… A friend of mine was very moved by a book of poems called Coachella Elegy by Christian Gullette. His partner had died unexpectedly of a heart attack, and Gullette’s husband, who appears throughout the book, was being treated for cancer while it was written. My friend worried and wondered if the poet’s husband was…
… John Compton lives in Kentucky. I met him on Facebook where I first read his straight-forward-what-you-see-is-what-you-get poetry. When you are gay in Kentucky there are yahoos who think it’s funny to tie you to the back of their pickups and drag you down the road. John tells me that if anyone would threaten him…
… On May the 12th Martine Bellen, Elaine Equi and Patricia Spears Jones read from their most recent books at KGB. I admire these poets, and recorded them. If you missed this reading, don’t worry, you can still go in the Vimeo below. Enjoy. Martine Bellen You can check out Martine Bellen’s…
Tony Towle began to write poetry in 1960, and soon became a part of the art and poetry scene that was happening in NYC with Kenneth Koch, Frank O’Hara, Larry Rivers, Alex Katz, and so many vibrant others back then. Later on, John Ashbery would say, “Tony Towle is one of the New York…
… Years ago, I used to swim four or five times a week at the old McBurney Y on 23rd Street across from the Chelsea Hotel. You got your own lane for half an hour swimming at your own speed, your arms and legs in sync, not only in meditation, but in a new way…
There are explorer poets. Like Hannah Weiner who invited us into her acid trip and Bernadette Mayer who invited us into her mid-winter day, Michael Ruby invites us behind his closied eyes. In previous books, Michael has explored the words of The Star Spangled Banner, inspiration on the New York City subway, and the landscapes…
In April, LiVE MAG! with its new issue, Number 21, presented John Godfrey with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Tompkins Square Library. The featured readers celebrating John were Elinor Nauen, Andrei Codrescu, Lila Dlaboha, Shelley Miller, Ilke Scobie, and Harris Schiff. You can hear them all in the Vimeo below. Enjoy. …
… To my surprise and delight, I discovered two John S. Hall Vimeos that I recorded and edited a decade ago. They were lost, but now they are found, and for safe keeping, I am putting them here up on my blog. I heard John Hall read his poem “Death” at the Sidewalk Cafe sometime…
Lynn McGee loves of animals—she can pick up a snake—and by connection she loves the environments that they live in. This love creates empathy in her work. I’ve known Lynn since 2003 when we were colleagues at Borough of Manhattan Community College, new teachers at the beginning of the century. The first poem of hers…
… Last autumn, in late October, I went to the Tibet House to hear Marie Warsh read an essay about her mother, the poet Bernadette Mayer. I had never been to the Tibet House before and I have to say that it is a very beautiful place including the room where the lecture took place….
Ron Padgett’s new book of poems, Pink Dust, is a book I like holding. It’s not too small, but small enough to carry in your coat pocket. You can take it along and it doesn’t slow you down. Pink Dust is published by New York Review Books, the same publisher that put out Ron’s translation…
… On November 23rd 2024, I attended the memorial for the poet Jim Cory at the Ethical Society in Philadelphia. Jim was exemplary. He helped younger poets find themselves and get published, and often hosted readings in his apartment that I sometimes attended. Although I lived in New York, at Jim’s and in the social…
