The Camel's Last Gasp by Richard Griffin

Richard Griffin was born in 1857 on New York to a family of English extraction. When he was a child, they moved to a cranberry bog in New Jersey. At the age of sixteen he started work as a clerk in New York City. In his spare time he was involved in amateur theatrical productions, subsequently becoming a professional actor and touring extensively throughout the United States and abroad. He served in the Spanish-American war of 1895. According to his own account, he also served in World War I as an intelligence officer, and arrested a German spy after a punch-up. Before and after this service, he lived in Greenwich Village and other parts of Manhattan, and wrote poetry which he self-published. From internal evidence it seems likely that at some stage he spent time in a mental institution. His date of death is unknown but was subsequent to 1931, the date of his last book.
His works have a certain quirky charm which reminds one somewhat of the Dada and Surrealist poetry, and show maybe even closer connections to the movies of the Marx Brothers, W. C. Fields, and the Ring Lardner of nonsense plays like The Tridget of Greva. They have a style and charm of their own which has given him a certain cult following. An acquired taste, maybe -- but one well worth acquiring.

The Camel's Last Gasp was his last book; consisting of the title story which is a surrealist novella, and some shorter prose pieces and poems.