The New York School of Poets

Characteristics/Theme/Style

· The New York School was an informal group of American poets, painters, dancers and musicians active in the 1950s, 1960s in NYC. The poets, painters, composers, dancers, and musicians often drew inspiration from Surrealism and the contemporary avant-garde art movements.

· Concerning the New York School poets, critics argued that their work was a reaction to the Confessionalist movement in Contemporary Poetry. Their poetic subject matter was often light, violent, or observational, while their writing style was often described as cosmopolitan and world-traveled. The poets often wrote in an immediate and spontaneous manner reminiscent of stream of consciousness writing, often using vivid imagery.

Authors

· John Ashbery (wrote farm implements and rutabagas in a landscape)

· Frank O’Hara

· James Schuyler

· Kenneth Koch

· Barbara Guest

· Joe Brainard

· Ron Padgett

· Ted Berrigan

· Bill Berkson

Just Walking Around

John Ashbery

What name do I have for you?

Certainly there is not name for you

In the sense that the stars have names

That somehow fit them. Just walking around,

An object of curiosity to some,

But you are too preoccupied

By the secret smudge in the back of your soul


To say much and wander around, 


Smiling to yourself and others.


It gets to be kind of lonely


But at the same time off-putting.


Counterproductive, as you realize once again



That the longest way is the most efficient way, 


The one that looped among islands, and


You always seemed to be traveling in a circle.

And now that the end is near



The segments of the trip swing open like an orange.


There is light in there and mystery and food.


Come see it.


Come not for me but it.


But if I am still there, grant that we may see each other.