D. A. Levy

d.a. levy (October 29, 1942 – November 24, 1968), born Darryl Alfred Levey (later changed to Darryl Allan Levy), was an American poet, artist, and alternative publisher active during the 1960s, based in Cleveland, Ohio.

Levy was born to Joseph J. and Carolyn Levy on Cleveland's near West side. Toward the end of his high school years and later, after a short stint in the Navy, Levy decided to read everything and write everything, and lose himself in the search for infinity. He later found a creative outlet in publishing on a small printing press. During this time he also discovered an important spiritual outlet in Buddhism, though Jewish by birth.

He published his own and others' works, printed on his hand press, or in mimeographed editions through his Renegade Press and Seven Flowers Press. His intense awareness of the gritty and burgeoning art scene of Cleveland, which included drugs and sex, and his need to express this scene which he felt a way of attaining enlightenment, meant that he was not welcome in the political environment.

In 1966, he was indicted for distributing obscene poetry to minors. He was arrested again in 1967, and his pressing materials confiscated. In a comment to Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Maeroff, Levy said “It’s absolutely not obscene,” he said. “And even if it were I wouldn’t care. You can go anywhere in this city and pick up something published by Grove Press” — publisher of censored works such as D.H. Lawrence’s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” — “or girlie or nudist magazines. The cops aren’t bothering them.” The case attracted wide attention, and prompted a benefit reading on May 14, 1967 on the Case Institute of Technology campus which featured such figures as Allen Ginsberg, Tuli Kupferberg and the Fugs.

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