a tonal quality detached itself that partook of the motley intense hues of the whole gathering but yet remained itself, firm and all-inclusive, scrupulously fixed equidistant between earth and heaven, as far above the tallest point on the earth’s surface as it was beneath the lowest outcropping of cumulus in the cornflower-blue empyrean
—John Ashbery (from “The New Spirit”)
From time to time, The Flow Chart Foundation offers a Gathering, a festival space for presentations, performances, and conversations around topics related to John Ashbery, his work, and his circle of artists, influences, and legacy; contemporary poetry and the interrelationships of various art forms; and other exploratory themes of cultural engagement.
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
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.)