Category Archives: NY School Influence

Ben Lerner’s Oblique Elegy For John Ashbery

Posted on May 28, 2020 by

“I find the moments of beauty and possibility opening up in John Ashbery’s work inexhaustibly beautiful,” the fiction writer and poet Ben Lerner recently said in an interview.  This is certainly not surprising – Ashbery is a fixture in virtually … Continue reading →

Posted in Barbara Guest, Ben Lerner, Fiction, Joe Brainard, John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, NY School Influence, Ron Padgett, Ted Berrigan | 6 Comments

Sea Wolf’s “Frank O’Hara,” a Tribute to the Poet of Indie Rock

Posted on May 12, 2020 by

  Indie rock’s love affair with Frank O’Hara continues apace.  As I’ve noted before on this blog, O’Hara seems to haunt the history and present of popular music, leading one observer to ask: ‘When did Frank O’Hara become the poet … Continue reading →

Posted in Allen Ginsberg, Federico Garcia Lorca, Frank O'Hara, Music, NY School Influence, Walt Whitman | Leave a comment

Frank O’Hara as a Liberating Force in Garth Greenwell’s “Cleanness”

Posted on January 20, 2020 by

Garth Greenwell’s new book of fiction, Cleanness, has been greeted with rave reviews over the past couple of weeks.  Narrated by a middle-aged American poet living and teaching in Sofia, Bulgaria, the book reflects Greenwell’s own background as a poet … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Frank O'Hara, Garth Greenwell, NY School Influence | Leave a comment

Frank O’Hara, Zadie Smith, Sally Rooney – O’Hara’s Presence in Contemporary British and Irish Fiction

Posted on November 11, 2019 by

  Fiction writers from the UK and Ireland seem to be having a Frank O’Hara moment. I wrote about this trend a couple years ago, after noticing that the titles of two books by young British women — Emma Jane … Continue reading →

Posted in Andrew Sean Greer, Don DeLillo, Fiction, Frank O'Hara, NY School Influence, Zadie Smith | 1 Comment

David Berman, Poet Among Musicians (1967-2019)

Posted on August 13, 2019 by

Last week, tragic news hit the worlds of indie rock and contemporary poetry simultaneously.  The musician and poet David Berman, leader of the acclaimed indie band Silver Jews, had passed away at the age of 52, after a long struggle … Continue reading →

Posted in David Berman, In Memoriam, James Tate, John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, Music, NY School Influence | 1 Comment

Frank O’Hara and Indie Punk (Having a Coke with Martha)

Posted on April 16, 2019 by

Longtime readers of this blog probably know I’m always on the lookout for moments when Frank O’Hara or other poets of the New York School pop up in the world of music.  O’Hara, especially, continues to haunt the history and … Continue reading →

Posted in Frank O'Hara, Grace Hartigan, Lou Reed, Music, NY School Influence, Patti Smith, Thurston Moore, Visual Art | 1 Comment

Happy 40th Birthday to Midwinter Day (by Bernadette Mayer)

Posted on December 22, 2018 by

“I had an idea to write a book that would … prove the day like the dream has everything in it.” — Bernadette Mayer, Midwinter Day Today marks the 40th anniversary of an important moment in twentieth-century poetry — the … Continue reading →

Posted in Bernadette Mayer, Charles Olson, Claudia Rankine, Ezra Pound, Frank O'Hara, James Joyce, Lewis Warsh, NY School Influence, William Carlos Williams | 3 Comments

Roundup of Recent “New York School of Poetry” News and Links (8/23/18)

Posted on August 23, 2018 by

Here’s the latest roundup of recent links, new publications, and news related to the New York School of poets.  (For my most recent roundup, see here). — The indie band Deerhunter released an album titled Double Dream of Spring, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Alice Notley, Anne Waldman, Bernadette Mayer, Bill Berkson, Bobbie Louise Hawkins, Criticism, David Lehman, Douglas Crase, Douglas Oliver, Eileen Myles, Fairfield Porter, Frank O'Hara, Geoffrey O'Brien, Irving Sandler, Jane Freilicher, Joan Mitchell, Joe Brainard, John Ashbery, John Yau, Kenneth Koch, Kevin Young, Larry Rivers, Music, NY School Influence, Robert Creeley, Robert Dash, Ron Padgett, Roundup, Thomas Devaney, Vincent Katz, Vincent Warren, Visual Art | 2 Comments

One of Kate Spade’s Muses was Frank O’Hara

Posted on June 7, 2018 by

                  Here’s an interesting footnote to the very sad news about the pioneering fashion designer Kate Spade, who died of an apparent suicide several days ago.  In a piece in the Atlantic, … Continue reading →

Posted in fashion, Frank O'Hara, Grace Hartigan, In Memoriam, Mad Men, NY School Influence | 3 Comments

Cecil Taylor (1929-2018), Frank O’Hara, Amiri Baraka

Posted on May 17, 2018 by

When the groundbreaking avant-garde jazz pianist and composer Cecil Taylor died last month, there was an outpouring of obituaries and tributes to his genius and influence.  But there was less attention paid to Taylor’s connections to the literary world, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), Beats, Billie Holiday, Bob Kaufman, Cecil Taylor, Charles Olson, Frank O'Hara, Franz Kline, Gilbert Sorrentino, In Memoriam, Influences on the NY School, Jack Kerouac, Jazz, Kenneth Koch, Larry Rivers, Michael McClure, Morton Feldman, Music, Norman Mailer, NY School Influence, Ornette Coleman, Paul Blackburn, Robert Creeley, Robert Duncan, Thelonious Monk | 1 Comment