East Village Poetry Trail

[Cariad]

Today, from my desk in the UK, I have been taking a virtual walk around the East Village in Manhattan, New York, to discover the history of its poetry scene. It was so good I thought I'd share the link and hopefully you'll enjoy it too...

http://eastvillagepoetrywalk.org/

Here's the blurb...

Passing Stranger - The East Village Poetry Walk is an audio tour of poetry related sites in New York City's East Village. It is produced by Pejk Malinovski, with support from The Poetry Foundation. The interactive documentary experience was created in collaboration with Zeega. The audio file (download here) and map outlining the route (download here) allow the user to take the tour using their own mp3 player. The tour is about 2 miles and 95 minutes long.The main focus is on poetry and poets from the 1950s to the present. The tour does not provide a linear or concise history, but rather, like a walk, an anecdotal, digressive tapestry of the poetry that lived and continues to live in the neighborhood.Passing Stranger includes commentary from key figures from the East Village poetry scene, including Ron Padgett, Anne Waldman and Richard Hell, as well as historical audio from poets like Allen Ginsberg, Kenneth Koch and Frank O'Hara. Poet and critic Daniel Kane provides background and context to set the scene.The Walking Tour ranges from the Bowery in the west to Avenue C in the East, Bleecker Street in the south and 12th street in the north. Stops include St. Mark's On-the-Bowery, W.H. Auden's old apartment building, Tompkins Square Park, Allen Ginsberg's old building, the Bowery poetry club. Each stop contains a montage of poetry, interviews and archival recordings relating to that particular place.​

I particularly enjoyed the dial-a-poem section. What a fantastic idea!

Has anyone walked the walk?

 

[William Haskins]

this is excellent. thank you for posting it.

 

[Stew21]

thanks for sharing this!

 

[Ambrosia]

I have never been there, but it is a fabulous idea. Thank you for sharing it!

 

[Kylabelle]

Cariad, this is really neat! I love the way the experience is designed to allow lots of freedom of where to alight on the walk, who to listen to or about -- I've only dipped in but have saved this and will dip in again many times I feel sure.

Thanks so much for posting it!