Andrew Epstein
@andrewepstein.bsky.social
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
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
September 27, 2025 at 1:44 PM
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"?
September 27, 2025 at 1:40 PM
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...
newyorkschoolpoets.wordpress.com/2014/07/28/o...
July 28, 2025 at 9:56 PM
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...
newyorkschoolpoets.wordpress.com/2014/07/28/o...
Alice Notley and Ted Berrigan, from Alex Katz’s “Face of the Poet” series, 1978
July 26, 2025 at 3:32 PM
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...
July 25, 2025 at 4:35 PM
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)
June 6, 2025 at 12:33 PM
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...
www.nytimes.com/2012/10/11/n...
May 10, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Amiri Baraka: A Poet Looks Back on a Bloody Week in 1967
www.nytimes.com/2012/10/11/n...
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...
May 9, 2025 at 1:59 PM
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)
April 28, 2025 at 4:09 AM
“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.
January 23, 2025 at 3:51 PM
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
December 25, 2024 at 3:13 PM
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
Ain’t it funny how the night moves
December 15, 2024 at 2:27 PM
Ain’t it funny how the night moves
“Things got terribly ugly incredibly quickly” — Terrance Hayes
November 6, 2024 at 3:09 PM
“Things got terribly ugly incredibly quickly” — Terrance Hayes
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...
www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/gla...
June 5, 2024 at 5:20 PM
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...
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-...
May 5, 2024 at 6:15 PM
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...
"Each day's light has more significance these days" newyorkschoolpoets.wordpress.com/2015/03/27/t...
March 27, 2024 at 2:52 PM
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...
"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
March 17, 2024 at 5:25 PM
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...
newyorkschoolpoets.wordpress.com/2016/02/13/j...
February 13, 2024 at 3:36 PM
"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...
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."
February 12, 2024 at 10:46 PM
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.
Elizabeth Bishop, born on this day in 1911, wrote this birthday poem for herself.
February 8, 2024 at 5:28 PM
“All the untidy activity continues, awful but cheerful.” —
Elizabeth Bishop, born on this day in 1911, wrote this birthday poem for herself.
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.”
January 25, 2024 at 5:29 PM
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"
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"
January 1, 2024 at 3:59 PM
"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"
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...
Here’s an excerpt from my book "Attention Equals Life" about this epic poem of everyday life:
newyorkschoolpoets.wordpress.com/2018/12/22/h...
December 22, 2023 at 3:31 PM
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...
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)
December 8, 2023 at 4:17 PM
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)