Events at the Shop
New York Poets - An Anthology
Thursday 25 March 2004
The New York School consisted of Frank O’Hara, John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch and James Schuyler. To celebrate the publication of Carcanet’s new anthology, its editor, Mark Ford, introduced and read selections from their work, under the auspices of the Poetry Society. Also participating was Lee Harwood, a central figure in the British poetic avant garde since the mid-1960s; Piotr Sommer, who has translated the work of all four poets into Polish; and Sarah Maguire, the author of three highly acclaimed collections and the director of the Poetry Translation Centre. The evening was hosted by Michael Schmidt, Editor of Carcanet Press.
“It may be the time for the New York School in England.”– Michael Schmidt
Managing Director, Carcanet Press
Introduction
Listen now (7:59)
- Welcome by Jules Mann (Director, The Poetry Society)
- Introduction from Michael Schmidt
Mark Ford – Editor
Listen now (15:05)
- Frank O’Hara – The Day Lady Died
- Frank O’Hara – Poem
- John Ashbery – Pyrography
- Kenneth Koch – Variations On A Theme By William Carlos Williams
- James Schuyler – To Frank O’Hara
Piotr Sommer – Translator
on his experiences as a student in London and how he first came to translate the New York poets into Polish
Listen now (14:02)
- Frank O’Hara – Why I Am Not A Painter
- John Ashbery – The History of My Life
- Kenneth Koch – One Train May Hide Another
- James Schuyler – Shimmer
Sarah Maguire
on the music of poetry and a particular love for James Schuyler
Listen now (12:56)
- Frank O’Hara – A Step Away From Them
- John Ashbery – Some Trees
- John Ashbery – City Afternoon
- Kenneth Koch – The Simplicity of the Unknown Past
- James Schuyler – The Bluet
- James Schuyler – Korean Mums
Lee Harwood
on the fear of reading from the living – “poets long dead can’t get you” – and how “listening to Ashbery reading was like being underwater”
Listen now (18:16)
- John Ashbery – Soonest Mended
- John Ashbery – “They Dream Only of America”
- James Schuyler – Empathy and New Year
- James Schuyler – February
Recorded and edited by Adrian Leibowitz and Brett Wilson
Common Custom:documentary & archive
Further Reading
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