March 2023

2023 Gathering: CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS

THE INGENIOUS MODE: EXPANDING THE EXPERIMENTAL IMPULSE OF POETRY—

A GATHERING

OF POETS, WRITERS, SCHOLARS, ARTISTS, PERFORMERS, AND READERS

Taking place: Saturday, July 22nd and Sunday, July 23rd, 11am–5pm at the Flow Chart Space (348 Warren Street, Hudson, NY 12534), with a special Saturday evening of performance.

This summer’s Gathering event we will be on the New York School’s influence on and reverberations through work that engages race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability—and the poets embodying these identities—and also explores and celebrates work in this lineage being created now. The 2023 Gathering will again feature a combination of talks, hybrid presentations, performances, and conversations.

Within this overarching theme, we invite proposals for formal papers, hybrid presentations, and performances related to the following broad topics*:

  • In the Tradition of Black Experimental Poetics

  • The Non-Conforming Body and Mind—Expansive Approaches to Text

  • Echoes and Influences of Mid-Century Surrealism, Music, and The New York School

  • The New York School and the Queering of Language and Syntax

  • Addressing Racism and Otherness in the New York School

  • Text + Image and Beyond: Then and Now

*Note that while we particularly welcome presentations directly addressing the topics listed above, they may also be considered as general prompts and suggestions to be interpreted broadly or freely in addressing “the experimental impulse of poetry.”

The Gathering will include sessions on each of the above, as well as a moderated concluding conversation among all attending on “Identity, Hybridity, and Experimentation.” All proposals need only be informally described, using the form linked to below. Note that all presentations will be strictly limited to no more than ten minutes. Proposals may describe formal papers (with projection and playing of audio possible); hybrid, creative presentations; or performances of various kinds. Offerings engaging with Ashbery’s work and influence are particularly encouraged. Joint presentations are also welcome.

We also invite proposals for the Saturday evening performance, which may run the gamut from poetry to film to theatre and beyond. Proposed performances may be up to 15 minutes. If you have more than one proposal, please submit separate forms for each.

Proposals will be accepted through May 15th, 2023. For questions: info@flowchartfoundation.org

Information on Hudson, NY.

 

Adam Snow

Let’s try the ingenuous mode, if for no better
Reason than its staying power: locked into a continuum
That rises and falls with the contours of this earth,
Inhabiting a Tom Tiddler’s ground of special pleading
And cash and carry. Long lines at the checkout counter
Are a reason to behave, sad and dramatic, silhouetted
Against the tidal wave. For what must be, must be,
The old priest said, his face a maze
Of claw-prints in the snow
Which always arrives in time to antagonize
Or humor, before bedtime, it’s your choice.
And suddenly outlines unlock
The forms they were sequestering, just to make it simple
And equal.

Ah, but all fakes aren’t alike.
I think we must settle for the big thing
Since quality, though a matter of survival,
Is such a personal call. Sometimes it’s nowhere at all
Or a faint girl will make light of it, saying
In the sprockets in the backwoods there are no noticeabl
Standards, nothing to judge one or be judged by.
It’s true the refreshing absence of color
Produces an effect like that of time;
That you may be running through thistles one moment
And across a sheet of thin ice the next and not be aware
Of any difference, only that you have been granted an
extension.
Make sure you clean up this mess. Other than that
Listening to widely spaced catcalls is OK
The livelong day, and sleep isn’t rationed.
Yet one can only question how the system arose,
Creating itself, I suppose,
Since nothing else has yet taken that responsibility.
If it makes you happier to feel, to see the horror
Of living one’s life alone for something, what the heck,
Be my guest, it takes two to tango
After all, or something, doesn’t it?
And you get right back on that conveyor belt
Of dreams to tip the scale modestly
Into your own enterprise, nest-egg, portfolio
Of standard greetings and uncommon manners.
The ending can’t take the blame.

It read like the cubist diary of a brook
That sidled past the house one day
On its way to a rendezvous with some river
We can never cross twice. And the gradual
Escalation lay near by: we cannot call it back
Yet may meet it again, in other times, under different auspices.

— By John Ashbery, from April Galleons (© 1998, 2008 Estate of John Ashbery. All rights reserved. Used by arrangement with Georges Borchardt, Inc.)

PAST GATHERINGS . . .

2022 THIRTEEN MILLION PILLARS OF GRASS—A GATHERING

OF POETS, WRITERS, SCHOLARS, ARTISTS, PERFORMERS, AND READERS

THE TENNIS COURT OATH AT 60 & JOHN ASHBERY AT 95

Sunday, July 31st, 2022, from 9am–7:30pm

Flow Chart Space (at The Flow Chart Foundation)

348 Warren Street, Hudson, NY 12534

Marking the 60th anniversary of the publication of Ashbery’s seminal The Tennis Court Oath and what would have been Ashbery’s 95 birthday, The Flow Chart Foundation hosts an inaugural Gathering.

Participants include:

Presenters include: Madhur Anand & Bruce Andrews & Dara Barrois/Dixon & Charles Bernstein & Antonio Sergio Bessa & Rachel Blau DuPlessis & Lee Ann Brown & Mandana Chaffa & Stephen Cohen & Todd Colby & Brandon Downing & Marcella Durand & Andrew Epstein & Justin Geyer & Melissa Ginsburg & Susannah Hollister & Elisabeth Joyce & Vincent Katz & Charles Kell & Ann Lauterbach & Lesle Lewis & Meghan Mercier & Tracie Morris & Charles North & Robert Polito & George Quasha & Evelyn Reilly & Joan Retallack & Eugene Richie & Eléna Rivera & Emily Setina & Chiara Shae & Ravi Shankar & Sally Silvers & Emily Skillings & Sparrow & Patricia Spears Jones & Adriana Tampasis & Tony Torn & Edwin Torres & Bernard Welt & Rebecca Wolff

Listen to the live-streamed audio of the event, broadcast and archived through our radio partner, WGXC Radio for Open Ears:

Schedule

9am — Sign-In / Coffee & Bagels

9:50am — Welcome from Flow Chart’s Executive Director

10am — Presentations, Poetry, Performances, and Provocative Conversation (Part I)

1pm — Lunch (registration includes a vegan boxed lunch)

2:10 — Presentations, Poetry, Performances, and Provocative Conversation (Part II)

6:49–7:30pm — Reception

Those from out of town are encouraged to spend the weekend in Hudson. Please also join us for our annual Night of Neo-Benshi taking place the night before the Gathering. Tickets are available through Hudson Hall. This annual event always sells out, so do purchase a ticket now if you plan to attend.

NOTE: Registration is free, but must be made in advance. Space is extremely limited. If you register and can then no longer attend, please cancel your registration so that someone else may. All attendees must show proof of vaccination to attend. Wearing of protective masks encouraged.

About Hudson, NY

About the vibrant, cultural destination of Hudson, NY, from the Hudson, NY Visitor website. A view of Hudson from CondeNast Traveler, visiting Hudson on Vogue, and from the “Adventurous Kate” blog: “The Coolest Small Town in America.”

Most will travel to Hudson, NY by Amtrak train from New York City’s Penn Station (Moynahan Train Hall). The train ride is approximately 2 hours. Tickets can be booked here (you will book tickets for travel from NYP to HUD).

Car travel directions can be found by setting GPS to 348 Warren St, Hudson, NY 12534.

It is recommended that Gathering attendees stay over in Hudson if possible. Hudson has many small hotels though prices can be high during tourist season. Ample apartment and house rentals can be found through AirBnB and VRBO. More affordable hotels (among several more expensive boutique hotels) include the St. Charles Hotel and Hudson Whaler. There are also a wide variety of Bed & Breakfasts in Hudson as well as cheaper establishments in nearby Catskill. Some listings can be found here.

The Flow Chart Space is a relatively short walk from the Hudson Amtrak station. Uber is also available.

Traveling by train for the day from NYC?

Book your Amtrak travel from NYP (New York Penn Station Moynahan Train Hall) to HUD (Hudson, NY). The Flow Chart Space (at The Flow Chart Foundation) is a relatively easy walk from the station, or you may wish to use Uber (there are also sometimes taxis waiting at the station).

[pictured below: Warren Street in Hudson NY (left), and The Flow Chart Foundation & Ashbery Resource Center (right, located in the center of town)]

January 2022

jacket copy from first edition of The tennis court oath

Thirteen Million Pillars of Grass: A Gathering—Call for Presentations

On the 60th anniversary of the publication of Ashbery’s The Tennis Court Oath, and what would have been Ashbery’s 95 birthday, The Flow Chart Foundation will be hosting an inaugural Gathering at its Ashbery Resource Center and Flow Chart Space (348 Warren Street, Hudson, NY 12534—see below for more information about Hudson). We will take a new look at The Tennis Court Oath, and at how Ashbery at 95 continues to inspire, confound, and entrance. How might Ashbery’s work continue to be relevant and inspirational in this moment and beyond?

The Gathering will take place on Sunday, July 31, 2022, pandemic-permitting, following The Flow Chart Foundation’s annual “Night of Neo-Benshi” (click to see last year’s event) at Hudson Hall opera house, located across the street and taking place the evening of July 30th.

We invite poets, writers, scholars, artists, performers, and readers to submit proposals for presentations of any kind about, in response to, or in dialogue with The Tennis Court Oath and/or Ashbery’s work now and going forward. One may propose presentations for either or both. These may include papers, performances, readings, or showings, and should be conceived to be approximately five to ten minutes in length. Scholars and students, poets and performers, artists and savvy readers—all encouraged to consider presenting something.

Submit proposals HERE. Proposal need only be a brief description of what you’d like to present, along with a title if you have one.

DEADLINE: April 15, 2022 (all will be notified by May 1)

 

The Tennis Court Oath

What had you been thinking about

the face studiously bloodied

heaven blotted region

I go on loving you like water but

there is a terrible breath in the way all of this

You were not elected president, yet won the race

All the way through fog and drizzle

When you read it was sincere the coasts

stammered with unintentional villages the

horse strains fatigued I guess . . . the calls . . .

I worry

the water beetle head

why of course reflecting all

then you redid you were breathing

I thought going down to mail this

of the kettle you jabbered as easily in the yard

you come through but

are incomparable the lovely tent

mystery you don’t want surrounded the real

you dance

in the spring there was clouds

The mulatress approached in the hall—the

lettering easily visible along the edge of the Times

in a moment the bell would ring but there was time

for the carnation laughed here are a couple of “other”

to one in yon house

The doctor and Philip had come over the road

Turning in toward the corner of the wall his hat on

reading it carelessly as if to tell you your fears were justified

the blood shifted you know those walls

wind off the earth had made him shrink

undeniably an oboe now the young

were there there was candy

to decide the sharp edge of the garment

like a particular cry not intervening called the dog “he’s

coming! he’s coming” with an emotion felt it sink into peace

there was no turning back but the end was in sight

he chose this moment to ask her in detail about her family and the others

The person. pleaded—“have more of these

not stripes on the tunic—or the porch chairs

will teach you about men—what it means”

to be one in a million pink stripe

and now could go away the three approached the doghouse

the reef. Your daughter’s

dream of my son understand prejudice

darkness in the hole

the patient finished

They could all go home now the hole was dark

lilacs blowing across his face glad he brought you

— from The Tennis Court Oath (© 1962, 1967, 1977, 1987, 1997, 2008 Estate of John Ashbery. All rights reserved. Used by arrangement with Georges Borchardt, Inc.)

 

An Additional Poem

Where then shall hope and fear their objects find?

The harbor cold to the mating ships,

And you have lost as you stand by the balcony

With the forest of the sea calm and gray beneath.

A strong impression torn from the descending light

But night is guilty. You knew the shadow

In the trunk was raving

But as you keep growing hungry you forget.

The distant box is open. A sound of grain

Poured over the floor in some eagerness—we

Rise with the night let out of the box of wind.

— from The Tennis Court Oath (© 1962, 1967, 1971, 1977, 1985. 1987, 1991,, 1997, 2008 Estate of John Ashbery. All rights reserved. Used by arrangement with Georges Borchardt, Inc.)