High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Kenneth Patchen (December 13, 1911 - January 8, 1972) was an American poet and novelist. Though he denied any direct connection, Patchen`s work and ideas regarding the role of artists paralleled those of the Dadaists, the Beats, and Surrealists. Patchen`s ambitious body of work also foreshadowed literary art-forms ranging from reading poetry to jazz accompaniment to his late experiments with visual poetry (which he called his "picture poems").