Albert Huffstickler
Encyclopedia
Albert Huffstickler was an American poet
. He was born in Texas
and lived in Austin
during his later years, contributing to the poetry scene there and further afield. Huffstickler published hundreds of poems in his lifetime in both chapbook
s and academic and underground journals. A 1990 Sow’s Ear Poetry Review article reporting on an interview by Felicia Mitchell described Huffstickler’s natural poetic voice as "an attempt to meld the human voice with the poetic spirit to present a highly charged, story-filled verse.”
, surviving a twin who died at birth. As the son of a teacher and soldier, he and his two siblings (a brother and a sister) moved often growing up. After graduating from high school, he worked in Charlotte, North Carolina
prior to attending, but not graduating from, the University of North Carolina
where he discovered poetry. Marriage and children followed as well as various jobs in Florida
and Arizona
, where he briefly studied Scientology
. Drafted in 1954, he spent two years in the army. After completing armed service he returned to Texas where he attended Southwest Texas State University
, majoring in English and developing an interest in Jungian psychology
. During the 1960s, Huffstickler continued writing poetry as well as erotica
, publishing the erotic pulp fiction
under a pseudonym.
Huffstickler moved to Austin, Texas, in 1964, and the town became his home base as he moved around and travelled. In 1973 he began working at the Perry-Castañeda Library
at the University of Texas at Austin
, where he remained until retirement at the age of 62. Brett Holloway-Reeves of The Austin Chronicle wrote, "This poet of the road-trip would stay at the university for over 20 years, but his heart still wandered." "I had trouble with work," Huffstickler told Holloway-Reeves. "All my life. I didn't like it. I had trouble with time... and my battle with time, that meant I didn't make much of a living. When I got on with the Library, I made peace with the job situation, but I never really resolved it. I used to be embarrassed about it. But kids now, they don't care. They just slough along, spare-changing for what they can get. They're not ashamed."
Huffstickler believed in giving back to his community and helping others less fortunate. While in Austin, Huffstickler began the Hyde Park Poets Series, where he was known as the “Bard of Hyde Park” and taught poetry seminars, inspiring other well-known Austin poets including W. Joe Hoppe
. He also did volunteer work in hospitals, including the state hospital, and other care facilities. In 1989 the Texas state legislature honored his contribution to poetry. Working with Huffstickler, Richard Spiegel and Barbara Fisher included some of his work in their books Dealing with Differences and Service Learning: The Alternative Approach.
Late in life, Huffstickler began focusing more and more on visual art, working with various media including charcoal and pastel
s, sometimes selling his artwork or showing it in local venues. A documentary film
about Huffstickler, Holy Secrets by Matthew Listiak, highlights Huffstickler's personality and poetry and includes images of his art. A longtime resident of Hyde Park neighborhood in Austin, Texas, Huffstickler died on 25 February 2002, of an aneurysm
.
Many of Huffstickler's books were published by presses based in Austin, Texas
. Huffstickler's career began to grow when he won the first of two Austin Book Awards in 1989 for Walking Wounded, published by Backyard Press. The second Austin Book Award was for Working on My Death Chant, published in 1991.The Wander Years was published in 1998 by SRLR Press. Fisher and Spiegel also published a chapbook, Soul Gallery. Why I Write In Coffee Houses and Diners, a collection of selected poems, was published in 2000 by iUniverse
.
In addition to publishing in journals and by small presses, Huffstickler published many of his own poems under his Press of Circumstance imprint, often designing the cover and using his own art.
Poems have been included in a number of anthologies
, including Grow Old Along with Me: The Best is Yet to Be (edited by Sandra Martz for Papier Mache Press, 1996) and I Feel a Little Jumpy Around You: A Book of Her Poems & His Poems Collected in Pairs (edited by Naomi Shihab Nye
& Paul B. Janeczko for Simon & Schuster
, 1998).
." As Williams noted, "his poetry reflect this diversity." "Long or short, elegies or curses, comic or obscene, sad or jubilant, but always in his vocabulary of ideas," Williams continued, "his poems speak to the longing of a human for an understanding of their place in this strange, dangerous universe." After another interview with Huffstickler in 1989, Williams commented on Huffstickler's interest in "the artist's blessing, the curse; why artists have to create because the terror is so great, the universe without them so incomprehensible, too comprehensible...." As he requested in a poem, Huffstickler's ashes were scattered in an arroyo outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and by chance or fate, the arroyo turned out to be on Hyde Park Road. As Williams’ eulogy concluded, Huff remains “a soul who even now is on a bus somewhere between here and eternity.”
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
. He was born in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and lived in Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
during his later years, contributing to the poetry scene there and further afield. Huffstickler published hundreds of poems in his lifetime in both chapbook
Chapbook
A chapbook is a pocket-sized booklet. The term chap-book was formalized by bibliophiles of the 19th century, as a variety of ephemera , popular or folk literature. It includes many kinds of printed material such as pamphlets, political and religious tracts, nursery rhymes, poetry, folk tales,...
s and academic and underground journals. A 1990 Sow’s Ear Poetry Review article reporting on an interview by Felicia Mitchell described Huffstickler’s natural poetic voice as "an attempt to meld the human voice with the poetic spirit to present a highly charged, story-filled verse.”
Background
Albert Huffstickler was born in Laredo, TexasLaredo, Texas
Laredo is the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, located on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 236,091 making it the 3rd largest on the United States-Mexican border,...
, surviving a twin who died at birth. As the son of a teacher and soldier, he and his two siblings (a brother and a sister) moved often growing up. After graduating from high school, he worked in Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
prior to attending, but not graduating from, the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
where he discovered poetry. Marriage and children followed as well as various jobs in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, where he briefly studied Scientology
Scientology
Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...
. Drafted in 1954, he spent two years in the army. After completing armed service he returned to Texas where he attended Southwest Texas State University
Texas State University–San Marcos
Texas State University–San Marcos is a doctoral-granting university located in San Marcos, Texas...
, majoring in English and developing an interest in Jungian psychology
Analytical psychology
Analytical psychology is the school of psychology originating from the ideas of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. His theoretical orientation has been advanced by his students and other thinkers who followed in his tradition. Though they share similarities, analytical psychology is distinct from...
. During the 1960s, Huffstickler continued writing poetry as well as erotica
Erotica
Erotica are works of art, including literature, photography, film, sculpture and painting, that deal substantively with erotically stimulating or sexually arousing descriptions...
, publishing the erotic pulp fiction
Pulp fiction
Pulp fiction may refer to:* pulp magazines, short stories presented in a magazine format, printed on cheaply made wood-pulp paper* Pulp Fiction, a 1994 film directed by Quentin Tarantino...
under a pseudonym.
Huffstickler moved to Austin, Texas, in 1964, and the town became his home base as he moved around and travelled. In 1973 he began working at the Perry-Castañeda Library
Perry-Castañeda Library
The Perry–Castañeda Library is the main central library of the University of Texas at Austin library system in Austin, Texas. PCL is located at 21st Street and Speedway in Austin, TX....
at the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
, where he remained until retirement at the age of 62. Brett Holloway-Reeves of The Austin Chronicle wrote, "This poet of the road-trip would stay at the university for over 20 years, but his heart still wandered." "I had trouble with work," Huffstickler told Holloway-Reeves. "All my life. I didn't like it. I had trouble with time... and my battle with time, that meant I didn't make much of a living. When I got on with the Library, I made peace with the job situation, but I never really resolved it. I used to be embarrassed about it. But kids now, they don't care. They just slough along, spare-changing for what they can get. They're not ashamed."
Huffstickler believed in giving back to his community and helping others less fortunate. While in Austin, Huffstickler began the Hyde Park Poets Series, where he was known as the “Bard of Hyde Park” and taught poetry seminars, inspiring other well-known Austin poets including W. Joe Hoppe
W. Joe Hoppe
W. Joe Hoppe is an American poet, short story writer and filmmaker who was at the forefront of the performance poetry scene in Austin, Texas....
. He also did volunteer work in hospitals, including the state hospital, and other care facilities. In 1989 the Texas state legislature honored his contribution to poetry. Working with Huffstickler, Richard Spiegel and Barbara Fisher included some of his work in their books Dealing with Differences and Service Learning: The Alternative Approach.
Late in life, Huffstickler began focusing more and more on visual art, working with various media including charcoal and pastel
Pastel
Pastel is an art medium in the form of a stick, consisting of pure powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are the same as those used to produce all colored art media, including oil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and low saturation....
s, sometimes selling his artwork or showing it in local venues. A documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
about Huffstickler, Holy Secrets by Matthew Listiak, highlights Huffstickler's personality and poetry and includes images of his art. A longtime resident of Hyde Park neighborhood in Austin, Texas, Huffstickler died on 25 February 2002, of an aneurysm
Aneurysm
An aneurysm or aneurism is a localized, blood-filled balloon-like bulge in the wall of a blood vessel. Aneurysms can commonly occur in arteries at the base of the brain and an aortic aneurysm occurs in the main artery carrying blood from the left ventricle of the heart...
.
Poetry
Huffstickler believed in the small presses and small journals, contributing hundreds of poems to journals around the world from the underground to the academic. Longtime relationships with Lilliput Review and Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream led to numerous publications in those journals. Barbara Fisher and Richard Spiegel, publishers and co-editors of Waterways have noted that his work "first appeared in the February 1985 issue of Waterways. Eventually, a poem by Huffstickler would close each magazine, with hundreds of poems appearing in this magazine.Many of Huffstickler's books were published by presses based in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. Huffstickler's career began to grow when he won the first of two Austin Book Awards in 1989 for Walking Wounded, published by Backyard Press. The second Austin Book Award was for Working on My Death Chant, published in 1991.The Wander Years was published in 1998 by SRLR Press. Fisher and Spiegel also published a chapbook, Soul Gallery. Why I Write In Coffee Houses and Diners, a collection of selected poems, was published in 2000 by iUniverse
IUniverse
iUniverse, founded in October 1999, is a self-publishing company, co-located with AuthorHouse in Bloomington, Indiana. Publishers Weekly notes iUniverse has partnerships with The Writers' Club and the Writer's Digest .-History:iUniverse initially focused on business-to-consumer print-on-demand...
.
In addition to publishing in journals and by small presses, Huffstickler published many of his own poems under his Press of Circumstance imprint, often designing the cover and using his own art.
Poems have been included in a number of anthologies
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
, including Grow Old Along with Me: The Best is Yet to Be (edited by Sandra Martz for Papier Mache Press, 1996) and I Feel a Little Jumpy Around You: A Book of Her Poems & His Poems Collected in Pairs (edited by Naomi Shihab Nye
Naomi Shihab Nye
Naomi Shihab Nye is a poet, songwriter, and novelist. She was born to a Palestinian father and American mother. Although she regards herself as a "wandering poet", she refers to San Antonio as her home.-Career:...
& Paul B. Janeczko for Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
, 1998).
Commentary
In 1988, Richard Lance Williams wrote in The Austin Chronicle about Huffstickler's poetry, commenting that "travelling [had] instilled in him a great tolerance for the diversity of human behavior and a deep understanding of how a rootless life can drive one to insanityInsanity
Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...
." As Williams noted, "his poetry reflect this diversity." "Long or short, elegies or curses, comic or obscene, sad or jubilant, but always in his vocabulary of ideas," Williams continued, "his poems speak to the longing of a human for an understanding of their place in this strange, dangerous universe." After another interview with Huffstickler in 1989, Williams commented on Huffstickler's interest in "the artist's blessing, the curse; why artists have to create because the terror is so great, the universe without them so incomprehensible, too comprehensible...." As he requested in a poem, Huffstickler's ashes were scattered in an arroyo outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and by chance or fate, the arroyo turned out to be on Hyde Park Road. As Williams’ eulogy concluded, Huff remains “a soul who even now is on a bus somewhere between here and eternity.”
Books
- Why I Write in Coffee Houses and Diners. San Jose & New York: IUniverse, 2000.
- The Wander Years. Austin: SRLR Press, 1998.
- Working on My Death Chant. Austin, TX: Backyard Press, 1991.
- Walking Wounded. Austin, TX: Backyard Press, 1989.
Chapbooks
- The Certitude of Laundromats. Austin, TX: Jamming Staplers Press, 1995.
- The Cosmology of Madness. St. Paul, MN: Pariah Press/Heeltap Specials, 2000.
- Emergency Room. Austin, TX: SRLR Press, 1995. 26 pp.
- Her. Austin, TX: Aileron Press, 1982.
- Hindsight, Or How I Survived the Depression. Austin, TX: Liquid Paper Press, 1997.
- Impressions from Childhood. Austin, TX: Aileron Press, 1982.
- Learning to Lie. Austin, TX: Liquid Paper Press, 2001. 40 pp.
- Night Diner. A Report to Edward Hopper. Austin, TX: Aileron Press/L'Ecole Whitman, 1985.
- Pieces of Brandon. A Fragmentation. Austin, TX: Slough Press, 1989.
- Remembering Huff. Staten Island, NY: Ten Penny Players, Inc., 2002.
- The Remembered Light. Edgewood, TX: Slough Press, 1980.
- The Smell of Distance. Austin, TX: Ambrose and Lewis, 1991.
- Soul Gallery. NY: Bard Press, 1988.
- Wanda. Austin, TX: Plain View Press, 1988.
- A Web of Light. Fallen Chap Series #2. Austin, TX: McOne Press, 1990.
- Who Speaks My Secret Name. Greensboro, NC: March Street Press, 2001.
Press of Circumstance Chapbooks
- Alienation or The Billy the Kid Syndrome. 1998. 22 pp.
- Armageddon. 1998. 20 pp.
- Cafe du Jour. 11 pp. 1985. "Merry Christmas from Huff"
- City of the Rain. 36 pp. 1993. Typeset and design by Michael Ambrose
- Crossing Over. 2000. 24 pp. Typeset, design, and cover by F. Mitchell
- The Condition Human. Typeset and design by Keith Haas
- Dishwashers and Other Forgotten Angels. 1997. 13 pp. (First appeared in Silent Treatment E-Zine)
- The Embassy Suites Poems. 1993. 8 pp. Typeset and design by Maria Silvagnia-Macatangay
- Fanfare for Lost Angels. 66 pp. 1998. Typeset and design by Keith Haas
- Four Visions. 1998. 12 pp. Typeset and design by Michael Ambrose
- Gleanings. 20 pp. 1989. Typeset, design, and cover by Felicia Mitchell
- The Hennessey Papers. Fiction by Huffstickler and Mark Smith. 2nd. ed. 1996
- Hindsight, [TBA]
- Hodgepodge. February 1991. 8 pp.
- Impressions from Childhood. 2000. 12 pp.
- It's Lonely at the Bottom Too. 1997. 12 pp. Typeset and design by Felicia Mitchell
- The Lost Poem. 1998. 28 pp.
- On the Doorstep of Your Heart. 1998. 38 pp.
- McSwyne and the Goddess. 1997. 28 pp.
- My Last Madonna and Other Poems. 1999. 22 pp.
- My Mother at 84. 2000. 12 pp.
- A Layer of Stone. June 1997. 10 pp. "Printed on the Xerox DocuTech 135"
- The Man in the Chair. Variations on a Dream. 1997. 9 pp. Typeset and design by Felicia Mitchell
- The Old Man. 1988. 4 pp.
- The Perils of Haggerty. A Dark Fugue. 1998. 48 pp. Typeset and design by Keith Haas
- Pieces of Brandon. A Fragmentation. 2nd ed. 1991. 20 pp. Typeset and design by P. S. Monear
- Quinlen. 1995. 72 pp. Typeset and design by Mark Brimm
- A Requiem for Lunchbutt. 1997. 12 pp. Typeset and design by Michael Ambrose
- The Ruta Maya Poems. 1997. 32 pp. Typeset and design by Michael Ambrose
- Sequences. 1999. 22 pp. Typeset, design, and cover by Felicia Mitchell
- She Said. 1991. 10 pp. Design, typesetting by Mark Christal.
- St. Francis Was a Flower. [date] Child Typeset and design by Keith Haas
- Taking the Fifth. September 1998. 12 pp. Cover illustration by F. Mitchell
- War Wounds. 1992. 4 pp. Typeset and design by Rich Gowen
- The Way Things Come and Go. 1992. 10 pp. Illustrations by the Author
- A Winter Song for Michele. 1988. 8 pp. Typeset and design by Liberty Graphics, printing by Joe Ericson
- Work. 1993. Illustrated. 8 pp. Typeset and design by Rich Gowen/Mojo Graphics
Selected Anthologies
- Grow Old Along with Me: The Best is Yet to Be. Ed. Sandra Martz. CA: Papier Mache Press, 1996
- I Feel a Little Jumpy Around You: A Book of Her Poems & His Poems Collected in Pairs. Ed. Naomi Shihab Nye & Paul B. Janeczko. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1998.