Scene
Art project pipes in poetry for pedestrians
BY TEQUILA MINSKY
What looks like a yellow submarine
periscope peeping out at
the Ruth E. Wittenberg Triangle
at Sixth Ave. and Eighth St. is, in fact, the
New Poetry Jukebox, installed in late October.
The Jukebox plays poetry on demand,
and a lover of verse need just press a button
to hear a poem or reading from the likes
of Edna St. Vincent Millay, James Baldwin,
Allen Ginsburg, Jack Kerouac, Mark
Twain, Hart Crane, Grace Paley and Jane
Jacobs, as well as 11 more American poets
and literary fi gures.
It’s not the fi rst installation of its kind.
The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ireland,
Scotland, Bulgaria and Germany have all
experienced their own site-specifi c versions
of the Jukebox.
The person between the “poetry periscopes”
is Ond ej Kobza, a Prague-based
cafe owner and cultural activist with a passion
for poems and literature in general and
live events in nontraditional places. Working
with him on the project is his colleague
and cultural manager Michaela He ková.
On the Poetry Jukebox Web site they
write, “We believe that listening to the
original voices of poets is one of the most
beautiful and inspiring experiences a city
can offer.”
Animating public spaces is also one of
their goals through their Czech project
Piána na ulici (Pianos on the Street), which
has placed dozens of pianos and chess
boards in public arenas.
The featured poems and poets (and songwriters,
novelists and activists and their
readings) on the Sixth Ave. Poetry Jukebox
refl ect artists that have called the Village
home, including Edna St. Vincent Millay,
“Love is Not All”; Sara Teasdale, “Barter”;
Denis Levertov, “The Pilots”; Grace
Paley, “Mother”; James Baldwin, “Sonny
Blues”; Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven”; Allen
Ginsberg, “Howl”; Jack Kerouac, “The
Beat Generation”; Gary Snyder, “Turtle Island”;
Diane di Prima, “Ave”; Anne Waldman,
“Pressure”; Amiri Baraka, “Our Nation
Is Like Ourselves”; Gregory Corso,
“Mariagge”; Lawrence Ferlinghetti, “Evil”;
Wystan Hugh Auden, “Tell Me the Truth
About Love”; Mark Twain, “The Voice of
Mark Twain”; Hart Crane, “The Brooklyn
Bridge”; Jane Jacobs, “Neighborhoods in
Action”; and Frank O’Hara, “Lana Turner
has collapsed.”
The project is supported by Czech Tourism
in the United States in partnership
with the city’s Department of Transportation
and the Village Alliance Business Improvement
District.
Another Poetry Jukebox with 20 contemporary
New York City-based poets is located
in the East Village, at Six E. First St. Its
selection was compiled with the help of the
next-door HOWL! Happening gallery.
PHOTOS BY TEQUILA MINSKY
Sebastion listened to a reading by James Baldwin at the Sixth Ave. Poetry Jukebox.
Rick Hill meditated on the periscope that offers
poetry.
The Jukebox’s poets and writers all have a connection
to the Village.
Schneps Media TVG January 3, 2019 13