Introduction

'From here it is necessary to ship all bodies east.'

I am in Los Angeles, at 2714 Marsh Street,

Writing, rolling east with the earth, drifting toward Scorpio, thinking,

Hoping toward laughter and indifference.

Above are the first lines of Thomas McGrath's Letter to an Imaginary Friend, the long autobiographical poem begun in 1954, just after his blacklisting and firing from Los Angeles State College. An address written into the lore of American poetry, 2714 Marsh Street -- the location of McGrath's Frogtown home -- now, somewhat symbolically, sits buried beneath the many strata of concrete that make up the junction of the 5 and 2 freeways.

McGrath was a poet, radical, and faculty member at Los Angeles State College (now Cal State LA) in the 1950s. Blacklisted after his recalcitrant testimony before a House Un-American Activities Committee hearing in 1953, however, he was controversially fired by LASC. McGrath nevertheless persevered in his commitment to poetry and politics, and quietly went on to a long and critically-respected career.

Our McGrath Working Group was formed to commemorate McGrath’s Cal State LA legacy, and, in honor of the centenary of his birth, we curated an exhibition of archival documents, photographs, and obscure editions in the Cal State LA library during 2016 Spring quarter. This now online exhibit, Holy City Adrift, explores the Los Angeles legacy of the radical poet and teacher Thomas McGrath.