"Yonder
the ebon sails approach, in sight
Of
hells made brighter by comparison;
Under
this dead men’s sky the sun god’s boat
Rocks
on the tide that surges blackly from
Eternity,
and ebbs dawnward despite
Rude parliaments
of ghosts upon the shore
Intent
on begging passage … What dread thing
Ghastly
in form, is this, though, rising up
Hideous
to behold, from this necrotic stream?
“Take me hence!’
cries Osiris, when the dire
Insatiable
serpent lifts its ovoid head –
No
more shall these shadows show obedience,
Though,
to this ungerminating king,
Howe’er
unhappily he wave his parts.
Even
as he cries, in fact, Apep the snake
Grabs
him upon the fundament; bites it
Right
off his body, then spits it aside.
“Oh no!” Osiris does
complain, and then
Osiris
is himself spat to the shore.
Vanquished
for now, grievous asunder bit,
Evolving
piecemeal, stoic Osiris lies
Knowing
it all before – and now content,
Implacable
through this undignified
Division,
to await reassembly."
-William
Ashbless
ANNOUNCING
"In
late December of this year the [International William Ashbless] Society will
publish the first complete [version of The Twelve Hours] of the Night, to
commemorate the [200th anniversary of its author’s] birth. This
historically important volume [has been anxiously anticipated by] scholars and
reviewers ever since its announcement [about 4 words, including ‘at’?] the
Society’s annual gathering in London.
ABOUT
THE BOOK
"This
deluxe edition will include an introduction [----------] and [--- --] annotations
by the noted historian and Ashbless [expert William Hastings]. Besides being a
published poet himself, [he is chairman of The] Eleventh Hour, the Los Angeles
chapter [of IWAS]. [This is an excerpt] from his insightful introduction:
"Lord
Byron once described the time [minor Romantic poet] [Ash]bless as “a damned
improbable character”, [and the details of] Ashbless’ life are hard to
establish. It [----------] born somewhere west of the Blue Ridge [ -----------]
Craig County Virginia, in late 1785, and [in 1810 moved to England] where he
spent most of the rest of his life. In 1811 he married Jacqueline Tichy, who
died in 1839; Ashbless [was killed in 1846], presumably by some enemy out of
his [colorful past]. Among [-----] his obscure works are The Twelve Hours of
the Night. [3 words]
An Account
of London Philosophers, and its companion volumes An Account of London Madmen
and An Account of London Scientists. There is some circumstantial evidence that
portions of these last [works] were actually written after his death, and
Stevenson, in a letter to Henry James, cites Mayhew as a possible collaborator.
His reasoning is [---in] at best.
"Included
in this version will be the notorious “suppressed two-dozen [lines]” Hazlitt
refers to in his essay “Two Inconsequential Poets.” First published in the PMLA
in 1940, these are the flimsy basis of scholar Brendan Doyle’s contention that
the science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein may have borrowed from The Twelve
Hours of the Night to [con]struct his famous short story “By His Bootstraps.”
Brendan Doyle disappeared [under?] mysterious circumstances in England in 1983,
though, and whatever basis he had for this theory seems to have disappeared
with him.
"As a
footnote, and flying in the face of common sense and of the reliable [---]
account of Ashbless’ death in the Woolwich Marshes in [1846], there surfaced in
Los Angeles, California, between 1935 and 1940, a [po]et named, preposterously,
William Ashbless, who had clinging to [him] bits and pieces of evidence that
suggested that he was Ashbless the Ro[mantic] poet, prodigiously old. A
founding member of the Cahuenga [poets? school? school of poets?], his own literary reputation is, of
course, fairly solidly established, [---]ly on the strength of his Amazon Moon
sonnets and his long im[pene?]trable Rippling England Bleeds. He disappeared
beneath the city [-- Rancho? Pa]los Verdes twenty years ago after a series of
half understood misadventures.
"The
notion of the two men being one and the same is, of course, [---]ess, as almost
certainly, is the rumor that this false Ashbless has [resur]faced, and that a
collection of recent poems is to be published in [the P]aris Review next year."
William Hastings,
The Maze Shed
Eagle Rock,
California May, 1985
A
DESCRIPTION
"The
definitive edition will be printed in hand set types upon pure linen paper
handmade in France especially for the IWAS edition of The Twelve Hours of the
Night. This volume will be bound in three-quarter levant with vellum over
boards and vellum doublures. The books will be encapsulated in handcrafted
mahogany drop-back folding boxes. The binding was designed and executed by
world renowned binder Rummondo Hardcase whose fine bindings have been exhibited
in the Louvre.
"There
will be 100 copies of The Twelve Hours of the Night printed of which 90 copies
are available to the public for L500.00. Remittance or inquiries should
be directed to the nearest IWAS society chapter.
"Further
inquiries may be made of the nearest chapter or branch of the International
William Ashbless Society. I-W-A-S London/Los Angeles/Sydney. Printed in London."
Here is an interesting talk
that goes into the Ashbless phenomenon in more detail; his character seems to
have taken on a life of its own, spreading to other authors and works. I hope someday Powers and Blaylock will publish a complete collection of their work as Ashbless, including their student work. I hope it will be before either passes away, so 'Ashbless' has another chance to sign another book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwWRNitEOAI 
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