Larry Rivers: The Poet and the Painter

Abstract

One would not wish to claim that Rivers' poetic imagery and verse have earned him the exultation of America's cultural critics. Too few poems have appeared in print and what has been published is undated. The verses, like his canvases and collages, have to be appreciated in their own terms, but through all mediums run the vibrant threads of personal experimentation and literal déjà vu. Two poems in particular, intermesh with his paintings in a symbiotic riot of concepts, All About Diana and Small Portrait of Sheila Mae Lanharn.