Weldon Kees

About me:

Harry Weldon Kees was born in Beatrice, Nebraska on 24 February 1914. He was educated at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, graduating in 1935. During the Great Depression Era, Kees wrote numerous stories through the Federal Writer's Project in Lincoln, Nebraska,publishing them in numerous "little" magazines. A novel from this era, Fall Quarter was published in 1941 and reissued in 1990. Kees continued to write fiction until his move to New York City in 1943. His first collection of poetry, The Last Man, was published the same year. During his time in New York, Kees had numerous articles and poems in such magazines as The New Republic, Partisan Review, Poetry, and the New York Times. Kees also developed an interest in painting and Abstract Expressionism during this period and pieces of his work were exhibited alongside that of Willem de Kooning and Hans Hoffman, while at the Whitney Museum, one of his pieces was exhibited alongside works by Picasso. He had two one man shows at the Peridot Gallery and had a picture appear in the Whitney Annual in 1950. Kees worked briefly at Time Magazine and was later an art critic for The Nation, after Clement Greenberg's departure in 1949. Kees' second collection of poems, "The Fall of the Magicians" was published in 1947. In 1950, Kees left New York City and moved to San Francisco. His interest in New Orleans style Jazz lead him into songwriting and playing piano with various jazz groups. He wrote the music for James Broughton's short film, "Adventures of Jimmy" (1950), and his song "Coastline Rag" was used in Jenni Olson's film, "The Joy of Life" (2005). As a photographer, Kees also worked with Jurgen Ruesch and Gregory Bateson at the Langley Porter Cinic in Berkeley and with Jurgen Ruesch in 1953 co-authored/illustrated "Nonverbal Communication: Notes on the Visual Perception of Human Relations." He and Michael Grieg broadcast a weekly radio show on KPFA, and Kees contributed dozens of sketches and essays to local newspapers and magazines. During this time, Kees also published his third collection of poems, "Poems, 1947-1954." Kees disappeared on 19 July 1955, having earlier remarked to his friend Michael Grieg that "one must sometimes change his life completely." Although Kees automobile was found abandoned on the Golden Gate Bridge, leading many to speculate that Kees had committed suicide, there were also rumors based on various other comments he made to close friends that he might have disappeared in Mexico. Kees' fame rests on three collections of poetry and a handful of fugitive pieces collected by Donald Justice in "The Collected Poems of Weldon Kees," posthumously published in 1960.