John Burnett Payne

John Burnett Payne (1919–1986) was a New York poet active in the Manhattan poetry scene of the 1970s and 1980s. His work portrays city life, including imagined encounters between Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman on crosstown buses and bleak views of run-down New York movie theaters. His chapbooks were long unavailable until they were collected in Emily and Walt, Walt and Emily, published by Poet's Press.