Event Details
Saturday, November 4, 2023
5 pm

Dia Chelsea 
537 West 22nd Street 
New York, New York 

Free. Register for the event here.

In an untitled poem from 1972, James Schuyler writes, “This / beauty that collects / dry leaves in pools / and pockets and goes / freezingly, just able / still to swiftly flow / it goes, it goes.” As part of the centenary celebration of Schuyler's work and legacy, please join the Poetry Project and Dia—the latter of which hosted Schuyler’s legendary first reading in 1988—for an evening in praise of the beloved poet. This event features readings by Wayne Koestenbaum, Chad Morgan, Eileen Myles, Funto Omojola, Tony Towle, Teline Trần, and will be hosted by Simon Pettet.

It Goes, It Goes is presented as part of a three-day celebration of James Schuyler’s birthday with events at New York University (NYU), Dia Chelsea, and the Poetry Project. With thanks to our sponsors: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Turtle Point Press, and the Modern and Contemporary Colloquium and Some Contemporary Poetries at NYU.

Wayne Koestenbaum was born in San Jose, California, in 1958. A poet, critic, fiction writer, artist, filmmaker, and performer, he has published 22 books, including, most recently, Ultramarine (2022). He has received a fellowship from John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for poetry, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, and a Whiting Award. He is a Distinguished Professor of English, French, and comparative literature at the City University of New York Graduate Center. 

Chad Morgan was born in Evansville, Indiana. Their work is concerned with the intersection of mass media and personal identity. They are the author of Chad Morgan & Other Poems (2022) and the poetry chapbook, What Slaughter in the Garden of Beauty—! (2023). They live in Chicago.

Eileen Myles was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1949. They are a poet, novelist, and art journalist, and their practice of vernacular first-person writing has made them one of the most recognized authors of their generation. Recent titles include Pathetic Literature (2022), which they edited, and a “Working Life” (2023). They are the recipient of numerous awards, including those from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Foundation for Contemporary Art, and John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. They live in New York and Marfa, Texas.

Funto Omojola was born in Ilorin, Nigeria. A poet, performer, and visual artist, they have done projects with the Poetry Project, New York; Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh; and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and their work has been supported by A.I.R Gallery, Brooklyn; Cave Canem Foundation, Brooklyn; Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams; Millay Arts, Austerlitz, New York; and the Poetry Project. Omojola’s first book is forthcoming from Nightboat Books in 2024. They live in New York.

Simon Pettet was born in England. John Ashbery described him as a “pillar of the St. Mark's Poetry Project, the core of all that is New York about the New York School.” His collections of poetry include Selected Poems (1995), More Winnowed Fragments (2005), Hearth (2010), and As A Bee (2014). He edited the Selected Art Writings of James Schuyler (1998), and co-edited, with James Meetze, a collection of Schuyler’s posthumous poems, Other Flowers (2010). He collaborated with painter Duncan Hannah on Abundant Treasures (2001), and with photographer and filmmaker Rudy Burckhardt on the art books Talking Pictures (1994) and Conversations with Rudy Burckhardt about Everything (1987). Pettet lives in Toronto and New York.

Tony Towle was born in New York in 1939. In 1960, he began writing poetry “out of the blue.” His connection to the New York School dates to 1963, when he took workshops at the New School with Kenneth Koch and Frank O’Hara. Since then, he has published 13 books of poetry, most recently Noir (Hanging Loose Press, 2017). My First Three Books (Vehicle Editions, 2020) combines an interview, photographs, and a CD of Towle reading some of his early work. Past fellowships and prizes include National Endowment for the Arts and Foundation for Contemporary Art fellowships, an Ingram Merrill Fellowship, and the Frank O’Hara Award.

Teline Trần was born in Orange, California (Gabrieleño/Tongva land), in 1997. In their work, they explore ideas of home and interstitial faith through fiction, poetry, film, and ultimately the browser. Trần is the membership and community engagement coordinator and a former fellow at Wendy’s Subway, Brooklyn. They also work as development coordinator at Mekong NYC, a Southeast-Asian grassroots organization in the Bronx. Trần’s first chapbook is Ad-Học (2023). They live along the Hudson River (Muhheakantuck).