Analysis of Bob Kaufman’s Abomunist Manifesto
Bob Kaufman is one of my absolute, all time favorite poets. Any time someone mentions anything about poetry, I secretly try bringing up Kaufman in conversation.
Sadly, he’s not that well known despite running with the beatnik’s and those later associated with the hippie movement. However, that is slowly changing thanks to a documentary about his life that was shown around the festival circuit.
I’m sharing this partially to celebrate my love of his words, but also to encourage more folks to read his words as well.
The following is an analysis of the poem Abomunist Manifesto by surreal jazz poet Bob Kaufman, one of the unsung African-American champions of the Beat Generation. Perhaps best known in underground poetry circles as a “poet’s poet,” Kaufman is credited by some of his contemporaries as coining the term “beatnik.” Abomunist Manifesto was first published in September 1959 as a broadside with City Lights Books in the underground magazine Beatitude of which he and Allen Ginsberg were two of several founders. At this time, Kaufman was settling into the San Francisco’s North Beach Neighborhood along with many other notable Beatniks, all of whom had a hand in not only catalyzing the San Francisco Poetry Renaissance, but also the Beat Movement in general.
Abomunist Manifesto Summary
In this poem, the speaker, possibly Bob Kaufman, employs much word play to deliver a series of seemingly anarcho-surrealistic declarations in the vein of McCarthyism, Beat, and Black Arts manifestos at the time. The word “Abomunist” is repeated at the beginning of all stanzas except for one, beginning one or two line declarations from and for Abomunists, a parody fringe group arguing for a Beat-derived ‘rejectionary philosophy’, as is made clear in the second to last (and longest) stanza as well as the last line of the poem. In total, the poem is 14 stanzas long. However, the majority of them are one or two lines. The poem Abomunist Manifesto can be read in full here, or just the poem below. However, the full broadside found here may prove to be more helpful in getting the feel of, not to mention, it offers some clues of interpretation of this dada-esque piece.
Abomunist Manifesto Analysis
There is a free swinging irreverence to Abomunist Manifesto as wordplay and Dadaist anarchism collide in this free-verse poem published in all caps with no rhyme scheme. Kaufman is not only well known as one who preferred to keep with the oral tradition of poetry, but also in his use of employing various jazz and bebop rhythms in his poetry, like many in the Beat Generation were inspired by this improvisational stream of consciousness style. However, especially in Bob Kaufman’s case, this can make the reading of his work difficult, as evident by the first stanza “ABOMUNISTS JOIN NOTHING BUT THEIR HANDS OR LEGS,/ OR OTHER SAME.”
As mentioned earlier, the word “Abomunist” begins all but one of the (mostly) one or two lined stanzas, creating the motif for the overall poem. In many of his poems, including this one, Kaufman, through the speaker employs various portmanteaus and potential neologisms as a way to further convey that improvisational jazz feeling. In this case, the word “abomunist”, according to is a portmanteau of words such as communism, atom bomb, abomination and, oddly enough, his own name; Bob Kaufman. The second stanza also reveals another made up word, “ABOMUNIST SPIT ANTI-POETRY FOR POETIC REASONS/ AND FRINK.” In the published 1959 six page broadside, Kaufman offers an “Excerpt for the LEXICON ABOMUNON,” which goes on to mostly define variations of Abomunist, but also includes the word frink. However, in true dadaist fashion, the definition is “censored.”
The third stanza is the third longest of the three longest stanzas and utilizes a little situational irony to create a surprising punchline. The fact that Bob Kaufman served in the Navy adds weight to where many readers may interpret the first part of the stanza, “IN TIMES OF NATIONAL PERIL,” this oddball group will stand at the ready “TO DRINK THEMSELVES/ TO DEATH FOR THEIR COUNTRY.” There’s an added layer of irony to these lines considering many poets, including Kaufman were reviled for their hard-living, heavy drinking ways.
The next several stanzas go on to continue shaping the surrealistic ethos of this outrageous group with what some may interpret as paradoxical one-liners, such as in the eighth stanza, “ABOMUNISTS NEVER CARRY MORE THAN FIFTY DOLLARS/ IN DEBTS ON THEM.”
The ninth stanza is the second longest stanza, and includes a not so subtle allusion to Kaufman's support of Senator (at the time) John F. Kennedy, with the speaker saying that the solution to problems of religious bigotry “IS TO HAVE A CATHOLIC CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT AND PROTESTANT/ CANDIDATE FOR POPE.” This stanza is referring to the controversy surrounding Kennedy's potential candidacy for President, which many at the time felt threatened by because of fears that a Catholic President wouldn't listen to the American people, but instead the Pope.
The next three stanzas are comprised of more paradoxical poetic one-liners from the speaker about child rearing, believing in dreams and making a living through writing suggesting that this group doesn't write for money, but instead “THEY WRITE/ THE MONEY ITSELF.”
The twelfth stanza is the longest stanza in the poem, and features the crux of the Abomunist motif which Kaufman was attempting to create within the poem. The stanza begins by stating that poets within the Abomunist movement subscribe to a “NEW LITERARY/ FORM "FOOT-PRINTISM’” which the 1959 six page broadside elucidates is the definition of Abomunism. The stanza then goes on to define the purpose of this surreal philosophy as a way to free the poet “OF OUTMODED RESTRICTIONS, SUCH AS: THE ABILITY TO READ AND WRITE, OR THE DESIRE TO COMMUNICATE”. This may be a veiled reference to Kaufman’s own poetic sensibilities in seeking to continue the oralist tradition of poetry. The stanza continues sharing examples of this freedom, stating that poets must stand at the ready to read their poetry at a variety of uncommon or outrageous places, such as DENTAL/ COLLEGES, EMBALMING SCHOOLS, HOMES FOR UNWED MOTHERS”. The stanza concludes by summarizing the Abomunist dadaist school of thought, “ABOMUNISTS NEVER COMPROMISE THEIR REJECTIONARY PHILOSOPHY.”
The speaker concludes the poem on an irreverent note with the final stanza, which seems to even reject its own (thought process?), stating “ABOMUNISTS REJECT EVERYTHING EXCEPT SNOWMEN.” It's worth noting on the last page of the 1959 broadside, which serves as a promotional tool and summary, proclaims that the manifesto was “...the first and last word from the abominable snowmen of modern poetry.” Presuming that part was Kaufman referring to himself, this potentially changes the interpretation of the line, to something more along the lines of meaning the group rejects all things except self.
Background
At face value, Abomunist Manifesto can easily sound like a poem full of jokes and wordplay. But underneath the irreverent tones lies a kind of calling card of what the Beat Generation was espousing, especially when it comes to unconventional living and a rejectionist philosophy. Having been a labor organizer, in addition to working on Henry Wallace’s 1948 Progressive Party presidential campaign probably informed not only this poem, but also the political activism of the Beats as well. In a way, Abomunist Manifesto acts as a pseudo-declaration of the Beat movement in general, creating a picture of a kind of excluded radical. This poem, along with two other broadsides by Bob Kaufman, also published through City Lights Books in the underground magazine Beatitude shortly thereafter, garnered Kaufman some notoriety amongst his beatnik brethren. These pieces were published years before some of his more popular and politically active poems.
