The Poetry Project

The alarm rings: it's 2 PM. I get up, dress & go downstairs to buy the Post. It's Halloween. Call the typewriter repair shop & learn that it will cost $25 to have my typewriter repaired. Read a few chapters from A Confederate General From Big Sur. Anne (1) returns. I go out, take some packages to the post office on 14th Street. Then I go to the library around the corner. I get a new library card but there are no books I want to take out. Take more packages to the P.O. on 4th Avenue. Return home: it's almost dark out. Anne comes home. Peter (2) comes by. We talk about Peter Viereck who is going to read at St. Mark's. Anne cooks dinner. Peter leaves. I re-write part of an old poem on Anne's typewriter. At about 9 o'clock I go to the church to the reading which started at 8:30. Meet Shelly (3) at the door to the church. She's going to a big Halloween party at the Village Theater. Reading has not yet started. There aren't many people there: Anne & Ted (4) & Larry (5) & Peter. After the first set I leave. It's Halloween. Kids are running through the street asking people for money. In front of Gem Spa I meet Katie (6) & Debbie (7) & their kids. There are 3 cops on the corner. We all go upstairs. I give the kids all the Halloween candy which Anne brought home during the day. Also, I give Katie Big Lew, the robot Larry bought on Avenue C. Just as they're leaving Larry arrives. Also, Shelly. Larry just found an apt. on 86th Street. Sandy (8) calls. She's coming over with David (9) & Kate (10). Katie, Debbie & the kids leave. Sandy arrives. Shelly leaves to return to the Halloween party at the Village Theater. Jim (11) calls. Anne & Ted arrive, home from the reading. David falls asleep in my arms on the couch. Shelly returns. The party is obviously dragging. Jim arrives. He needs to use Anne's typewriter to type poems. Wren (12) comes. Ted, Sandy & the kids leave. Anne cooks me a hamburger. Shelly leaves. Wren leaves. Jim is still typing. Ron (13) & Pat (14) arrive. Larry has disappeared somewhere. Ron & Pat leave. Jim & I go downstairs to Gem Spa to get ice cream. Jim buys a copy of the new Downbeat. Anne makes us ice cream sodas. Lee (15) and a friend of his named Jeff arrive. Jim begins falling asleep. I explain reasons why he can't sleep over on couch. He calls his girlfriend & secures a place to stay. Lee & Jeff leave. Jeff says he will call tomorrow to show us his poems. We discuss everything & everybody with Jim. Ted arrives. He has a copy of The Sonnets which neither Anne nor Jim has seen. Jim leaves. I read the newspaper. Ted speed-reads Freewheelin' Frank. Anne reads The Sonnets. Then Ted leaves.

Set the alarm for 10 AM but wake instead at 1. While having breakfast Harris (16) calls. Anne speaks to him first then I do. He plans to stay in NY, find a job, his own apartment, etc. Make plans to see him the next day. Then Anne goes out. Finish A Confederate General From Big Sur. Walk down 8th Street to 8th Street Bookstore. Ted's Sonnets is in the store as well as Paul Blackburn's The Cities. Note error in table of contents in Blackburn's book. Buy the Post and the Voice. Both boring. Read about rebellious CCNY students. Knicks lose 6th in a row. Then Anne comes home. We address & paste stamps on the announcement Bill Beckman made for reading she & Jim are giving at St. Mark's next week. While we are doing this Ted arrives. He & Sandy were to have dinner at Steve Holden's but Sandy must babysit. I decide to go up to Steve's with Ted. Anne has to go to the church for a reading of Greek poets. First, Ted & I walk to 8th Street Bookstore to get a copy of The Sonnets to give Steve. There is rain in the air. We take a cab to Steve's on East 74th Street. Steve has hundreds of old & current 45's, & most of the old ones are terrific. Among them: "Tragedy" by Thomas Wayne; "Hey Girl" by Freddie Scott; & many others. I discover a record written by Steve Holden. It's by Rod McKuen. It came out in l959. We eat chicken, rice; drink wine. Eat ice cream. Discuss poetry. Play more records. Read Steve's poetry. Discuss poetry conference at Berkeley & Ted's reading there which Anne & I were present at (though we didn't really know Ted). Listen to more music. Then we leave. It's raining. We walk downtown for awhile. It's 11 PM. Then we take a cab to my house. Anne isn't there. She probably went somewhere after the reading. We go over to Ron's. He isn't home. We try calling Peter but all the phonebooths on 2nd Avenue have been vandalized. Then we meet Tom Veitch and Richard Kostelanetz. Richard leaves. I go into a candystore & call Peter's; no one is home. Tom, Ted & I start back to Ron's where Tom is staying. On the way we meet Anne. Reading lasted a long time & she was coming from the church. We all go to Ron's. Ron says he was in the bathroom when we came by before. Tessie (17) & Pat have gone to Tulsa. After awhile Anne gets hungry. Ted, Anne & I leave. At Gem Spa we meet Erroll & Julian. I see somebody who I know I've seen before. He's eating an ice cream cone & a candy bar. We smile at each other. I say: "Where have I met you?" He says: "There." Ted goes home. Anne & I go home. As we walk upstairs I look behind me & see the person I spoke to lurking outside the building. Anne eats at home. A few minutes later Peter & Linda (18) arrive. Everybody's fading out in their own way. I think about Tom Clark & what he's been doing. Then Peter & Linda leave. I wish I had a typewriter.

I wake up early, 11 AM. Peter comes by. He has been awake all night on pills. Then Anne gets up, has breakfast, goes to work. Peter leaves too. Then Harris arrives. He is very quiet; doesn't want to talk about Rochester or anything else. We go out, first to Tompkins Square Bookstore (walking through the park) but it's closed, then to the post office, then to Tom Clark's. Harris still not opening up very much. At 5 o'clock Tom, Harry & I walk back across town in the rain. Tom goes to see Peter. Harris & I go home. Anne is home. She's making supper since Simone (19) is supposed to come at about 7. Harris has to leave to see his mother who is in a hospital uptown. I'm getting tired when Simone comes. Spend intervening time reading Franz Kline: An Emotional Memoir by Fielding Dawson. Then Tom arrives & the 4 of us eat supper. After supper we sit around talking. George Kimball arrives, stays for awhile, then leaves. Then Larry arrives. Then Martha (20). We decide to go to the movies to see Cool Hand Luke. It's playing uptown. Anne, Simone & I take one cab; Larry, Martha & Tom another. The movie is pretty good. Afterwards, Simone gets a cab & goes home. Tom, Martha & Larry get another cab. Anne & I walk to 2nd Avenue and get a bus going downtown. The bell downstairs just rang a few times but we didn't answer it.

Ted calls early in the afternoon and later comes over with Kate. Jim (21) comes by. He brings me a birthday present, a record by Arlo Guthrie. Anne goes to the church. Ted, Jim, Kate & I go downtown, to Delancy Street, to get pills (obitrols) with fake prescription which Ted has. While waiting for the pills we go into Ratner's on Delancy Street. Drugstore refuses to fill the prescription. Walk back to Avenue C. Ted & Kate go home. I go to drugstore on Avenue C where they fill the prescription. Walk up to 9th Street with Jim. Jim goes to Bill's (22) & I go home. Anne, at home, tells me that we've been invited to a party Les Levine is giving that night. At about 8:30 we go down to Ted's workshop at the courthouse (23). Meet Dick (24) & Peter & Ron Zimardi. Peter says that Sandy called to say that Ted is sick, that the workshop will be called off. Dick, Ron, Anne & I go to Peter's. Carol (25), Crissie (26) & Linda are there, watching TV. Dick & Peter play chess. Anne & I read. Soon Ron leaves. Then Dick & Carol & Crissie go home & we go to the party. On the Bowery we see a man lying in the street totally naked. There are only a few people at the party when we arrive. We talk with John Perreault. I don't know anyone else who is there. I don't feel like drinking. I feel terrific waves of energy & restlessness at everything being so static. More people start coming in. Sandy & Lee arrive. I talk to Sandy for awhile. Then we start dancing. Sweat drips down my face, but I feel good. At about 1, Anne & I leave & return home.

Saturday afternoon; time I hate the most. Never want to get out of bed. Sandy calls. I try to get tickets for The Beard but they're too expensive. At about 4, Anne & I go over to Bill's. Sandy is baby-sitting there. Bill & Jim are there too. (Before this, Ted, Larry & Joan(27) came over to our place, stayed for awhile then returned to Ted's.) Sandy, Anne, Kate, David & I go back to Ted's. First I take Kate back. Ted, Joan & Larry are listening to tapes. Everybody will have dinner there. After dinner Larry & Joan go uptown to Radio City Music Hall. At about 9, Ted, Anne & I leave & walk across town. We go into the record store on St. Mark's Place where I buy Different Drum by the Stone Ponies & Don't Worry Baby by the Beachboys. Outside our apartment we meet Lee, Dick & Carol. They're going to the movies on 42nd Street. First they come upstairs & for about an hour we listen to records. Martha comes over with her typewriter since mine is still being repaired. We all decide to go uptown to the movies. On 42nd Street we see The Counterfeit Traitor with William Holden. It isn't bad. It's getting cold out. We can't find a cab. Dick & Carol & Lee fade out. We take the BMT back to St. Mark's Place. It's 2:30 AM. We sit around, have coffee. Ted walks Martha home. I go out for the newspaper. There is nothing interesting in it to read.

October 31
1. Anne Waldman
2. Peter Schjeldahl
3. Shelly Lustig
4. Ted Berrigan
5. Larry Fagin
6. Katie Schneeman
7. Debbie Beckman
8. Sandy Berrigan
9. David Berrigan
10. Kate Berrigan
11. Jim Brodey
12. Wren D'Antonio
13. Ron Padgett
14. Pat Padgett
15. Lee Crabtree

November 1
16. Harris Schiff
17. Tessie Mitchell
18. Linda Schjeldahl

November 2
19. Simone Juda
20. Martha Rockwell

21. Jim Brodey
22. Bill Beckman
23. Old courthouse on 2nd Ave. and 2nd St. where Poetry Project workshops were held in the late sixties.
24. Dick Gallup
25. Carol Gallup
26. Christina Gallup

27. Joan Inglis Fagin

This piece was first published in Warsh's Part of My History (The Coach House Press, Toronto, 1972). "New York Diary--1967" captures some of the ambience of the Lower East Side during the early years of the Poetry Project and the network of friendships existing among the younger writers active in the Project at that time. Warsh was living with Anne Waldman at 33 St. Mark's Place, a few blocks from St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery (referred to in the diary as "St. Mark's"or "church"), home of the Poetry Project. Their apartment was the scene of countless after-readings parties. Waldman was then the director of the Project.