To Maestro MarshallAllen & theArkestra who continueconstructing "the Cosmo bridgeto the DarkUnknown Eternal" & to the memor'yof LesterI)owie Ronnie I)o'ykins Don Cherr'y Dann'y Davis Malachi favors Maghostut. johnGilmore Thomas'I)ugs' Hunter jamesjackson Cliffordjarvis rat Laurdine r atrick EricWalker/ SamaraiCelestial Earl'I)uster'Smith juneT'yson Richard Wilkinson DougE.Williams/ AkhTal Ebah &man'yothers The Immeasurable Equation SunRa The Immeasurable Equation The Collected Poetry and Prose compiled and edited by James L. Wolfand Harttnut Geerken Introductions and Essays by James L. Wolf, Harttnut Geerken Sigrid Hauff, Klaus DetlefThiel, and Brent Hayes Edwards Photography by Robert Lax, AngelikaJakob WAiTAWHILE 2005 This isaWAlTAWHILEbook. Publishedby HartmutGeerken.0-82211 Wartaweil37. Allrightsreserved. ©Copyright2005 byENTERPLANETARYKONCEPTSfortheworksof HermanPooleBlountaka LeSony'rRaaka SunRa. Copyrightforthe other contributionsbythe authors. All rightsreserved. No part ofthis book may be reproducedorutilizedinany form or byany means,electronicormechanical,includingphotocopy,recordingor byany information storageand retrievalsystemnow knownorto be inventedwithoutthe consentinwritingfrom the copyrightholdersENTERPLENATARYKONCEPTSand/orWAITAWHILEbooks, exceptby areviewerwho wishestoquotebriefpassagesinconnectionwith areviewwritten for inclusion inamagazine,newspaper,orbroadcast. Publishedand PrintedbyBookson DemandGmbH,Norderstedt CoverDesign: HartmutGeerken,Dr. Anton1.Kuchelmeister. Coverphotos(front, frontispiece, verso): byRobertLax. Athens,Greece. February 1984 (Sun RaArchiveWaitawhile). Otherphotos: byAngelikaJakob, Sun RaatMunichCentral Station,March 17th, 1984 (Sun Ra ArchiveWaitawhile). Sun Ra'ssignatureand cul-de-lampefrom an undatedletter(Sun Ra ArchiveWaitawhile). Electronicdataprocessingfrom Wordfiles toproductionmaster: Dr. Anton1.Kuchelmeister. Layoutand formatting: James L.Wolf, Dr. AntonJ.Kuchelmeister. First published: May 2005 Printedin"Old"Europe. ISBN3-8334-2659-4 The sun ishere and radiates inthedarkness, and your darknesses don'tcomprend it. (Giovanni Pieodella Mirandola, 1463- 1494) And they are gone: ay,ages longago These lovers fled away into the storm. (John Keats, 1796- 1821) What, there's nothing inthe moon note-worthy? Nay- for ifthat moon could love amortal, Use, tocharm him(so to fitafancy) Allher magic ('tisthe old sweet mythos) Shewould tum anew side to her mortal, Side unseen ofherdsman, huntsman, steersman Blank to Zoroasteron histerrace, Blind toGalileoon his turret, Dumb to Homer, dumb to Keats - him,even! (RobertBrowning, 1812-1889) Goddam, Goddam, 'tiswhyIam, Goddam, So 'gainstthe winter'sbalm. Singgoddam, damm, sing Goddam, Sing goddam, sing goddam, DAMM. (EzraPound, 1885- 1972) Our shit isbeyond the people who are trying todefine it. (LesterBowie, 1941- 1999) Contents Preface 1 James L. Wolf Sun Ra's Poetry 3 Hartmut Geerken His majestic insignificance 7 Sigrid Hauff Thought isaMental Force 17 Klaus DetlefThiel Samisdat- The Secret Message ofSun Ra'sPoetry 23 Brent Hayes Edwards The Race for Space: Sun Ra's Poetry 29 The Poems 57 The Prose 445 Appendices 479 The Sun Ra Library 481 Keys used inthe Source Description 500 Sources ofthe Poems 501 Sources ofthe Prose 518 Index ofFirst Lines ofthe Poems 519 Sources ofthe Introductions and Essays 527 The Contributors 528 Radio Broadcasts on Sun Ra's Poetical Works 529 ix