Production for Season 4 of Poetry in America continues on location in the East Village with some exciting guests! On November 8th and 9th, our Host Elisa New and Producer Cathleen O’Connell went down to New York City to interview some exciting guests. 

On Monday morning, we interviewed poet Todd Colby on iconic New York poet Frank O’Hara and poem, “Steps”—from O’Hara’s beloved “Lunch Poems” which he famously wrote during his lunch hour at MOMA. Then, in the afternoon, we filmed with jazz musicians Rachael Price and Vilray—who play together as Rachael and Vilray, although Price is also known for her work with Lake Street Dive—to get another perspective on O’Hara. 

That afternoon, we switched gears to discuss mushroom-themed poems by Kay Ryan and Sylvia Plath, with Bulgarian-American writer Maria Popova. Finally, we finished the day discussing Wallace Stevens with University of Pennsylvania Professor Al Filreis, creator of the online poetry course ModPo and host of the PoemTalk podcast.

On Tuesday morning, we got an early start with back to back interviews with poet Terrance Hayes, on his own poetry and then Frank O’Hara’s. After a break for lunch, we met up with poet Eileen Myles to get their insight into Frank O’Hara. After we finished filming with these two distinguished poets, we rounded out the day with a conversation with  actor, director, and longtime New Yorker John Turturro on Martín Espada.