal
and where grinning
cops ticketed his face
so often
that he lost his license
to cryThe saddest man
on Earth
tuned guitars
but couldn't play them
cheated the IRS
of his own refund
fathered a child
who thought she saw
him in perfect strangers
yet didn't recognize
him face to faceI met him once
in a bar
toasting the mirror
with his stareHe had come
south to start
life overHe was a
Mozart of silence