Kenward Elmslie

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The diverse work of Kenward Elmslie, writer, performer, editor and publisher associated with the New York School of poetry, cannot be pigeonholed into one style of writing. Born Kenward Gray Elmslie in New York City on April 27, 1929, Elmslie spent his childhood in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and graduated from Harvard in 1950 with a B.A. in literature, beginning his career collaborating with composers on operas and musicals in an attempt to bring a contemporary style to classical theater. His poetry and prose is often combined with the graphical work of other artists. A collection of his writing, Motor Disturbance (1971), won the Frank O'Hara Award for Poetry in 1971; he was awarded the National Endowment of the Arts Award for Power Plant Sestina (1967) and the Ford Foundation Grant. In 1973 Elmslie began work as editor and publisher of “Z Magazine” and Z Press, working to promote the work of other New York School artists such as John Ashbery, Ron Padgett, James Schuyler, and perhaps most extensively, Joe Brainard. Elmslie’s work with graphic artists such as Brainard combined poetry with art to emphasis their interconnectedness; his work in theatre shows his commitment to art as a whole, not only to one medium. Poet Alice Notley says of Elmslie’s Routine Disruptions, (1998) “This is an icon, for me, of Elmslie’s work, its wild funniness, theatricality, brazenness, its love of art and objects.”

[edit] Works

Theater

• Miss Julie (1965)
• Lizzie Borden (1965)
• The Sweet Bye and Bye (1966)
• City Junket (1972)
• The Seagull (1974)
• Washington Square (1976)
• Three Sisters (1987)
• The Grass Harp (1972)
• Postcards on Parade (1993)

Poetry and Prose

• Pavilions (1961)
• Power Plant Sestina (1967)
• Album (1969)
• Girl Machine (1971)
• Circus Nerves (1971)
• Motor Disturbance (1971)
• The Orchid Stories (1973)
• Tropicalism (1975)
• The Alphabet Work (1977)
• Topiary Trek (1977)
• Communications Equipment (1979)
• Moving Right Along (1980)
• Sung Sex (1992)
• Champ Dust (1994)
• Bare Bones (1995)
• Routine Disruptions (1998)

Collaborations with visual artists

• The Baby Book (1965)
• The 1967 Gamebook Calendar (1967)
• The Champ (1968)
• Shiny Ride (1972)
• 26 Bars (1987)
• Bimbo Dirt (1982)
• Palais Bimbo Snapshots (1982)
• Pay Dirt (1992)
• Nite Soil (2000)
• Cyperspace (2000)

[edit] For More Reading on Elmslie

• Ford, Mark. New York Poets II: An Anthology. Carcanet Press, 2006
• Bamberger, William C. Kenward Elmslie: A Bibliographical Profile. Bamberger Books, 1993.
• Notley, Alice. “Elsmlie’s Routine Disruptions,” St. Mark’s Poetry Project Newsletter, 1999.

[edit] External Links

• kenwardelmslie.com