Russell Payne

Jelhead Russell Payne

Jim Templeton's poetry is in a constant fluid state, he has been known to change all but the title of a poem at some performances, insisting that he is inspired as much by his surroundings and audience as he is by any sequential language he may have prepared earlier. So these poems are a mix of transcripts from various bootleg recordings of performances in the eighties and nineties, and a few more recent readings in London and New York. Jim famously refuses to write down his verse. In 1999, a napkin used by him to write down the first few verses of "Nahuatl Toroid" sold on Ebay. Com for over £200. Rumour has it that the napkin was bought by the late Marlon Brando who promptly burned the napkin "to preserve the myth".