Don't forget to make a big time effort to get your soul in need of something, anything, over to Madison Sq. Park at 6:30 pm this Thursday, August 2nd to experience a tribute to that renowned, fabulous, and, alas, dead, New York poet Frank O'Hara. The scoop:
A Strictly New York Joie de Vivre:
Celebrating the Work of Frank O’Hara
With Billy Collins and Paul Violi
Presented by the National Book Foundation
The poet Frank O’Hara (awarded the National Book Award for Poetry posthumously in 1972) was a key figure in the postwar New York School of poets and painters which includes poets John Ashbery and James Schuyler, and painters Larry Rivers and Jasper Johns. His deceptively straightforward poems are in fact complex representations of a revolutionary sensibility. O’Hara’s influence on succeeding generations of poets, as well as on the cultural landscape of New York City, is undeniable.
Poets Billy Collins (ed. The Bronx's only Poet Laureate!) and Paul Violi (ed., funny guy, witty poet) will read from O’Hara’s work as well as their own, and discuss O’Hara’s continuing influence on contemporary poetry and the literary culture of New York City. Billy Collins was United States Poet Laureate from 2001–2003; he has published eight collections of poetry and edited two anthologies of contemporary poetry. Paul Violi is the author of twelve poetry books and has been published widely in magazines and anthologies. His many poetry awards include grants from The American Academy of Arts and Letters and The Ingram Merrill Foundation. He teaches in the New School graduate writing program and at Columbia University.
Poet and critic Craig Morgan Teicher will moderate.
The really great thing is that the reading and discussion will take place by the Farragut monument! And we all remember Farragut, right. That famous line...
Damn the torpedos! Full speed ahead...
Oh, you bet it's going to be great. For a great article on Frank O'Hara, click here.
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