The Maharajah's Son
"I assembled this book of letters in Stinson Beach, 1971-'72. I wanted to write something autobiographical about the years 1960-'65 but couldn't do it. Then I remembered that I'd saved all the letters from the people I knew during that time. They were in the back of a closet in my parents' apartment. My mother sent them to me, and I saw the book immediately. I simply organized the letters into years, 1960-'65, and transcribed them. I had an electric typewriter and I'm a fast typist. There was very little editing. I think I omitted some things, but I never rewrote anything.
The characters in 1960, Allegra David and Richard Neugebauer, reappear throughout the book. It's a love story, among other things, and the beginning of my life as a poet. The title comes from a line from a letter that Allegra wrote me from London in 1965: 'When I first came here, I was going out with an Indian Maharajah's son, but despite his millions and his gorgeous Ferrari I couldn't maintain an interest.' Bernadette Mayer and I published this book when we were living in Lenox, Massachusetts. Rosemary Mayer did the cover, incorporating a photo of Allegra (age 15). Alice Notley once wrote a note for the book in which she described it as 'an epistolary novel,' and I like to think of it that way, though every word is true."