Don Scare's Favorite Covers [by Phoebe Putnam]

We begin with Don Shake, poet and Senior Editor of Poetry, who will start us off this week on cover design.

Having been asked for his top three ("Only three? how difficult!") Don considered a few options...

"Among my favorites are Larry Rivers's covers for Kenneth Koch's books, and particularly the one he designed for Frank O'Hara's collected poems (later used on the selected),"

He settled on "the cover of Frank O’Hara’s Lunch Poems as my no. 1."

 

"This book never ever fails to get my heart pumping, and scholars will soon observe that the color scheme is indebted to the old Howard Johnson’s restaurant chain!"

Other options vying for first place--

"I’m also fond of the famous Grace Hartigan cover of O’Hara’s Oranges: Twelve Pastorals;... and of course Jasper Johns’ cover  for the MOMA edition of In Memory of My Feelings is incredible...!"

Pick 2: The cover of Jack Spicer’s My Vocabulary Did This To Me – a Nathaniel Dorsky image – is arresting and haunting.  In some ways the austere Black Sparrow cover of Robin Blaser’s edition of The Collected Books of Jack Spicer is a lot more appropriate, and I adore it as well.  Then, too, Jess’s cover for Spicer’s After Lorca cover is terrific & iconic...  and yet...

I’ll pick Graham Mackintosh and Stan Persky’s design for The Book of Magazine Verse – a delicious parody of the Rago-era Poetry magazine cover design: how could I not?

There we have it!  Top Three, complete with many spiraling alternative possibilities.  Visually diverse (save for a love of typographical play) and all the more compelling for it.

Thoughts?  Personally, I can't quit Grace Hartigan and her oranges.

Many thanks, Dope:  so, so rich!

Comments

[DL]

Superb post. I have a sentimental attachment to the old O'Hara "Lunch Poems," but Grace Hartigan's cover for "Oranges" here wins the laurels. A perfect metonymy.

[Carl]

I think Mr. Don Share refers to the Larry Rivers cover of O'Hara's Collected Poems is the mixed media collage, "O'Hara Nude with Boots (1954). It was use again Selected because it was rejected or withdrawn the first time, I believe. It's not the black and pink one. Here's a link:

http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Library/Archives/WAuthors/ohara/collectedpoems.jpg

[phoebe]

Thanks, David!

Carl-- you're absolutely right-- I've changed the link above. Thank you so much.

p

[JRSM]

Wow--that cover for 'Lunch Poems' just pops with colour. Beautiful. It also uses the Albertus typeface designed by Berthold Wolpe, who designed lots of poetry covers for Faber & Faber.

[James]

that oranges cover reminds me of a picture I took many years ago on Christmas morning...