Guide to the d. a. levy Collection

Biography of d.a. levy

Darryl Allen Levy was born on October 29, 1942 in Cleveland, Ohio to Carolyn and Joseph Levy. The Levy family, including brother James (Jim) resided on the west side of Cleveland where Darryl attended James Ford Rhodes High School, graduating in 1960. After graduation he enlisted and served in the United States Navy but was later discharged for exhibiting "manic tendencies."

After returning to Cleveland in the early 1960s, levy (who began using lowercase "d.a. levy" as name) became active in Cleveland's emerging poetry scene, writing and publishing his own poetry and that of friends and contemporaries via his Renegade and Seven Flowers Presses. His method was meticulous as he hand-typeset numerous pages of poetry using a second-hand typesetting machine. He would collaborate with friends and fellow artists on design, often incorporating their original artwork into the handmade books.

Around this same time, levy began to attend local poetry events around the city including the Fenn College Poetry Workshop series with CSU Poetry Center founder Lewis Turco and The Free Lance Press workshops at the Shaker Heights home of poet and publisher Adelaide Simon. Intrigued by poetry readings he attended while visiting friends in New York City, levy initiated some of Cleveland's first free-forum coffeehouse readings. The Gate Coffeehouse in the basement of Trinity Cathedral (across from Cleveland State University) was the site of many such readings, one of which led to levy's arrest surrounding a Nov. 15, 1966 reading there where he accepted and then read poetry submitted by juveniles. City officials deemed the work "obscene" and levy was charged with "contributing to the delinquency of minors."

This however, wasn't levy's first brush with the law over issues of censorship. The Asphodel bookstore, run by levy's friend, bookseller Jim Lowell, was raided by Cleveland Police in 1966 and several books and poetry materials including those of levy's were confiscated and never returned. Both levy and Lowell were charged with "possession and distribution of allegedly obscene literature." The case attracted national attention drawing supporters such as poet Allen Ginsberg and the musical group The Fugs who later came to Cleveland to perform at a benefit to aid in the duo's legal defense.

levy continued to create his own art and promote other poets and artists throughout the 1960s, leading the "mimeograph revolution" publishing Cleveland's premier alternative newspapers "The Buddhist Third Class Junkmail Oracle" and "the Marrahwanhanna Quarterly. Both showcased the works of local and national poets and artists. He responded to the cultural and political turmoil of the times creating profound concrete and lyrical poetry and art. In 1968 he was invited to be a Poet in Residence at the Free University of Wisconsin where he taught a course on telepathy, communicating telepathically with his students, never present in the classroom.

Over time levy became frustrated with a perceived lack of appreciation for his and others' poetry and art. Coupled with his plea of "no contest" for his earlier arrest in lieu of a prison sentence, levy's behavior grew increasingly erratic. In late 1968, He began to tell friends that he was "leaving Cleveland," and gave away or destroyed much of his poetry/art and personal belongings.

On November 24, 1968, concerned friends went to his apartment in East Cleveland after repeated attempts to contact him were unsuccessful. There they discovered levy, dead from a single gunshot wound to the head. His death was later ruled a suicide. He was 26 years old.

In October of 2005, Special Collections Department of the Michael Schwartz Library worked with Bottom Dog Press' Larry Smith and partnering local organizations supported by a grant from the Ohio Humanities Council to host the d.a. levy and Cleveland/1960s Literary and Cultural Scene, part of the two day levyfest held in Cleveland at CSU and other locations throughout the city in celebration of levy's work. A panel discussion hosted by the Library included participants Michael Basinski, curator of the poetry collection at SUNY Buffalo, Joel Lipman, Profession of Art and English, University of Toledo, Ingrid Swanberg, editor of Abraxas Magazine and curator of the d.a. levy homepage website and D.R. Wagner, University of California, Davis, poet and artist. They discussed d.a. levy and his work in the mimeograph revolution era in Cleveland and the U.S. Running concurrent to this event was an exhibition of the d.a. levy collection which elicited overwhelming response, evident by demand and use of the material by poets, researchers and scholars.

Scope and Content

The d.a. levy Collection at the Michael Schwartz Library, established in 2003, was created to preserve and enhance access to historical material by and about Cleveland's legendary poet, publisher and artist d.a. levy.

Although d.a. levy created tremendous amounts of poetry and art in his short life, little of his original creations or personal effects remain. Prior to his death, levy destroyed or gave away all of what remained in his possession. Cleveland State University Library has acquired portions of it from his friends and other sources to create the d.a. levy Collection. Adding to what had already existed here on levy from the Cleveland Press Collection (largely still photograph and newspaper clipping accounts of his arrests) the collection has grown to include bound works of poetry created by levy and his contemporaries, original manuscript/draft portions of his poetry, correspondence to and from levy, drawings, photo collages, handmade booklets and other related period ephemera. The collection also includes an almost complete set of his alternative press newspapers of which many of the editions are beginning to show signs of deterioration, presenting preservation challenges.

Materials in the collection reside in the Special Collections Department and are housed in acid free folders and boxes. In an effort to reduce wear on the originals and to distribute levy's work to a wider audience, portions of the collection were digitized and made available on the
d.a. levy Collection website in Cleveland Memory.

This finding aid describes in detail the contents of boxed paper correspondence, art, poetry and other ephemera already housed in the established manuscript collection in Special Collections. Wherever copyright is permissible and the item is digitized, a link to the digital version on the d.a. levy Collection website is provided.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Use

There are no restrictions on use for this collection.

Restrictions on Access

Materials are available for library-use only in Special Collections, RT 320 of the Michael Schwartz Library at Cleveland State University.

The Lewis Turco Collection

Additional material by levy and his contemporaries that are not housed in the boxed manuscript collection can be found on the Digital Gallery on the
d.a. levy collection website. There one can view digitized volumes of poetry and periodicals, artwork, multimedia, newspaper clippings and photographs. Also see relevant "Separated Material" sections under each series in this finding aid for direct links to these resources.

The library's online catalog
Scholar provides a listing of all levy's paper holdings in the Michael Schwartz Library cataloged and housed separately from the manuscript collection.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection.

Subjects:

Persons:

Preferred Citation

[Author, Title, Box Number, Folder Number]. d.a. levy collection. Cleveland State University.

Acquisition Information

Portions of this collection were purchased or donated from Russell Salamon, Jim Lowell (Asphodel), Alan Horvath (Kirpan Press), rjs (Robert J. Sigmund), Gene Maeroff, Stephen Massaro, Martin Perlich, Lewis Turco, Randy Rhody, Don Sabo, Al Wasco, Richard Caesar, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Jim Levey, Ryan Brady, Marquita G. High, Erick Trickey, Katie Baird, Kent Taylor, Mark Taylor

Bibliography

The d.a. levy bibliography. By Al Horvath and Kent Taylor The works of d.a. levy. By Jim Lowell d.a. levy bibliography. Verdant Press Chronology of the life and work of d.a. levy, 1942-1968. By Larry Smith

Correspondence, Poetry, Artwork, News Accounts, Ephemera: 1963-2007

This collection contains handwritten and typed letters and cards sent to and from levy and friends, poetry, artwork, reference materials, works of d.a. levy's friends and contemporaries between the years 1963 through 1985.