James Broughton
An image from The Bed, one of the productions that also features James Broughton.
James Broughton

James Broughton

November 10, 1913 — Modesto, California

James Broughton was an American poet and poetic filmmaker. He was part of the San Francisco Renaissance, a precursor to the Beat poets. He was an early bard of the Radical Faeries as well as a member of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, serving the community as Sister Sermonetta. His work is quintessentially Californian – exploring and engaging the polar frontiers of wildness and civility, male and female, body and spirit—with the crash of Pacific Ocean waves echoing throughout. "Ultimately I have learned more about poetry / from music and magic than from literature," he wrote.

High Kukus

High Kukus

1973

Mother's Day

Mother's Day

1948

This is It

This is It

1971

The Bed

The Bed

1967

Four in the Afternoon

Four in the Afternoon

1951

The Potted Psalm

The Potted Psalm

1946

The Pleasure Garden

The Pleasure Garden

1953

Loony Tom the Happy Lover

Loony Tom the Happy Lover

1951