Keith Kumasen Abbott’s friendship with poet John Veglia, aka Nestor Marzipan:

“I am now setting out for eccentric perfectionism. But with John gone, I’ll guess I’ll try to inherit at least part of His Quibble Crown. He was the best reader of my work I’ve ever had. Mordecai of Monterey, Harem Scarem and First Thing Coming and the forthcoming Richard Brautigan book would all have been full of wretched excesses and stupidities and nano-errors if not for his fine editorial eye. He read two or three drafts of each and all the proofs and I’ve saved all his pages of detailed comments. In fiction he could be laser eyed, finding those little contradictions that undermine stories. Jesus, I don’t know what I’ll do without him, maybe try for a protective minimalism from now on.

His death has sent me back to poetry, as death always does. My hand is terrible under the re-entry stress from the funeral and my mind drifts and I can’t spell.” Keith Abbott 13Nov1988, letter to Michael Sowl.

John Veglia was one of the poets who participated in the linked poetry that eventually led to the publication of Poetry For Sale. “We were fortunate to have the Classical scholar and poet John Veglia join the renku sessions and with him we collaborated on the masterful Bottomless Bucket which was published in the Japanese poetry magazine Ko in 1988. Veglia was an old friend from Monterey and for that reason, and for that renku, we dubbed ourselves “The Monterey School”. (From Pat Nolan’s Introduction to Poetry for Sale, 2015. More information about this publication is available at Parole Blog.)

Excerpt from the linked poem Bottomless Bucket

(Pat Nolan, Keith Kumasen Abbott, Michael Sowl and John Veglia)

Out for a stroll 
in the autumn wind
the bottomless bucket rolls on
(after Basho)

out for a stroll 
in the autumn wind
the bottomless bucket rolls on
another Saturday night
last year's leaves under this year's snow (MS)

another Saturday night
last year's leaves under this year's snow
scattered wisps of white
fur on the garden path
tomcat at it again (PN)

scattered wisps of white
fur on the garden path
tomcat at it again
he pokes his head through cobwebs
watching the last plum blossom (JV)

he pokes his head through cobwebs
watching the last plum blossom
in bare twigs
the faint morning moon fades under
a bird nest's stringy beard (KKA)
                                         JV had a very stringy beard

in bare twigs
the faint morning moon fades under
a bird nest's stringy beard
shit! here comes that monk again
holding out his goddamn bowl (MS)
                                      KKA was a Zen monk

Keith Kumasen Abbott on writing renku with John: “I know John was spooked by my renku link. He was terribly nervous about coming up with stuff before that bombshell and it sent him into a tizzy. Ever the diplomat, I told him I was no longer playing Mr. Nice-Guy and feeding good playable links to my cohorts, and besides, it was my exit link and there was no chance of revenge, a concept John seemed to understand in his own sneaky Italian way. I thought he made a great comeback, too, nice and simple.”

John Veglia, aka Nestor Marzipan, was a brilliant graduate of St. Mary’s College with a Masters degree in Classics. John then declined a Stanford University scholarship for his Doctorate degree. John died in 1988. His wake was an ongoing parade of people from homeless street drifters to corporate lawyers and San Francisco high society types. In 2014 John’s startling aphorisms and rich wit were celebrated as “Lazlo Meringue”, a character created by cartoonist and scriptwriter Mimi Pond in her hit graphic novel Over Easy. (Poetry for Sale, bio John Veglia)