Sorry I missed Flashback Friday for the last two weeks. I don’t remember why I did so; probably laziness. This week goes to Lewis Barrett “Lew” Welch Jr. The 44-year-old disappeared from Nevada City, California on May 23, 1971, taking a friend’s gun and leaving behind a note indicating suicide.
Lew Welch is a bit unusual in that he was sort of famous before he disappeared. He was a minor poet in the Beat Generation, which including Jack Kerouac, etc. Apparently he published only one major book in his lifetime, but the following works are for sale on Amazon:
How I Read Gertrude Stein
How I Work as a Poet
I, Leo: An Unfinished Novel
I Remain, Volume 1: Letters of Lew Welch & The Correspondence of His Friends 1949-1960
I Remain: Volume 2: Letters of Lew Welch & The Correspondence of His Friends 1960-1971
On Out
Ring of Bone: Collected Poems
Selected Poems
Ring of Bone was actually published in 2012 and is still in print. You can also read a few of his poems here.
The Charley Project Blog 