(1925–1986)

(Full name Bob Garnell Kaufman) American poet.

Known in Europe as “The Black American Rimbaud” and in the United States as “The Original Be-Bop Man,” Kaufman was an influential poet who wrote and recited poetry along with Beat writers of the 1950s and 1960s, including Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and Allen Ginsberg. Kaufman’s poetry relies heavily on be-bop jazz influences, incorporating spontaneity, unconventional verses, surrealism, and symbolism. Many of his poems are about jazz performers, jazz music, and the poets that influenced him—notably Hart Crane, Federico García Lorca, Arthur Rimbaud, andWalt Whitman. Because Kaufman rarely wrote down his poems, preferring instead to deliver his oral compositions spontaneously, his work has not received much critical attention and remains relatively obscure.

Biographical Information

Although there are conflicting accounts of Kaufman’s early life, most agree...