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Poetry at the Henry
Poet Frank O'Hara was also an influential art critic (and a curator at the Museum of Modern Art). An integral part of the New York art world in the 1950s and '60s, O'Hara hung out with painters; Elaine de Kooning, John Buttons, and Alex Katz painted him; Jasper Johns illustrated one of his books; and he wrote about their work in ARTnews. Their paintings also inspired his poetry.
And yet, in the midst of all this "serious" art, O'Hara remained cheeky, unpretentious, and connected to the world of everyday urban living, pop culture, and people—as asserted in his poem, "Having a Coke With You":
Listen to him read it.
In the spirit of O'Hara, local poetry publisher Wave Books (where I recently took a part time job) is commandeering the Henry Art Gallery this weekend.
"Three Days of Poetry" brings 14 contemporary poets together—all of whom are Wave authors—to interact with the art and each other.
Here's what's on the agenda:
Listening to poetry, looking at special collection art books, watching hard or impossible-to-find footage of dead poets on film, listening to live poets in readings (some with only 20 audience members in the James Turrell Skyspace), looking at art inside the Henry and around campus, writing poems or making erasures (a method of writing poems by which you take a found text and alter it by "erasing"), and—while drinking or eating snacks—probably talking about poetry and art.
Both nights will be topped off with the requisite poetry shindig, group readings in the Henry auditorium by:
Friday, 7pm
Noelle Kocot, Eileen Myles , Richard Meier, Maggie Nelson, Matthew Rohrer , Dara Wier and Matthew Zapruder.
Saturday, 7pm
Joshua Beckman, Dorothea Lasky, Anthony McCann , Geoffrey Nutter, Mary Ruefle, Jon Woodward and Rachel Zucker
Three-day passes are $75 or $50 for students. (For information on scholarships, email [email protected].) You can also get a day pass for $25, which will get you into all the films for that day, as well as the night-time reading. You can see the full schedule and buy festival passes online or buy day passes at Open Books or Pilot Books.
And yet, in the midst of all this "serious" art, O'Hara remained cheeky, unpretentious, and connected to the world of everyday urban living, pop culture, and people—as asserted in his poem, "Having a Coke With You":
Listen to him read it.
In the spirit of O'Hara, local poetry publisher Wave Books (where I recently took a part time job) is commandeering the Henry Art Gallery this weekend.
"Three Days of Poetry" brings 14 contemporary poets together—all of whom are Wave authors—to interact with the art and each other.
Here's what's on the agenda:
Listening to poetry, looking at special collection art books, watching hard or impossible-to-find footage of dead poets on film, listening to live poets in readings (some with only 20 audience members in the James Turrell Skyspace), looking at art inside the Henry and around campus, writing poems or making erasures (a method of writing poems by which you take a found text and alter it by "erasing"), and—while drinking or eating snacks—probably talking about poetry and art.
Both nights will be topped off with the requisite poetry shindig, group readings in the Henry auditorium by:
Friday, 7pm
Noelle Kocot, Eileen Myles , Richard Meier, Maggie Nelson, Matthew Rohrer , Dara Wier and Matthew Zapruder.
Saturday, 7pm
Joshua Beckman, Dorothea Lasky, Anthony McCann , Geoffrey Nutter, Mary Ruefle, Jon Woodward and Rachel Zucker
Three-day passes are $75 or $50 for students. (For information on scholarships, email [email protected].) You can also get a day pass for $25, which will get you into all the films for that day, as well as the night-time reading. You can see the full schedule and buy festival passes online or buy day passes at Open Books or Pilot Books.
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