Shortly after taking office as Mayor of New York in January 1978, Ed Koch met the poet Kenneth Koch. By this time everyone had learned how to pronounce Hizzoner’s name: Koch, like “catch” but with an o sound instead of the a. Kenneth pronounced his last name like the soft drink (so that, years later, I could title a Newsweek piece about Kenneth’s poetry “Back to Classic Koch). When the two tall gentlemen met, Kenneth said, “Because of you, everyone is calling me Kotch,” to which the mayor, without losing a beat, replied, “And because of you, everyone has been calling me Coke.” — DL
R.I.P Ed Koch 1924-2013
from the archives; first posted February 1, 2013
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Author: The Best American Poetry
