Bill Zavatsky: Pick of the Week [ed. Terence Winch]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bill Zavatsky. Photo by Nora Howard

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104 Bus Uptown

 

How bad can it be,

dear wacky New York City,

when the first twelve lines

of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

blink down at me

from a poster on this bus

brought to us

courtesy of the MTA

and the Poetry Society of America

(of which, incredibly, I am a member!)

and, to its right, above the rear door,

another poster: Charles Reznikoff’s little poem

about how “the lights go out—”

in the subway

“but are on again in a moment,”

a poem I will be teaching to my students

in a few weeks’ time.

And perched in the center back seat

(she got on at Seventh Avenue and 42^nd Street),

sitting all alone, as if on a little stage

lit by the bus-window daylight of midtown New York,

the beautiful actress Beverly D’Angelo

whom I can’t bring myself to ask

if she is Beverly D’Angelo, except that I

recognize the perfection of her charming overbite

as she chews gum like mad over wild blue eyes agog,

behaving as if she’s never sat on a bus before

or as if she expects a passenger to leap up

at any moment and cry, “Action!,”

with the cameras rolling like the eyes in my head

as I turn now and again to look at her

in her white jacket and skirt that don’t

quite match, a silk turquoise blouse

that color-keys her enormous eyes

(which just got off with the rest of her

at 57^th and Eighth), and I’m lucky

enough to have been handed this

piece of paper twenty minutes ago

by someone on the street who must be

a secret agent for poetry, though it seems

to be merely an advertisement flyer

for 45^th Street Photo, on the back of which

I’ve just written this poem  

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Bill Zavatsky has published two full-length books of his own poetry, most recently Where X Marks the Spot (Hanging Loose Press), three chapbooks, and two books of co-translation (Earthlight: Poems by André Breton, with Zack Rogow; and The Poems of A. O. Barnabooth by Valery Larbaud, with Ron Padgett). His poems have appeared on CDs by Bill Evans and Marc Copland. He has been teaching since time immemorial, most recently a poetry workshop via Morningside Poets in Manhattan. [For more information on, and poems by, Bill Zavatsky, check this link.]

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                                Beverly D’Angelo

 

Comments

[Clarinda harriss]

Hello bill!! Great to hear your voice again. We met at one of the poetry foundation extravaganzas in nyc many years ago. Later we had a 4-hour lunch in nyc and you also gave a terrific reading in Baltimore hosted by my publishing company. Long time no see, as the lamentably racist saying goes. Thanks bill! Thanks terry!—cl

[lally]

this poem is as charmingly delightful and vibrant as the author of it is...bravo bill!

[Terence Winch]

Thanks back to you, Clarinda.

[Susan Campbell]

Hi Bill! I love your work and especially this poem. We met a few years ago after a book party at Poet's House when we all went to some Italian restaurant in the West Village. You told me some very funny jokes. Did I mention that I love this poem?

[Indran Amirthanayagam]

I would like to congratulate the editor of this space for his keen eye on the D'Angelo's of our dreams, the poet Bill Zavatsky who found her on the 104 bus, to New York where poets have their poems given to them on buses, on the metro...a wonderful place and this a wonderful poem. One day Bill I would like to share my long lost poem "For The Love of Buses". That one also took place near the 104...a grand bus line. Happy to know it is spinning out movie stars as it must. New York, New York. Cheers Indran

[Deborah Taylor]

I love this, Bill. And I do so love poetry that just nails New York, and yours does. Perhaps one time before too long we will be on the same coast. Deborah

[Beth Joselow]

I love this poem and love to love NYC. Thanks to Bill and Terence.

[Terence Winch]

Beth: thanks for the comment.

[Joanne Gates Fiore]

Wow!!!! Bill—-Mosel Tov! I too love this poem since the time you read it to us at The Morningside Poetry Workshop. I’m so grateful to have attended since the first class in May 2013. You are an inspiration and mentor. Thank you for the picture of Beverly D’Angelo—now I too recognize her and will keep my eyes peeled next time I’m on the M104.
Joanne Gates Fioregmail

[Don Berger]

A speaker with eyes wide open that stay open and focus on a steady line a shaped flood of things, wry and urgent--how does he view all this and keep putting it on the page what a memory! I remember Bill's name I think in connection with a Bill Knott book or another remarkable one and what joy to read something of his for the first time.

[Grace Cavalieri]

the noticer, the poet, who knows what to see and then says it

[Peter Kearney]

This poem has all the freshness and vividness of having been written while the author was still on the bus. If he wasn't, it's all the more amazing.

[David Lehman]

Terrific poem, Bill.

[Eileen]

Wonderful poem. I felt like I was on the bus with him. 💕

[M. Phyllis]

O-o-o La La! Great documentation of a New York experience, Bill! Oh how you wrapped it up! Congratulations on your recognition...The Pick of the Week!

[Chris Mason]

Great poem full of love for humanity.

[Janey]

Another wonderful poem from this amazing poet, editor, teacher, jazz pianist and storyteller

[Martin Stannard]

What a wonderful poem! I am sorry to admit I haven't read any of Bill's poems for a long time, though I have 3 "slim volumes" on my shelves, one of which Bill signed when we met in New York in 2006, and I see now it's the one from which this wonderful poem comes. I've neglected these books for way too long! I've just hauled them down and will be dipping in . . .

[Bill Zavatsky]

Thanks, everybody, for your kind responses to this poem. Thank you again, Terry, for picking it, and to you, David, for making it all happen. Cheers, Bill Z.

[Wanda Phipps]

Great poem!

[Maureen Owen]

Hey Bill! Fabulous NY lyric. Love the way your line travels and gives one the motion of being on the bus with you.

[Florence Kindel]

WONDERFUL POEM ,

[Eamonn Wall]

Thanks, Bill.

Love this poem.

Eamonn Wall

[George J. Searles]

How is it possible that I've not encountered this POET before??? I fervently hope he's willing to contribute something to my magazine, Glimpse. There's a Web site, Bill:
www.glimpsepoetrymagazine.com

[Alan Bernheimer]

Wonderful to see you and Beverly here, Bill, "with the cameras rolling like the eyes in my head"! Thank you, Terence.