Category Archives: Allen Ginsberg

For Allen Ginsberg’s Birthday: Making it Up with “Gingsberg, Koch, Padgett”

Posted on June 4, 2017 by

Allen Ginsberg would’ve turned 91 yesterday, and the flurry of tributes and social media love reminded me of an event I attended over 20 years ago — one of a handful of times I was fortunate enough to meet Ginsberg in … Continue reading →

Posted in Allen Ginsberg, collaboration, Kenneth Koch, Larry Rivers, Poetry Project at St. Marks, Ron Padgett | 8 Comments

Bill Berkson (1939-2016) and Frank O’Hara: “Bill’s School of New York”

Posted on June 17, 2016 by

Yesterday brought the very sad news that the poet and art critic Bill Berkson had passed away at the age of 76.  Berkson was of course of central importance to the New York School and its legacy, and over the coming days and months there … Continue reading →

Posted in Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), Bill Berkson, David Shapiro, Frank O'Hara, In Memoriam, James Schuyler, Joe LeSueur, John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, Pierre Reverdy, Ron Padgett, Uncategorized, Willem de Kooning | 1 Comment

Frank Lima’s Inventory Reviewed in the Chicago Tribune

Posted on February 4, 2016 by

  At the Chicago Tribune, there is a review by Jake Marmer of the new collection of Frank Lima’s work (which I wrote about here).  Marmer notes that the book, published by City Lights, “spans the lifetime of this enigmatic poet, who fell in … Continue reading →

Posted in Allen Ginsberg, Book Review, David Shapiro, Frank Lima, Frank O'Hara, Kenneth Koch

Frank Lima’s Ode to the New York School of Poets

Posted on November 17, 2015 by

The poet Frank Lima, who passed away in 2013, was an important yet undersung member of the New York School of poetry’s second generation.  Although he was close with Frank O’Hara, Kenneth Koch, David Shapiro, and many other poets of the first and … Continue reading →

Posted in Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), Beats, David Shapiro, Frank Lima, Frank O'Hara, Guillaume Apollinaire, John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Wallace Stevens, Walt Whitman | 1 Comment

Garth Risk Hallberg and the Formative Influence of Frank O’Hara and the New York School

Posted on October 19, 2015 by

The literary world has been abuzz recently over the publication of City on Fire, Garth Risk Hallberg’s massive new novel about New York City in the 1970s.  The 36-year old Hallberg received a jaw-dropping $2 million advance for the book (his first … Continue reading →

Posted in Allen Ginsberg, Frank O'Hara, John Ashbery, Lou Reed, New York, NY School Influence, Patti Smith, Velvet Underground

Resurrecting Mayakovsky

Posted on August 12, 2015 by

In the TLS, Clare Cavanagh has an excellent and informative review of the new biography of the Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky by Bengt Jangfeldt (which I also wrote about a few months ago).  Mayakovsky, of course, is one of the towering avant-garde heroes in the New York … Continue reading →

Posted in Allen Ginsberg, Book Review, Frank O'Hara, Influences on the NY School, Kenneth Koch, Vladimir Mayakovsky

Elaine de Kooning, Frank O’Hara, and the New York School

Posted on April 20, 2015 by

The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., is currently hosting a large exhibition devoted to the work of Elaine de Kooning.  De Kooning, like her husband Willem, was a good friend and ally of many poets of the New York School. The show, entitled “Elaine … Continue reading →

Posted in Abstract Expressionism, Alex Katz, Allen Ginsberg, Art Exhibit, Edwin Denby, Elaine de Kooning, Fairfield Porter, Frank O'Hara, Grace Hartigan, Jane Freilicher, Joan Mitchell, John Ashbery, Merce Cunningham, Visual Art, Willem de Kooning