Ossip and Wheeler at KGB, Ben Lerner at the New School

Poetry, as Ezra Pound asserted in an unpublished letter to Sloan, is "elegance in its most aggressive form," and whether this is a phrase charged with meaning or merely a slogan that a car company might want to apporopriate with the terms inverted, the fact is --

"The only work that really brings enjoyment / is the kind that is for girl and boy meant," as Ira Gershwin wrote in the verse lead in to "Nice Work If You Can Get It" --

and poetry is work in that lovely way, elegant when the occasion calls for white tie and tails, aggressive when Marciano, behind on points, lands a crushing right on Jersey Joe's jaw with A J.. Liebling in the crowd to record the shock of the moment.

So what's in store?

Kathy Ossip and Susan Wheeler kick off the new KGB season on Monday evening the 26th (85 East 4th Street -- near NW corner of 4th St and 2nd Ave). KGB ringleaders Megin Jimenez and Matthew Yeager have created an elegant program -- which gains a dimension when you take into account that once upon a time Ms Ossip was Ms Wheeler's student. At 7:30. But if you get there at 7 you can hold a Y-shaped glass with a cold clear or cloudy liquid while listening to Bach and grabbing a choice seat.

AND Ben Lerner, on Tuesday evening the 27th, will be the center of attention at a poetry forum hosted by Mark Bibbins at the New School (66 West 12 Street, Room 505). 6:30 PM. You will hear Ben read for thirty minutes or so and then field questions from the moderator and the audience (you) for an equal length of time.

What does the singer pictured at left have to do with any of this? Nothing except that I am listening to her take on "All the Things You Are" as I type up this note. Mention her name (and her birth name) and we'll clink glasses Monday evening. -- DL

Comments

[bill]

ok helen fogel... how about "Deep Purple" and "I Had
the Craziest Dream" to start us off...

[The Best American Poetry]

"I Had the Craziest Dream" is one of her best -- I used that sentence, without quotes, to begin a chapter of my book. You win, you can see the Forrest as well as the Harry James band and if you show up tonight we will lift glasses and toast the lady. -- DL

[David Lehman]

Helen Forrest was born Helen Fogel in Queens, NY. She is one of the great female vocalists of the 40s. Others incloude Jo Stafford, Doris Day, Peggy Lee, the peerless Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'Day, Lee Wiley, Bea Wain, and I'm leaving out more than a few!