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Jim Eggeling (EG geh ling), Poet/Critic/Publisher
Eggeling's postal address is 625 Honeysuckle Court, Laredo, TX 78041; his e-mail address is jaimel@netscorp.net; and his phone number (956)723-3978.
A queer of Anglo-Irish descent, with hazel eyes and a ruddy complexion, Eggeling was born 25 June 1934 in Del Rio, Texas. He has lived most of his life in Texas. His name, that of his
adoptive father who emigrated from Germany, is Prussian. He is 5'10" and weighs 250 pounds. His right hand is damaged and he totally bald.
"All in all," he says, "Not a pretty picture."
Pets? "God forbid," says he. "They would steal affection from my poems."
He is currently employed as a middle school teacher and is preparing student poems for publication in the Spring of 1999. He is a queer activist, as he was in San Antonio for a dozen years.
He went to sundry places of learning: Landhaven, Maine, whence he also traveled in Europe for one year. The school was the first Americans permitted into Yugoslavia as guests of Marshal J. B. Tito after the break with Russia. Eggeling, then 16, earned
The Headmaster's Award for his "Journal of Yugoslavia" written during the tour of that country; Trinity U., San Antonio where he had his translation of a Greek epigram published in a national anthology; John Seally Medical Hospital, Psychiatric Unit, Galveston, Texas; the University of Texas, Austin, (where he got a B.A. and later studied toward a Ph.D.); San Antonio Community
College; Our Lady University, San Antonio (where he got an M.Ed.) ; Laredo Community College, TAMIU, Laredo, etc.
He lists painting, reading organizing the gay Lesbian community of San Antonio (which he has been active in since 1971) and organizing Laredo (cyber) Queer Space, as his hobbies.
His religion has been "surgically removed"; his politics are "naive." What Eggeling enjoys in the arts besides poetry are "some of this, some of that - Plato, Shakespeare, Spengler, Tolstoy, Mother Goose, etc." He is an interested amateur in science and philosophy. His one sports-related interest is in nude wrestling. As far as "life-in-general" goes, he says, "I have managed to stay alive until now. I expect that to continue for a little while."
As he answered the Comprepoetica survey, the first poem that came into his mind when asked about it was "Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes."
What does he think of the current status of the world, and can he do anything about it? "Duck." What questions does he think were left off survey? "That's a good question. I'm glad you included it."
Eggeling is affiliated with http://www.netscorp.net/~hadrian, and ANTINOUS E-PRESS by HADRIAN HOUSE, PUBLISHERS,
http://www.netscorp.net/~jaimel, and LaredoQueerSpace.
His publication credits include the following:
Where written up: "God knows. Occasionally, I come across someone who has heard of me. Winston Leyland of Leyland press ranked me right after Allen Ginsberg as a 'Gay Movement' poet."
Eggeling doesn't read much contemporary poetry outside the classroom, so has no favorite contemporary (living) poets, to speak of. Among the poets of yesterday, he likes best the poets of the Mousa Paidike, Palatine Anthology, Dickinson, Whitman,
Robert Barrett Browning, Cavafy, Ginsberg, Dugan . . . He considers no critics of importance to him.
To the survey question about his tastes in poetry, he responds, "N/A." Says he about his criticism: "I don't criticize the work of others because I am too busy revising my own." His impression of contemporary poetry is that it is "affected, tired, academic,
dwarfed." He thinks about it "as little as possible." For a sample of Eggeling's poetry, he invites you to http://www.netscorp.net/~hadrian (a site he feels ought
to be listed in the Comprepoetica dictionary. He welcomes feedback concerning his poetry and poetry site. "I am my own most severe critic," he says.
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