Bowery Blues

About the Book

Introduction: the author affirms that the germ of this work was Dorothy Day’s direction to get his pieces collected.

Dedicatory poem “O For A Voice…” by William Blake

“A Tribute to Dorothy Day” from author’s “Prologue,” Rags of Time: A Season in Prison

“Jim Wilson Gets Three Years,” December 1966: reports on the trip to Newark, NJ, with Dorothy Day and Pat Rusk to witness one of the first draft card burner’s sentencing.

“The Fast and the Waters,” March, 1967: the story of a two-week fast by Catholic Workers at the National Shrine in Washington, DC.

“Chrystie Street, May 1967”: Describes the daily routine of workers in their various settings at the Chrystie Street House of Hospitality.

“Rangers Riot, Strikers Suffer, Chavez: ‘We Will Endure,’ June, 1967”: reports on a melon strike in Rio Grande City, Texas; the strike-breaking activities of Texas Rangers, Chavez’s intervention.

“The Powerless Blacks On Long Island, July 1967”: reports on unorganized farm workers and conditions in labor camps on potato farms.

“Chrystie Street, July 1967”: Living with violence during Summer of Riots.

“Men of the Fields on the Pavements of New York, September 1967”: reports on visit of California farm workers to the Worker, their base as they organize Hunts Point Market.

“Delano: The City and the Strikers, November 1967”: report on Chavez’s community and headquarters, Forty Acres, in Delano, CA.

“Chrystie Street, November 1967”:reports on FBI agent’s infiltration of our soup line.

“Chrystie Street, December 1967”: Story of “Mama,” an aged neighbor and daily guest of our house, her disappearance, and our discovery of her.

“A Man and a Vision, December 1967”: reports on one of the volunteer laborers at Forty Acres, Emil Flackner, a plasterer.

“Chrystie Street, January 1968”: describes Death and the Christmas season at the House.

“A Response to the Resistance, January 1968”: a speech by author at the Eastern Conference for Non-Cooperation with Selective Service, October 30, 1966

“Chrystie Street, March 1968”: report on Bowery men.

“Chrystie Street, April 1968”: on the assassination of Martin Luther King.

“Chrystie Street, June 1968”: a letter about the House to Jim Wilson, CW editor, in prison at Allenwood Prison Farm.

“Miller and Kelly Jailed, July, 1968”: Miller was the first to burn his draft card, Kelly was a beautiful soul.

“Che and the Revolutionary experience, July-August 1968”: a discussion of Che’s Diary in terms of aspects of a revolutionary way of life.

“36 East First Street, September 1968”: a report on the move to the new House, new volunteers, the author’s arrest and indictment.

“36 East First Street, November 1968”: facing winter in the new House on the Bowery.

“Cogley and the Relevance of Radicalism, November 1968”: a response to an article critical of the CW by a former Catholic Worker.

“36 East First Street, December 1968”: Letter to Dan Kelly at Allenwood Prison Farm.

“Jailed Editors Write, February 1969”: Letter from author to House from Federal House of Detention in New York City.

“Three Prison Poems, May, 1969”: “Ways of Doing Time,” “To My Wife,” and “Prayer.”

“Post-Prison Poems, February 1971”: “Soup line Revisited,” “In Deerfield, Massachusetts.”

“John Dunn Hunter: Victim and Measure, September 1973”: A review of Richard Drinnon’s White Savage: The Case of John Dunn Hunter, and in response to Wounded Knee II.

“The Monument, June-July 1983”: a report on a visit to the Vietnam Memorial.

“The Face of Falsehood, March 1987”: excerpt from my 1986 work, a literary study of Melville and Hawthorne.

“A History of Abandonment, June-July 1991”: an article in response to the Iraqi War.

“In Defense of a Generation of Objectors, 1997”: a response to a military man’s criticism of those who refused to fight in Vietnam.

“An Open Letter to the Catholic Worker, 1998”: a defense of Dorothy Day in response to Cardinal O’Conner’s effort to pursue canonization of her as the pat

About the Author

Jack Cook was born in Brooklyn, NY, in l940, and was educated at King's College (PA.) and Cornell University. He served as Associate Editor of The Catholic Worker from l966-l973; in l968 he was indicted and convicted for refusal of Induction and sentenced to three years in Federal Prison. Two years into his term he was released by order of the Supreme Court. He is the author of Rags of Time: A Season in Prison (Beacon, 1972) and The Face Of Falsehood (Anthoensen, 1986). He currently lives with his family in upstate New York.