(1934–2002)

American poet and playwright.

While Wieners remains one of the lesser-known of the Beat poets, the innovative style and highly personal subject matter of his work place him among the defining figures of the movement. His poetry is noted for its slow and hermetic pacing, rejecting the flamboyant use of language found in other Beat poetry. A recurring theme in Wieners’s verse is the imposing of order upon chaos. When asked for whom he wrote, Wieners replied, “For the poetical, the people. Not for myself merely. Or ever. Only for the better, warm, human loving, kind person. The guy on the street who might hold open a door for you, left the bumper on your car, stops to give you instructions, spares some change, lets you in his bookshop.”

Biographical Information

Wieners, who always considered himself “a Boston poet&rdquo...