SHIG’S REVIEW Issues # 1-3 de MURAO, Shigeyoshi (Editor)

San Francisco: Adler Press (1 &2) / City Lights (3), 1960, 1969. All near fine. Shig was a pioneer of the zine movement, utilizing photocopies to self-publish material collected in the course of his life at the center of San Francisco’s bohemian culture. He worked at City Lights, sold the copy of Howl that lead to the obscenity trial, went on trial with Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and was written out of the Howl movie. Shig’s Review first appeared in 1960 as two volumes of poetry edited by Shig and published by Adler Press. These printed publications featured poets such as Vincent McHugh, C. H. Kwock, and brothers Vincent and Sean McBride—poets not found in City Lights publications. Marvin Friedman, one of the poets featured in Shig’s Review #1 moved from New York to San Francisco in 1957. His literary idols were Saul Bellow and Bernard Malamud rather than Ginsberg and the Beats. Friedman and Phil Leider, who had come from New York together, had a few drinks one night and headed for City Lights, only to find it closed. They penned a few parodies of Ginsberg on the spot, and taped them to the door of City Lights. They returned to City Lights a few days later, and found that their parodies had been mimeographed and were being given away at the bookstore. Shig subsequently invited them to submit poems for Shig’s Review #1. The third issue of Shig’s Review includes poems by Shigeyoshi Murao, Yoshi Murao, Yoshi Murao Shigi, and other variations on Shig’s name. Instead of poems, the volume features a single photo cropped in different ways. In the image, Shig is sitting on the edge of a bed, holding a stick with a bird figure at the end, which is probably a child’s toy from his Japanese folk art collection.