Editing Lew Welch

{{Short description|American poet (1926–1971)}}
[[File:Lew Welch.jpg|thumb|right|Lew Welch]]
'''Lewis Barrett Welch Jr.''' (August 16, 1926 – {{circa}} May 23, 1971) was an [[American poet]] associated with the [[Beat generation]] literary movement.

Welch published and performed widely during the 1960s. He taught a poetry workshop as part of the [[University of California Extension]] in San Francisco, from 1965 to 1970.

He is believed to have committed [[suicide]], after leaving a note on May 23, 1971. His body was never found.<ref name="serious">{{Cite web |url=http://www.seriousseekers.com/Teachers%20and%20Contributors/teachers_priority_1_traditionalandfriends/teachers_contributors_Upton_c.htm |title=Serious Seekers: Charles Upton |access-date=2013-11-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131123113327/http://www.seriousseekers.com/Teachers%20and%20Contributors/teachers_priority_1_traditionalandfriends/teachers_contributors_Upton_c.htm |archive-date=2013-11-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Early life==
Welch was born in [[Phoenix, Arizona]], and moved with his mother and sister to [[California]] in 1929. The family often moved, and he graduated from [[Palo Alto High School]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theunion.com/news/local-news/lew-welch-went-southwest/|title=Lew Welch 'went Southwest'|last=Kellar|first=Tom|date=2011|website=The Union|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-19}}</ref> He enlisted in the [[United States Army Air Forces|Army Air Forces]] in 1944 but never saw active service. He worked for a period before attending [[Stockton Junior College]], where he developed an interest in the works of [[Gertrude Stein]].

In 1948, Welch moved to [[Portland, Oregon]], to attend [[Reed College]].<ref name=":0" /> There he roomed with fellow poet [[Gary Snyder]] and also befriended [[Philip Whalen]].<ref name=":0" /> Welch decided to become a writer after reading [[Gertrude Stein]]'s long story "[[Three Lives (book)|Melanctha]]."<ref name="ReferenceA">[[Aram Saroyan]], ''Genesis Angels: The Saga of Lew Welch and the Beat Generation'', William Morrow and Company, 1979</ref> Welch wrote his thesis on Stein and published poems in student magazines. [[William Carlos Williams]] visited the college and met the three poets. He admired Welch's early poems and tried to get his Stein thesis published.

==New York and Chicago==
After college, Welch moved to [[New York City]], where he worked writing copy in the advertising industry. Welch was said to have come up with the advertising slogan,"[[Raid (insecticide)|Raid Kills Bugs Dead]]," but some have questioned this claim.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>[http://www.cosmicbaseball.com/welch7.html "Lew Welch, pitcher"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090616093616/http://cosmicbaseball.com/welch7.html |date=2009-06-16 }}, Cosmic Baseball Association</ref> During this time, Welch started to display emotional and mental problems and went to [[Florida]] to take a course of [[psychotherapy|therapy]].<ref>Aram Saroyan, ''Genesis Angels: The Saga of Lew Welch and the Beat Generation'', William Morrow and Company, 1979</ref>

He then went to the [[University of Chicago]], where he studied [[philosophy]] and English. In [[Chicago]], he joined the advertising department of [[Montgomery Ward]].

==Later life and work==
Wanting to get back to poetry, Welch applied for a transfer to Montgomery Ward's [[Oakland, California|Oakland]] headquarters.  After the return to California, he started to get involved in the [[San Francisco]] literary scene.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fields |first=Rick |date=October 1, 1995 |orig-date=October 1, 1995 |title=Buddhism Beat & Square |url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/buddhism-beat-square/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804171738/https://tricycle.org/magazine/buddhism-beat-square/ |archive-date=August 4, 2020 |access-date=August 22, 2024 |website=Tricycle: The Buddhist Review |language=en}}</ref>  He soon gave up advertising and earned a living driving a cab while devoting more time to writing. He became an active participant in Beat culture, living at various times with Snyder and [[Lawrence Ferlinghetti]]. In 1960, poet [[Lenore Kandel]] met Welch and Snyder, who introduced her to many people in the Beat movement.<ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/22/BAN61A8O9A.DTL Julian Guthrie, "Poet Lenore Kandel Dies at 70", ''San Francisco Chronicle'' (October 22, 2009)]</ref>

[[Jack Kerouac]] based his character Dave Wain in his novel ''[[Big Sur (novel)|Big Sur]]'' (1962) on Welch.<ref>Wills, D. 'Who's Who: A Guide to Kerouac's Characters', in Wills, D. (ed.) Beatdom Vol. 3 (Mauling Press: Dundee, 2009); Available [http://www.beatdom.com/Kerouacs_characters.htm online] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212231052/http://www.beatdom.com/Kerouacs_characters.htm |date=2009-02-12 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tx1I5Z3U5DIC&q=%22who+modeled+his+Big+Sur+character+Dave+Wain+after+the+hard-drinking+poet%22&pg=PA148 |title = California poetry: from the Gold Rush to the present |first = Dana |last = Gioia |author-link = Dana Gioia |year = 2004 |publisher  = Heyday |page = 148 |isbn = 1-890771-72-4 |access-date  = 27 August 2011 |quote = sufficiently impressive to Jack Kerouac, who modeled his Big Sur character Dave Wain after the hard-drinking poet }}</ref> In 1968, Welch signed the "[[Writers and Editors War Tax Protest]]" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.<ref>"Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" January 30, 1968 ''New York Post''</ref>

==Personal life==
Welch had a common-law relationship with [[Poland|Polish]] [[refugee]] Maria Magdalena Cregg.<ref name="coyote">{{cite book|last=Coyote|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Coyote|title=Sleeping Where I Fall|publisher=Counterpoint|page=205|year=1998|isbn=1887178678}}</ref> He acted as the stepfather to her son Hugh Anthony Cregg III, better known by his stage-name [[Huey Lewis]].<ref name="coyote"/>

==Death==
On May 23, 1971, Welch walked out of poet [[Gary Snyder]]'s house in the mountains of California, leaving behind a suicide note. He had with him a stainless steel Smith & Wesson .22 caliber revolver. His body was never found.<ref name="serious"/>

==Bibliography==
Note: Before committing suicide in 1971, Lew Welch left a note naming [[Donald Allen]] his literary executor. Donald Allen published much of Welch's work posthumously via [[Grey Fox Press]].

*''Trip Trap: Haiku on the Road'' (1973) ({{ISBN|0912516046}}) Jack Kerouac, [[Albert Saijo]], and Lew Welch
*''How I Work as a Poet'' (1973) ({{ISBN|0-912516-06-2}})
*''Selected Poems'', with a preface by Gary Snyder (1976) ({{ISBN|0-912516-20-8}})
*''On Bread and Poetry: A Panel Discussion Between Gary Snyder, Lew Welch, and Philip Whalen'' (1977) ({{ISBN|0-912516-27-5}})
*''I, Leo: An Unfinished Novel'' (1977) ({{ISBN|0-912516-24-0}})
*''Ring of Bone: Collected Poems'' (1979) ({{ISBN|0-912516-03-8}})
*''I Remain – The Letters of Lew Welch & the Correspondence of His Friends (Volume 1: 1949–1960)'' (1980) ({{ISBN|0-912516-08-9}})
*''I Remain – The Letters of Lew Welch & the Correspondence of His Friends (Volume 2: 1960–1971)'' (1980) ({{ISBN|0-912516-42-9}})
*''How I Read Gertrude Stein'' (1995, originally written late-1940s) ({{ISBN|0-912516-23-2}})
*''Ring of Bone: Collected Poems (New & Expanded Edition)'' (2012) ({{ISBN|0-872865-79-7}})

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*Lew Welch: ''Ring of Bone: Collected Poems 1950–1970'' has a preface by the poet and a useful chronology, not to mention 200+ pages of poetry.
*Charters, Ann (ed.). ''The Portable Beat Reader''. Penguin Books. New York. 1992. {{ISBN|0-670-83885-3}} (hc); {{ISBN|0-14-015102-8}} (pbk)

==External links==
*[http://libraries.ucsd.edu/speccoll/findingaids/mss0013.html Lew Welch Papers] MSS 13. [http://libraries.ucsd.edu/collections/sca/ Special Collections & Archives], UC San Diego Library.

{{Poets in The New American Poetry 1945–1960}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Welch, Lew}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:1971 suicides]]
[[Category:1971 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American poets]]
[[Category:American tax resisters]]
[[Category:Beat Generation writers]]
[[Category:Reed College alumni]]
[[Category:Suicides in California]]
[[Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:Writers from Phoenix, Arizona]]
[[Category:Poets from Arizona]]
[[Category:Activists from California]]
[[Category:American Book Award winners]]
[[Category:Palo Alto High School alumni]]