Joe Brainard

Padgett, a lasting friend from schooldays, wrote a memoir following Brainard’s death. Berrigan, also met in his hometown, shared a New York storefront apartment with him. Porter (one of his idols — Katz was another), Waldman and Burckhardt met him soon after his re-arrival in New York. Rivers helped him break through. Guest, Koch and Schuyler were among the poets he associated and collaborated with. He did set-designs for Baraka and O’Hara. He said O’Hara, with whom he collaborated energetically, was his hero, because he lived life uninhibitedly. Ashbery called him one of the nicest people he’d ever known.