I’ve never had a sad cup of coffee

By Nick Twemlow

Artist Robert Rauschenberg died Monday night at the age of 82. Obituaries can be found all over the place, so instead of adding another, here’s a few interesting links that connect Rauschenberg to poetry. If you have more, please post them in the comments section.

“I used to think of that line in Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, about ‘the sad cup of coffee.’ I’ve had cold coffee and hot coffee, good coffee and lousy coffee, but I’ve never had a sad cup of coffee.”
Full audio of John Cage reading his piece “On Robert Rauschenberg, Artist and His Work.”
Time magazine article from 1968, which describes a poetry reading in Rauschenberg’s Manhattan studio.
Poet Vincent Katz on Rauschenberg’s Erased de Kooning Drawing.
Poet Rick Barot’s essay “Rauschenberg’s Bed,” from the Yale Review.
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Posted in Uncategorized on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 by Nick Twemlow.