I Speak of the City: Poems of New York

Stephen Wolf

Columbia University Press, 2007 - American poetry - 316 pages

I Speak of the City is the most extensive collection of poems ever assembled about New York. Beginning with an early piece by Jacob Steendam (from when the city was called New Amsterdam) and continuing through poems written in the aftermath of 9/11, this anthology features voices from more than a dozen countries. It includes two Nobel Prize recipients, fifteen Pulitzer Prize winners, and many other recognizable names, but it also preserves the work of long-neglected poets who celebrate the wild possibilities and colossal achievements of this epic city.

Poets capture New York's major moments and transformations, writing of Hudson's arrival, Stuyvesant's prejudice, and the city's astonishing growth and gentrification. They speak of the thrills of a skyscraper's observation deck and the privations of teeming tenements. They portray the immigrant experience at Ellis Island and the decay, fear, and unexpected kindness on a subway ride. They take place on sidewalks, bridges, and docks; in taxis, buses, and ferries; and even within nature. The Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square, Broadway, the Statue of Liberty, and other familiar landmarks are recast through the prism of individual experience yet still reflect the seeming invincibility of New York and its status as a cultural magnet for the freethinking and experimental.

While certain subjects and themes can be found in all urban verse, poems about New York have their own restless rhythm and ever-changing style, much like the city itself. Whether writing sonnets, epics, or experimental or imagistic verse, each of these poets has been inspired by the marvels and madness, humor and heartbreak of an enduring city.

Contents

• FITZGREENE HALLECK 17901867: 8
• LAUGHTON OSBorn 18091878: 15
• LOUISE MORGAN SILL 18681961: 28
• CARL SANDBURG 18781967: 36
• CLAUDE MCKAY 18891948: 50
• MELECH RAVITCH 18931976: 63
• E E CUMMINGS 18941962: 68
• ELIEZER GREENBERG 18961977: 74
• AARON ZEITLIN 18991974: 82
• LANGSTON HUGHES 19021967: 88
• LÉOPOLD SÉDAR SENGHOR 19062001: 95
• MURIEL RUKEYSER 19131980: 100
• LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI 1919: 113
• JOHN LOGAN 19231987: 129
• EDWARD FIELD 1924: 137
• DONALD JUSTICE 19252004: 145
• FRANK OHARA 19261966: 151
• JOHN HOLMES 19261988: 157
• W S MERWIN 1927: 182
• RICHARD HOWARD 1929: 198
• GARY SNYDER 1930: 202
• AUDRE LORDE 19341992: 215
• ROBERT PHILLIPS 1938: 229
• BILLY COLLINS 1941: 234
• MIGUEL PIÑERO 19461988: 247
• TOM SLEIGH 1953: 259
• JULIA KASDORF 1962: 275
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: 305
• GREGORY CORSO 19302001: 307
• CHARLES SIMIC 1938: 314

About the author

Born in Chicago and with a doctorate from the University of Illinois, Stephen Wolf moved to the Lower East Side in 1977, blocks from where his grandparents once lived. His fiction has appeared in Playboy, Ploughshares, and the anthology American Families, and his story cycle Intimate Articles, with illustrations by Larry Rivers, was published by Ten Speed Press. He teaches literature and the humanities at Berkeley College in New York City.

Bibliographic information

• Title: I Speak of the City: Poems of New York
• Editor: Stephen Wolf
• Publisher: Columbia University Press, 2007
• Original from: the University of Michigan
• Digitized: May 29, 2008
• ISBN: 0231140657, 9780231140652
• Length: 316 pages