Andrew Epstein
@andrewepstein
Professor and Chair of English @FloridaState; author of "The Cambridge Introduction to American Poetry Since 1945," "Attention Equals Life," "Beautiful Enemies," & "Locus Solus: the New York School of Poets" blog
The poet Frank O'Hara died 60 years ago today at the age of 40, after a tragic accident on Fire Island, NY. Here's a piece I wrote for the Poetry Foundation to mark the 50th anniversary in 2016, about O'Hara's posthumous legacy: www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/900...
I'm so excited for Brian Glavey's new book, "Relatability: Sharing and Oversharing with the New York School Poets," to be out in the world! @glavey.bsky.social @uchicagopress.bsky.social
Paying my respects to David Berman (and Jasper Johns) at the Whitney Museum
It's neat to see Sianne Ngai chooses the speaker of Frank O'Hara's "Lunch Poems" as one of "Three Pivotal Characters from American Literature" in this piece in the New York Times (alongside Pynchon's Oedipa Mass and Morrison's Sula). www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
PEOPLE OF THE WORLD: RELAX! “People of the World: Relax!” is excerpted (at LARB) from “The Complete C Comics,” a collection of Joe Brainard’s innovative work: lareviewofbooks.org/article/peop...
Too bad Wikipedia calls him “Jim Brainard” and links to a page about a Republican mayor of Carmel, Indiana, who doesn’t, as far as I can tell, make art
I haven't seen it yet, but word has it that the new show "The Lowdown" uses a painting by Joe Brainard (!?) as a plot point, and features a character reading "I Remember"?
Happy birthday to John Ashbery, who would’ve turned 98 today. “The past is dust and ashes, and this incommensurably wide way leads to the pragmatic and kinetic future.” newyorkschoolpoets.wordpress.com/2014/07/28/o...
Alice Notley and Ted Berrigan, from Alex Katz’s “Face of the Poet” series, 1978
The poet Frank O'Hara died after a tragic accident on Fire Island, NY, 59 years ago today. Here's the obituary from the NY Times & O'Hara's gravestone. "When I die, don't come, I wouldn't want a leaf / to turn away from the sun - it loves it there." newyorkschoolpoets.wordpress.com/2014/07/25/t...
Great to see this tribute to Alice Notley (1945-2025) at McNally Jackson Books in NY (SoHo)
Amiri Baraka: A Poet Looks Back on a Bloody Week in 1967 www.nytimes.com/2012/10/11/n...
Rare photo of 4 New York School poets together -- John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, Frank O'Hara, and James Schuyler at a party in 1955, young, laughing, full of life. For more on the photo: newyorkschoolpoets.wordpress.com/2025/05/09/r...
“April is the seduction of the world. And yet.” — Joshua Clover (RIP)
Very sorry to hear the sad news that the great Irish poet Michael Longley (1939-2025) has passed away.
How Joe Brainard spent Christmas in 1961: played in the snow all morning, completely broke his glasses, worked on a self-portrait collage, went to a Chinese restaurant & had chow mein & 6 whiskey sours & then stayed up all night & wrote a 34-page story
I had the pleasure of writing about James Marcus’s delightful new portrait of Emerson for @thetls.bsky.social www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/gla...
Very sad to hear the news that the poet David Shapiro (1947-2024), a central figure of the New York School's 2nd generation, has died. David was not only one of my favorite poets, but also a kind, generous, brilliant mentor. www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/david-...
Happy birthday to the incomparable Frank O'Hara, who was born on this day in 1926, but never knew it. (His parents claimed his birthday was 6/27 to hide that they’d gotten pregnant out of wedlock). "Each day's light has more significance these days" newyorkschoolpoets.wordpress.com/2015/03/27/t...
A pleasant surprise to stumble on Fairfield Porter’s “John Ashbery (Argyle Socks)” (1952) at the National Portrait Gallery in DC
"Tomorrow is St. Valentine's: / tomorrow I'll think about / that." --James Schuyler, in this poem written at Payne Whitney psychiatric clinic, 49 years ago today. newyorkschoolpoets.wordpress.com/2016/02/13/j...
The painter Joan Mitchell was born on this day in 1925. Here's Mitchell's painting "Les Bluets," and James Schuyler's prose poem "Footnote," which talks about the painting and "Joan's giant vision, running and holding, staring you down with beauty."
“All the untidy activity continues, awful but cheerful.” — Elizabeth Bishop, born on this day in 1911, wrote this birthday poem for herself.
Happy birthday to Virginia Woolf, born on this day in 1882. Here she is reflecting on celebrating her 38th birthday (in 1920) on a clear bright day with some Mozart and Beethoven: “I must still grope and experiment but this afternoon I had a gleam of light.”
"Once, out on the water in the clear, early nineteenth-century twilight, you asked time to suspend its flight. If wishes could beget more than sobs that would be my wish for you, my darling, my angel" -- John Ashbery, "Poem at the New Year"
Happy “Midwinter Day” day! 45 years ago today Bernadette Mayer wrote her amazing long poem which aims to "prove the day like the dream has everything in it." Here’s an excerpt from my book "Attention Equals Life" about this epic poem of everyday life: newyorkschoolpoets.wordpress.com/2018/12/22/h...
It’s Delmore Schwartz’s birthday (and my own) so here’s Kenneth Koch’s poem about his former teacher, “that rueful man” (who also had some extraordinary students)