Flying Piranha by Ted Joans and Joyce Mansour. Illustrative collages by M. Sila Errus. 1978 Bola Press, unstated printing, 45 pages. 

Ted Joans was an American jazz poet, surrealist, musician, and artist. According to his obituary in the Guardian "Prolific as a prose writer and poet, he had a finger in many branches of literature, often illustrating his work with collages similar to those of Max Ernst. He talked well about the various schools of 20th-century art, especially those related to surrealism. A strong humorous streak is apparent in all his work, and he had a cruel wit when it came to depicting the bourgeoisie, especially when philistine attitudes or white prejudice were involved."

Mansour was an Egyptian-French poet part of the inner circle of post-war surrealists. She lived in Cairo then Paris, however her family was forced to move out of Cairo permanently in the 1950s when the government seized assets of Jewish families. According to Poetry Foundation: "In an essay on Mansour, Emilie Moorhouse noted the following, 'Mansour was known within Surrealist circles because André Breton was a champion of her work, but beyond those circles, she was ignored. Her use of irony mixed with the erotic macabre shares similarities with the work of much more renowned French poets: She is a Baudelaire minus the shame or a George Bataille au feminin.'"

Condition: VG

"Why are my legs

Around your neck."