Tributes are already pouring in, including one from the legendary City Lights Books — just a stone's throw away from Caffe Triesete, above which Hirschman resided for many years — who remembered, "Jack made regular visits to our store and publishing office before the pandemic, brightening our day with a joke or a story. His presence in North Beach will be missed so much. He was steadily reading poetry up until today at various virtual events. We love you, Jack."
While we did not previously have a PennSound author page for Hirschman, we've created one now particularly because our holdings from the poet are somewhat diffusely scattered throughout our archives. By far the recording you'll want to check out is Hirschman's inaugural reading as San Francisco's poet laureate, which comes to us through the graces of the Cloud House Poetry Archives. Running more than an hour, this film is a fine tribute to Hirschman's long affiliation with the city and its literary life.
We also have Henry Hills' 1981 film, Kino Da!, which features Hirschman in the lead role. Here's Hills' own description of that project: "KINO DA! (ah, key, key) KINO DA!/The Dead die die dada low king quanto zhong/MOVE! (ur, ur)/Grey todays it-a clear to the quick ear, quicker z'heels/The Poe (pay, po, pee, pick-pick), nuf of "D" yet/Call Vertov/(beep, beep)/Eisenstein even/& viterulably cheeness of a ram innerwear/(airs; when)/Time, Time, Money/d-d-d/ junk rock did travel & falls/(spring)/Fall/Spring is the simplest inflationary dime.///Be in everything Joy, in experimental & proletarian & wwea air of airs/at this school of poetry-painting/CUT! "To know/toe/no! no! MONTAGE (nadazha), in any instant (instant) of the writing of Stein & the facts of that (tle) kind./FEEL (the steak)/yes, ache, in trends & whatevers./Mmmm-pah-ah, Cops, man, in case (nnn), man (nnn)./(KO) be-a mayu po pony; (KO) be-a what?) o-long kind.//GO! (be what) OM, prose, Pentacost; be what this there the (pause) & (serious pause) the neb with a gram of ire illia-it's still justs Jah.//Viparko r-rrr re ad adici, yes!/YES!//ssssssssssane! /mmmm vidda pot re-a-uschious of a ship. Viparko Roma Schoma Schlav keybo z'Krushchev. (wink)"
Finally, Hirschman makes a brief appearance in the recently-announced Bob Kaufman, Poet: the Life and Times of an African-American Man (1992), and we've also included a link to the EPC, where you can read the poet's 2012 translation of Yitzhak Katzenelson's 1945 anthology, Dos Lid Funem Oysgehargen Yidishn Folk / The Song of the Massacred Jewish People — the first English-language version of this crucial text.
We send our deepest condolences to Hirschman's family, friends, and fans, in the Bay Area and worldwide. To start listening to the recordings found on PennSound's Jack Hirschman author page, just click here.
