Ron Padgett (born June 17, 1942,

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

) is an American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

, essayist, fiction writer,

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

, and a member of the New York School. ''Great Balls of Fire'', Padgett's first full-length collection of poems, was published in 1969. He won a 2009

Shelley Memorial Award The Shelley Memorial Award of the Poetry Society of America, was established by the will of Mary P. Sears, and named after the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. The prize is given to a living American poet selected with reference to genius and need, and is ...

. In 2018, he won the

Frost Medal The Poetry Society of America is a literary organization founded in 1910 by poets, editors, and artists. It is the oldest poetry organization in the United States. Past members of the society have included such renowned poets as Witter Bynner, Ro ...

from the

Poetry Society of America The Poetry Society of America is a literary organization founded in 1910 by poets, editors, and artists. It is the oldest poetry organization in the United States. Past members of the society have included such renowned poets as Witter Bynner, Ro ...

Early life and education

Padgett’s father was a bootlegger in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He influenced many of Padgett's works, particularly in the writer's taste for independence and a willingness to deviate from rules, even his own. This would later be described as a stubborn streak of boyishness, allowing a wry innocence in his poetry. Padgett started writing poetry at the age of 13. In an interview, the poet said that he was inspired to write when a girl he had a big crush on did not return his affection. In high school, Padgett became interested in visual arts while continuing to write poetry. He befriended

Joe Brainard Joe Brainard (March 11, 1942 – May 25, 1994) was an American artist and writer associated with the New York School. His prodigious and innovative body of work included assemblages, collages, drawing, and painting, as well as designs for book ...

, the visual artist who also became a well-known writer. They, with fellow Central High student

Dick Gallup Dick Gallup (July 3, 1941 – January 27, 2021) was an American poet associated with the New York School. Early life and education Richard "Dick" John Gallup was born on July 3, 1941, in Greenfield, Massachusetts. In late 1949, the Gallup famil ...

, co-founded the

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

literary journal ''The White Dove Review''. Padgett and Gallup solicited work for ''The'' ''White Dove'' from Black Mountain and

Beat Movement The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generatione ...

writers such as

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian a ...

LeRoi Jones Amiri Baraka (born Everett Leroy Jones; October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014), previously known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amear Baraka, was an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays and music criticism. He was the author of numerous bo ...

, Paul Blackburn,

Gilbert Sorrentino Gilbert Sorrentino (April 27, 1929 – May 18, 2006) was an American novelist, short story writer, poet, literary critic, professor, and editor. In over twenty-five works of fiction and poetry, Sorrentino explored the comic and formal possibili ...

, and

Robert Creeley Robert White Creeley (May 21, 1926 – March 30, 2005) was an American poet and author of more than sixty books. He is usually associated with the Black Mountain poets, though his verse aesthetic diverged from that school. He was close with Char ...

. After five issues, Padgett, on his way to college, retired the ''White Dove.'' In 1960, Padgett left Tulsa to study at Columbia College in New York City. At that time he was interested in Pound, Rimbaud, the Black Mountain poets, and the Beats but soon he fell under the spell of the New York School, particularly the poetry of

Frank O'Hara Francis Russell "Frank" O'Hara (March 27, 1926 – July 25, 1966) was an American writer, poet, and art critic. A curator at the Museum of Modern Art, O'Hara became prominent in New York City's art world. O'Hara is regarded as a leading figure i ...

John Ashbery John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...

James Schuyler James Marcus Schuyler (November 9, 1923 – April 12, 1991) was an American poet. His awards include the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his 1980 collection ''The Morning of the Poem''. He was a central figure in the New York School and is of ...

, and

Kenneth Koch Kenneth Koch ( ; 27 February 1925 – 6 July 2002) was an American poet, playwright, and professor, active from the 1950s until his death at age 77. He was a prominent poet of the New York School of poetry. This was a loose group of poets includ ...

. In an interview, Padgett said that he went to Columbia partly because Ginsberg and Kerouac had gone there. After receiving his B.A. (1964), Padgett briefly studied

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

Wagner College Wagner College is a private liberal arts college in Staten Island, New York City. Founded in 1883 and with an enrollment of approximately 2,200 students, Wagner is known for its academic program, The Wagner Plan for the Practical Liberal Arts. It ...

with

Kay Boyle Kay Boyle (February 19, 1902 – December 27, 1992) was an American novelist, short story writer, educator, and political activist. She was a Guggenheim Fellow and O. Henry Award winner. Early years The granddaughter of a publisher, Boyle was ...

Howard Nemerov Howard Nemerov (March 1, 1920 – July 5, 1991) was an American poet. He was twice Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, from 1963 to 1964 and again from 1988 to 1990. For ''The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov'' (1977 ...

, and Koch. On a

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

(Paris, 1965–66) he studied 20th-century French poetry.

Career

From 1968 to 1969 Padgett was a workshop leader for

The Poetry Project The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church was founded in 1966 at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery in the East Village, Manhattan, East Village of Manhattan by, among others, the poet and translator Paul Blackburn (U.S. poet), Paul Blackburn. It has bee ...

at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery in New York City. With David Shapiro, Padgett co-edited ''An Anthology of New York Poets'', published by Random House in 1970. He founded ''The Poetry Project Newsletter'' in 1972. Padgett also worked in poet-in-the-school programs nationally from 1969 to 1976. After directing The Poetry Project for two and a half years, he became the publications director of

Teachers & Writers Collaborative Teachers & Writers Collaborative is a New York City-based organization that sends writers and other artists into schools. It was founded in 1967 by a group of writers and educators, including Herbert Kohl (the group's founding director), June Jo ...

(1980-2000), where he also edited ''The Teachers & Writers Collaborative Newsletter''. Padgett was a cofounder, publisher, and editor of Full Court Press from 1973 to 1988, bringing out books by Ginsberg, Brainard, O'Hara, Edwin Denby, Tom Veitch, William S. Burroughs, Larry Fagin, Philippe Soupault, John Godfrey, and others. At the same time, he lectured and taught at educational institutions, including

Atlantic Center for the Arts Atlantic Center for the Arts (ACA) is a nonprofit, interdisciplinary artists’ community and arts education facility providing artists an opportunity to work and collaborate with contemporary artists in the fields of composing, visual, litera ...

, Brooklyn College, and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He also hosted a poetry radio series and the designer of computer writing games. Padgett'
papers
are held by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.

Poetry

Padgett is the author of more than twenty poetry collections, including ''Great Balls of Fire'' (1969, reissued 1990); ''You Never Know'' (2001); ''How to Be Perfect'' (2007); ''How Long'' (2011); and ''Collected Poems'' (2013). Seven of Padgett's poems are featured in

Jim Jarmusch James Robert Jarmusch (; born January 22, 1953) is an American film director and screenwriter. He has been a major proponent of independent cinema since the 1980s, directing films including '' Stranger Than Paradise'' (1984), '' Down by Law'' ( ...

's 2016 film ''Paterson,'' including three written expressly for the film. Like Padgett, Jarmusch studied poetry under Kenneth Koch at Columbia University. Padgett collaborated with poet

Ted Berrigan Ted Berrigan (November 15, 1934 – July 4, 1983) was an American poet. Early life Berrigan was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on November 15, 1934. After high school, he spent a year at Providence College before joining the U.S. Army. After ...

and artists

Jim Dine Jim Dine (born June 16, 1935 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American artist whose œuvre extends over sixty years. Dine’s work includes painting, drawing, printmaking (in many forms including lithographs, etchings, gravure, intaglio, woodcuts, l ...

George Schneeman George Schneeman (March 11, 1934 – January 27, 2009) was an American painter who lived in Tuscany, Italy, and New York City. Life and work George Schneeman was born on March 11, 1934, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He received a B.A. in philosoph ...

, Bertrand Dorny,

Trevor Winkfield Trevor Winkfield (born 1944) is a British-born artist and writer. Drawing upon his interest in both modernist literary movements and medieval architecture and pageantry, Winkfield has collaborated with many contemporary poets and writers, includ ...

, and

Alex Katz Alex Katz (born July 24, 1927) is an American figurative artist known for his paintings, sculptures, and prints. Early life and career Alex Katz was born July 24, 1927, to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, as the son of an émigré who ha ...

, along with Joe Brainard.

Other works

Padgett is also the author of nonfiction works, including ''Blood Work: Selected Prose'' (1993), ''Ted: A Personal Memoir of Ted Berrigan'' (1993), ''Creative Reading'' (1997), and ''The Straight Line: Writing on Poetry and Poets'' (2000), ''Oklahoma Tough: My Father, King of the Tulsa Bootleggers'' (2003), and ''Joe: A Memoir of Joe Brainard'' (2004). Padgett’s novella ''Motor Maids across the Continent'' appeared in 2017 from Song Cave. His numerous works on education and writing include ''The Teachers & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms'' (editor), ''The Teachers & Writers Guide to Walt Whitman'' (editor), and ''Educating the Imagination'' (co-editor). He was also the editor of the three-volume reference work, ''World Poets'' (2000)."Ron Padgett"
Poets.org Padgett also translated French poets

Blaise Cendrars Frédéric-Louis Sauser (1 September 1887 – 21 January 1961), better known as Blaise Cendrars, was a Swiss-born novelist and poet who became a naturalized French citizen in 1916. He was a writer of considerable influence in the European mod ...

Max Jacob Max Jacob (; 12 July 1876 – 5 March 1944) was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic. Life and career After spending his childhood in Quimper, Brittany, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic ca ...

Pierre Reverdy Pierre Reverdy (; 13 September 1889 – 17 June 1960) was a French poet whose works were inspired by and subsequently proceeded to influence the provocative art movements of the day, Surrealism, Dadaism and Cubism. The loneliness and spiritual a ...

Valery Larbaud Valery Larbaud (29 August 1881 – 2 February 1957) was a French writer and poet. Life He was born in Vichy, the only child of a pharmacist. His father died when he was 8, and he was brought up by his mother and aunt. His father had been owner ...

, and

Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of the ...

. Book-length collections of his own work have been translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Faroese, German, Finnish, Norwegian, and Italian.

Awards and honors

His grants, fellowships. and awards include a Guggenheim (1986), a grant from the

Foundation for Contemporary Arts The Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA), is a nonprofit based foundation in New York City that offers financial support and recognition to contemporary performing and visual artists through awards for artistic innovation and potential. It was ...

(1996), the French Ministry of Culture and Communication (2001), the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and the

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreac ...

(2016). His book ''How Long'' was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2012 and his ''Collected Poems'' won the L.A. Times Book Prize in 2013. He was also the recipient of grants and awards for his translations, which include those given by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and Columbia University’s Translation Center. *2013

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Prizes currently have nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added in 1991), history, mystery/thriller ( ...

(Poetry) winner for ''Collected Poems'' *2015 Robert Creeley Award *2018 Robert Frost Medalist

Personal life

Padgett and his wife, Patricia Padgett, who also grew up in Tulsa, have lived in the same East Village apartment since 1967. They also have a rustic retreat in

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

where they spend their summers. The couple's son Wayne was born in 1966.

Works

* ''Summer Balloons,'' self-published (Tulsa, Oklahoma), 1960. *''In Advance of the Broken Arm'', "C" Press (New York, NY), 1964. *''Some Things'', (with

and

), "C" Press (New York, NY), 1964. *''Two Stories for Andy Warhol'', "C" Press (New York, NY), 1965. *''Sky'', Goliard Press (London, UK), 1966. *''Bean Spasms: Poems and Prose'', (with

) Kulcher Press (New York, NY), 1967; reprinted

Granary Books Granary Books is an independent small press and rare books and archives dealer based in New York City. Owned and directed by Steve Clay, Granary has published hundreds of books that "produce, promote, document, and theorize new works exploring th ...

(New York, NY), 2012. *''Tone Arm'', Once Press (Wivenhoe Park, Essex, England), 1967. *''100,000 Fleeing Hilda'' (with

), Boke Press (Tulsa, OK), 1967. *''Bun'' (with Tom Clark), Angel Hair Books (New York, NY), 1968. *''Great Balls of Fire'', Holt (New York, NY), 1969; reprinted, revised

Coffee House Press Coffee House Press is a nonprofit independent press based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The press’s goal is to "produce books that celebrate imagination, innovation in the craft of writing, and the many authentic voices of the American experience ...

(Minneapolis, MN), 1990. *''The Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Jim and Ron'' (with

) Cape Goliard Press (London, England), 1970. *''Antlers in the Treetops'' (with

Tom Veitch Tom Veitch (September 26, 1941 – February 14, 2022) was an American writer, known for his work in the comic book industry. He was also a novelist and a poet. He was the brother of comics writer and artist Rick Veitch. Early life Veitch was ...

), Coach House Press (Toronto, Canada), 1970. *''Sweet Pea'', Aloes Books (London, England), 1971. *''Poetry Collection'', Strange Faeces Press (London, England), 1971. *''Sufferin' Succotash'' (with

) (bound with Kiss My Ass by Michael Brownstein), Adventures in Poetry (New York, NY), 1971. *''Back in Boston Again'' (with

and Tom Clark) Telegraph Books (Philadelphia, PA), 1972. *''Oo La La'' (with Jim Dine) Petersburg Press (New York, NY), 1973. *''Crazy Compositions'', Big Sky (Southampton, NY), 1974. *''The World of Leon'' (with others), Big Sky No. 7 (Southampton, NY), 1974. *''Toujours l'amour'', SUN (New York, NY), 1976. *''Arrive by Pullman'' (with

) Générations (Paris, France), 1978. *''Tulsa Kid'', Z Press (Calais, VT), 1979. *''Triangles in the Afternoon'', SUN (New York, NY), 1980. *''How to Be a Woodpecker'', (with

), Toothpaste Press (West Branch, IA), 1983. *''How to Be Modern Art'' (with

), Morning Coffee (West Branch, IA), 1984. *''Light as Air'' (with

), Pace Editions (New York, NY), 1988. *''The Big Something'', The Figures (Great Barrington, MA), 1989. *''Blood Work: Selected Prose'', Bamberger Books (Flint, MI), 1993. *''New and Selected Poems'', David Godine (Boston, MA), 1995. *''You Never Know'',

(Minneapolis, MN), 2001. *''How to Be Perfect'',

(Minneapolis, MN), 2007. *''How Long'',

(Minneapolis, MN), 2011. *''Collected Poems'',

(Minneapolis, MN), 2013. *''Alone and Not Alone'',

(Minneapolis, MN), 2015. *''How to Be Perfect: An Illustrated Guide'' (with Jason Novak),

(Minneapolis, MN), 2016. *''Big Cabin'',

(Minneapolis, MN), 2019. *''Encore with Philosophy and Rectangle'' (with

), Cuneiform (Houston, TX), 2019. *''Dot'',

(Minneapolis, MN), 2022

Memoirs

*''Ted: A Personal Memoir of Ted Berrigan'', The Figures (Great Barrington, MA), 1993. *''Albanian Diary'', The Figures (Great Barrington, MA), 1999. *''Oklahoma Tough: My Father, King of the Tulsa Bootleggers'', University of Oklahoma Press (Norman, OK), 2003. *''Joe: A Personal Memoir of Joe Brainard'',

(Minneapolis, MN), 2004.

Translations

* ''The Poet Assassinated'' by

(illustrated by

) Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY), 1968. *''Dialogues with Marcel Duchamp'' by Pierre Cabanne, Viking (New York, NY), 1971. * ''Kodak'' by

, Adventures in Poetry (New York, NY), 1976. *''The Poems of A. O. Barnabooth'' by

, Mushinsha Ltd. (Tokyo), 1977; revised edition Black Widow Books (Boston, MA), 2008, with Bill Zavatsky. * ''Complete Poems'' by Blaise Cendrars, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 1992. *''Complete Fiction'' by

Serge Fauchereau Serge Fauchereau (born October 31, 1939, in Rochefort-sur-mer) is a French scholar and art curator responsible for the exhibitions ''Paris-New York'', ''Paris-Berlin'', ''Paris-Moscow'', ''Europa-Europa'', ''Futurismo'' and ''Futurismi'', among othe ...

, Black Square Editions, (New York, NY), 2002, with John Ashbery. *''Prose Poems'' by

, Black Square Editions (New York, NY), 2007. *''Flash Cards'' by

Yu Jian Yu Jian (;), born 1954, is a Chinese poet, writer and documentary film director. He is a major figure among ‘The Third Generation Poets’ that came after the Misty Poetry movement of the early 1980s. His work has been translated into English, Fr ...

, (Zephyr) 2010, with Wang Ping. * ''Zone: Selected Poems'' by Guillaume Apollinaire, NYRB Poets (New York, NY), 2015.

Sources

Ron Padgett Papers

References

External links

* *

"Do It"
''Jacket 37'' 2009
"Padgett"
''Penn Sound'' * Ron Padgett Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Padgett, Ron American essayists American male poets American translators Columbia College (New York) alumni French–English translators Poets from New York (state) New York School poets Poets from Oklahoma Writers from Tulsa, Oklahoma 1942 births Living people American male essayists Fulbright alumni