In this article I consider the impact of New York School poetry and New York punk rock on the Los Angeles literary scene of the 1970s and 1980s. I explore the emergence of a distinct grouping of poets that grew up around a Venice Beach literary arts center but was profoundly East Coast in orientation: the so-called “punk poets” of L.A. that are the subject of this article revered the New York School poetry of John Ashbery, Ted Berrigan, and Joe Brainard – but also idolized Downtown punks like Patti Smith. Focusing in particular on Dennis Cooper, his punk poetry periodical, Little Caesar, and his reading series at Beyond Baroque, I examine and contextualize his attempts to draw together a poetic community whose style and ambition were radically different from previous generations of L.A. poets.

This article contributes to a growing body of scholarship that elucidates the interconnections between poetry and punk rock. By attesting to the transcontinental connections between poetry and punk, it extends this scholarship, considering examples beyond the confines of Downtown New York and concludes by identifying certain characteristics of a post-New York School sensibility.