My favorite New York School poet and by far the best teacher. If you're at all interested in learning about poetry, read this guy. To get a sense of who he was to the world of poetry, read Dean Young's *Elegy on Toy Piano*.
Hi Humanodon One Train May Hide Another is one of my favourite poems - the notion of hiding deliberately or accidentally might be the next Prompt of the Day. Koch's books have inspired me for ages - ever since finding his love poem "Permanently" long ago in the Norton Anthology. By Kenneth Koch One day the Nouns were clustered in the street. An Adjective walked by, with her dark beauty. The Nouns were struck, moved, changed. The next day a Verb drove up, and created the Sentence. Each Sentence says one thing—for example, “Although it was a dark rainy day when the Adjective walked by, I shall remember the pure and sweet expression on her face until the day I perish from the green, effective earth.” Or, “Will you please close the window, Andrew?” Or, for example, “Thank you, the pink pot of flowers on the window sill has changed color recently to a light yellow, due to the heat from the boiler factory which exists nearby.” In the springtime the Sentences and the Nouns lay silently on the grass. A lonely Conjunction here and there would call, “And! But!” But the Adjective did not emerge. As the Adjective is lost in the sentence, So I am lost in your eyes, ears, nose, and throat— You have enchanted me with a single kiss Which can never be undone Until the destruction of language.Permanently
Hi lil, I think that's a great idea for a prompt! I also love this poem. My first exposure to him was in university. I was wandering around looking for a copy of The Collected Poems of Kenneth Koch for a class and by chance found an uncorrected proof of the collection for sale at a used book store. Bulky and heavy as the volume is, I've taken it with me all over the world. I'm not a huge fan of long poems, but with Koch it's always a pleasure and it's always relevant and accessible. I really wish that contemporary poets would take accessibility into consideration more often as the lay person is often swamped by the literary pretensions and influence of Pound and Eliot who are of course great in their own right, but not for everyone.
