The Poetry Project

Reading

A Celebration of Ted Berrigan’s Get the Money!: Collected Prose (1961–1983)

The Poetry Project and City Lights co-present a New York launch for the essential prose writings of an iconic New York School poet. With readings from co-editors Alice Notley, Nick Sturm, Anselm Berrigan, and Edmund Berrigan, as well as Garrett Caples, Johnny Stanton, Kay Gabriel, Greg Masters, Alina Pleskova, Alexis Almeida, Eileen Myles, Andrei Codrescu, Richard Hell, John Godfrey, Harris Schiff, Simon Pettet, and Anne Waldman.

“Get the Money!” was Ted Berrigan’s mantra for the paid writing gigs he took on in support of his career as a poet. This long-awaited collection of his essential prose draws upon the many essays, reviews, introductions, and other texts he produced for hire, as well as material from his journals, travelogues, and assorted, unclassifiable creative texts. Get the Money! documents Berrigan’s innovative poetics and techniques, as well as the creative milieu of poets–centered around New York’s Poetry Project–for whom he served as both nurturer and catalyst. Highlights include his journals from the ’60s, depicting his early poetic discoveries and bohemian activities in New York; the previously unpublished “Some Notes About ‘C, ‘” an account of his mimeo magazine that serves as a de facto memoir of the early days of the second-generation New York School; a moving and prescient obituary, “Frank O’Hara Dead at 40”; book “reviews” consisting of poems entirely collaged from lines in the book; art reviews of friends and collaborators like Joe Brainard, George Schneeman, and Jane Freilicher; and his notorious “Interviews” with John Cage and John Ashbery, both of which were completely fabricated. Get the Money! provides a view into the development of Berrigan’s aesthetics in real time, as he captures the heady excitement of the era and champions the poets and artists he loves.

x

Masks are required at all Poetry Project events unless otherwise and specifically noted. If you forget to bring your mask, we are happy to provide you with one.

We also encourage all event attendees to take a rapid test the day of the event before heading to the church. Here’s a map of testing sites throughout the city. Thank you for helping us keep our wonderful community safe!

This in-person event will also be livestreamed via The Poetry Project's YouTube. Livestream captions will be available via a streamtext link or the CC button on YouTube's player.

Open CART captioning is scheduled for most in-person events.

To keep our community safe, The Poetry Project implements the following at all live events: limiting the number of attendees; requiring proof of vaccination be shown at the door upon arrival; and requiring and providing face masks, as well as hand sanitizer stations. Before each event, we will also be conducting rapid tests for all performers, introducers, and hosts. Attendees are required to register in advance, and contact information is collected at the point of registration in the event that we need to support any public health efforts around contact tracing. We are committed to the safety of our performers, audience, and event staff, and will be fully prepared to update any of these plans and protocols as circumstances continue to evolve. We are grateful to attendees for helping us maintain safety within our present public health context, and look forward to holding meaningful shared listening space together.

Events