Although recognised and remembered as a radical political and feminist poet, Diane di Prima (1934-2020) always questioned what was happening and chose what to engage with. Having read and reviewed a recent complete edition of herRevolutionary LettersI wanted to find out more about the author, and this new book offered just the opportunity. On the very first page of this book, in an interview fromGrape, published by the Vancouver Community Press, we get this:

‘Grape: You mentioned earlier that you’ve stopped reading underground papers. Why is that?
Diane: Because I find that level of information just isn’t giving me anything I can work with at this point. It’s not interesting to me. All that’s happening on that level is a kind of sick “history repeats itself” piece of nonsense as far as I can see.’

Which seems, in part anyway, a rational response…