Ira Cohen absolutely participated in everything that is considered alternative post-1950. He was a pivotal figure in the last great bohemia that existed. Each time I ended a phone conversation with him, I would remind him that if he died before me I would be grateful every day of my life for knowing him and for having spent time with his incredible mind.

Ira immersed himself in world cultures, spiritually, artistically, anthropologically and in every art form save painting. He created intergenerational and international coalitions, always totally inclusive, queer as fuck yet he remained the outsider.

His knowledge was encyclopedic. I used him like you use google. He had a library of ten thousand books and he had read them all and retained all their knowledge. Ira had shoplifted all of those books. He said shoplifting is an ability all poets should develop.

When I complained that academic gatekeepers were erasing his influence from history he would laugh and chide me: “Remember Penny, a non-psychedelic can never enlighten a psychedelic.” When he died, The New York Times gave him a huge obituary as did The Guardian. The Times loves a dead queer. Fuck them.

– Penny Arcade

This night of readings and remembrances celebrates the life and lasting influence of Ira Cohen by those who most closely felt it: Lakshmi Cohen, Bonnie Finberg, Allan Graubard, Louise Landes-Levi, Yuko Otomo, Danny Rosen, Robert Yarra, and Wayne Lopes.