John Giorno at Hotel Chelsea staring into Brion Gysin's Dream Machine, 1965
1936 Born New York, NY, US to Amadeo and Nancy Giorno
1939 Attends the World’s Fair in Brooklyn, NY
1952 Sees Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas
1954 Graduates from James Madison High School
1956 Reads Allen Ginsberg’s Howl
1958 Graduates from Columbia University, briefly attends graduate program at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop
1958 Attempts suicide
1959 Begins two-year stint as a customers man on Wall Street, earning a reputation as “the poet who works on Wall Street” amongst his peers
1962 Meets Andy Warhol
1965 Stars in Andy Warhol’s film Sleep
1965 Opens Giorno Poetry Systems bank account to start non-profit for funding poetry projects
1965 Takes 34 LSD trips in Hotel Chelsea with Brion Gysin; creates Subway Sound with Brion Gysin
1966 Begins renting apartment at 222 Bowery
John Giorno's "Poetry Loft" Studio, © 2019 Marco Annelli
1967 John Giorno releases his first monograph (Poems) and first LP (The Intravenous Mind Presents Poems by John Giorno)
1968 Dial-A-Poem debuts at the Architectural League
1969 Dial-A-Poem is featured in Information at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, curated by Kynaston McShine
1970 Giorno Poetry Systems is incorporated as non-profit
1971 Travels to India and Nepal and meets the Dalai Lama and His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche
1972 Diagnosed with testicular cancer, and is successfully treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital
1972 Giorno Poetry Systems releases first LP, The Dial-A-Poem Poets
1975 William Burroughs moves into the Bunker at 222 Bowery
1977 Spends eight months in Kathmandu studying Tibetan Nyingma Buddhism
John Giorno in front of LIFE IS A KILLER, 1989. © Philip Heying
1982 Begins to perform poetry with John Giorno Band
1983 William Burroughs moves out of the Bunker, Giorno hosts Nyingma teachings in the space
1985 AIDS Treatment Project, a grantmaking body via Giorno Poetry Systems, is formed
1989 First poem paintings (silkscreen on vinyl) are produced with iconic Mark Michaelson font by Editions Francesco Conz
1997 William Burroughs dies
1998 Meets Ugo Rondinone
2013 Has an early-warning stroke
2015 Ugo Rondinone stages I ❤︎ John Giorno at Palais de Tokyo, Paris
2016 Diagnosed with heart failure
2017 Marries Ugo Rondinone
2017 Retires from performing
2019 Dies in his home at 222 Bowery, New York