Author Archives: Andrew Epstein

Laura Kasischke on Alice Notley’s “Descent of Alette”: “radioactive, dangerous, addictive, all-consuming”

Posted on May 24, 2017

Each month, Poetry magazine posts a “Reading List,” in which contributors to the current issue share some books that held their interest.  In the May installment, Laura Kasischke offers a rave review of Alice Notley’s masterful, book-length poem, The Descent of … Continue reading →

Posted in Alice Notley, Interview, Laura Kasischke, Podcast, Rachel Zucker | Leave a comment

Look What They’ve Done to The San Remo

Posted on May 5, 2017

There is no shortage of opportunities to feel nostalgic for the good old days when rents were cheap, bars were smoky and filled with intellectual chatter, Kafka was the rage, and New York was a haven for rebellious artists.  Nor do you … Continue reading →

Posted in Barbara Guest, Beats, Frank O'Hara, Jack Kerouac, John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, New York, William S. Burroughs | Leave a comment

Yevgeny Yevtushenko (1933-2017), Frank O’Hara, Kenneth Koch

Posted on April 2, 2017

The great Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko died yesterday at the age of 83. A towering figure in post-World War II Russian poetry, Yevtushenko was, as the New York Times obituary put it, “an internationally acclaimed poet with the charisma of an actor and … Continue reading →

Posted in Frank O'Hara, Kenneth Koch, Russian literature, Yevgeny Yevtushenko | 1 Comment

“On Rachmaninoff’s Birthday”: Frank O’Hara and the Russian Composer

Posted on April 1, 2017

Today is the birthday of the Russian composer and virtuousic pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) — a date which held special significance for Frank O’Hara. Across the course of his life, O’Hara wrote seven different poems titled “On Rachmaninoff’s Birthday” — … Continue reading →

Posted in Frank O'Hara, Music, Poems, Sergei Rachmaninoff | 2 Comments

The Coca-Cola Company Discovers Frank O’Hara’s “Having a Coke with You,” Uses It for Promotion

Posted on March 22, 2017

A couple years ago, when I was musing on the connections between Frank O’Hara and the finale of Mad Men — which notoriously ended with Don Draper having an epiphany in the form of a famous Coke commercial — I wrote … Continue reading →

Posted in Frank O'Hara | Leave a comment

Frank O’Hara and Bunny: A Tribute to V. R. Lang in new issue of “SpoKe”

Posted on March 10, 2017

The new issue of the Boston-based journal SpoKe has just appeared and it features “A Tribute to V. R. Lang,” an excellent special feature devoted to the writer Violet Lang, known simply as “Bunny” to fans of Frank O’Hara — a.k.a., … Continue reading →

Posted in Bill Berkson, Bunny Lang, David Lehman, Edward Gorey, Frank O'Hara, Ron Padgett, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

A Note on Robert Lowell and Frank O’Hara

Posted on March 1, 2017

Today is the 100th birthday of Robert Lowell, which has sparked a little flurry of attention to Lowell and his legacy, as has a new book by Kay Redfield Jamison on Lowell’s struggles with bipolar illness and its relationship to his poetry, … Continue reading →

Posted in Frank O'Hara, Robert Lowell, Uncategorized | 1 Comment