Archive / 1990-1999

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Cage, John 1983; 1992

Sunday, September 25, 1983
Sunday, March 1, 1992

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There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time. There is always something to see, something to hear. In fact, try as we may to make a silence, we cannot.

– John Cage

Listen to John Cage’s 1992 Poetry Center reading:

 

Vintage poster of Poetry in Motion: a film by Ron Mann with Amiri Baraka, Ted Berrigan, Charles Bukowski, William Burroughs, John Cage, Robert Creeley, Diane Di Prima, Kenward Elmslie, Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Ed Sanders, Gary Snyder, Tom Waits, Anne Waldman at the Poetry Center of Chicago.

Vintage poster of Poetry in Motion: a film by Ron Mann with Amiri Baraka, Ted Berrigan, Charles Bukowski, William Burroughs, John Cage, Robert Creeley, Diane Di Prima, Kenward Elmslie, Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Ed Sanders, Gary Snyder, Tom Waits, Anne Waldman at the Poetry Center of Chicago.

 

Read John Cage’s “Lecture on Nothing:”

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Check out this documentary about John Cage:

UbuWeb Film & Video: “American Masters” John Cage: I Have Nothing to Say and I Am Saying It

TV Series: “American Masters” (1983) Original Air Date: 17 September 1990 Country: UK 55 min John Cage On His Way With Sound By JOHN J. O’CONNOR New York Times Published: September 17, 1990 Perhaps the most striking thing about John Cage is his ability to reduce just about anyone in his vicinity to a gentle smile.

More info on John Cage⇒

A Formal Feeling Comes 1998

Wednesday, April 29, 1998
A Formal Feeling Comes: A program celebrating multi-formalism
Debra Bruce, Annie FinchJohn Frederick Nims, Paulette Roeske, and Cin Salach
Beginning of the A Formal Feeling Comes broadside series.

Beginning of the A Formal Feeling Comes broadside series.

Buy the A Formal Feeling Comes broadside series⇒

debrapic

he smells like leather and mint and the El that shot
him through the city. Now he slips
his headstrap off, his black patch. But not
for them–the ones who heaved at him and swung
their taunt: Let’s see what’s under there.

– Debra Bruce, “The Fitting”

annie-finch

is the sound of my loud carrying life a knell
far across your small ocean? Do you share
the secret that the months keep hidden there?

– Annie Finch, “Three Generations of Secrets”

Glossies of Eden? The slim beached curled
Between rocks and the frill of foam–that’s when
There’s thunder of tunnels and the underworld.

John Frederick Nims, “from the rapido: la spezia-genova”

roeske

You have given me
too much: two pearls, two moons ascending–
luminous, miraculous,
like your two hands as I see them in dreams.

– Paulette Roeske, “Too Much”

cin salach

This is what I was afraid of:
This paper   this though   lines
dividing white space     lines dividing
nothing.
This exhaustion     this futility
this game or promise.

– Cin Salach, “specifically”

More info on Debra Bruce⇒

More info on Annie Finch⇒

More info on John Frederick Nims⇒

More info on Paulette Roeske⇒

More info on Cin Salach⇒

Mixed Bag Series 1999

Wednesday, January 27, 1999
Mixed Bag Series – 5 Chicago Performance Poets
Nina Corwin, Kent Foreman, Regie Gibson, Maria McCray, and Marvin Tate
Cover of the Mixed Bag broadside series.

Cover of the Mixed Bag broadside series.

Buy the Mixed Bag broadside series⇒

Corwin-web

She learned the meaning of industry
From Sunday school sermons on
Protestant virtue,
the third little pig,
the spider not the fly,
and the squirrel putting up supplies
for the barren season–

– Nina Corwin, “Lady Sisyphus”

RonSeymourPhotos

It is the law:
seasons, best selling books and empires
come and go.
Babies are born to die,
bridges are built to one day fall
and shoes wear out.

– Kent Foreman, “It is the Law”

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Amazon of song
valkyrie riding astride blue horses
of chanted mystery
you who assassinate
the killer of your
children’s dreams

– Regie Gibson, “Poet Woman”

Billie sang!     the truth of blooming blood blossoms
the bottomless search-seek for love,
the pitless people, pillaging, plagiarizing,
picking apart

– Maria McCray, “Holliday & Well Worth a Celebration”

she wants to reclaim her body
change it back to its original shape
like when she danced, you know she use
to dance, in the middle of a drum circle

– Marvin Tate, “Blue eggs for a blue poet”

More info on Nina Corwin⇒

More info on Kent Foreman⇒

More info on Regie Gibson⇒

More info on Maria McCray⇒

More info on Marvin Tate⇒

Gibson, Regie 1999

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Amazon of song
valkyrie riding astride blue horses
of chanted mystery
you who assassinate
the killer of your
children’s dreams

– Regie Gibson, “Poet Woman”

Broadside of "Poet Woman" by Regie Gibson.

Broadside of “Poet Woman” by Regie Gibson.

Buy this broadside in the Mixed Bag Series⇒

You came through a fissure in the night    Federico
framed in a coat of thorns    Federico
Your frail body a tilde of light
Your body    thin as a bull’s horn

– Regie Gibson, “Federico”

Continue reading this poem⇒

Listen to this interview with Regie Gibson from Radio Boston:

The Poetry Of Regie Gibson Meets The Saxophone Of Stan Strickland

Boston-based slam poet Regie Gibson performs with saxophonist Stan Strickland.

Watch Regie Gibson perform at TEDxBoston:

Cry havoc | Regie Gibson | TEDxBoston

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. To Thine Own Self Be Hip: a response from Hamlet to young men who have contemplated suicide Former National Poetry Slam Champion Regie Gibson has lectured and performed widely in the U.S., Cuba and Europe and is a recipient of the Absolute Poetry Award.

More info on Regie Gibson⇒

Sze, Arthur 1999

Wednesday, February 24, 1999
with Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge and Marilyn Chin

arthur-sze

Meandering across a field with wild asparagus,
I write with my body the characters for grass,
water, transformation, ache to be one with spring.

– Arthur Sze, “Crisscross”

Continue reading this poem⇒

Read this interview with Arthur Sze from The Drunken Boat:

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Redwinged blackbirds in the cattail pond–
today I kicked and flipped a wing
in the sand and saw it was a sheared
off flicker’s. Yesterday’s rain has left

– Arthur Sze, “Morning Antlers”

Continue reading this poem⇒

Watch Arthur Sze discuss the influence of American poetry in China as part of American Poets Abroad:

Arthur Sze: American Poets Abroad

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More info on Arthur Sze⇒

Chin, Marilyn 1999

Wednesday, February 24, 1999
with Mei-Mei Berssenbrugger and Arthur Sze

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Yellow gold is meaningless
Learning is better than pearls
A woman without brilliance
Leaves nothing but dim children

– Marilyn Chin, “from Two Inch Fables”

Continue reading this poem⇒

Read this interview with Marilyn Chin from the Los Angeles Review of Books:

Elegies, Allergies, and Other Elusions: Marilyn Chin Talks Hard Love | Los Angeles Review of Books

To “make it new” might just mean a Chinese American woman poet writing some badass polyvocal poems to take on the Modernists….

My shadow followed me to San Diego
silently, she never complained.
No green card, no identity pass,
she is wedded to my fate.

– Marilyn Chin, “Get Rid of the X”

Continue reading this poem⇒

Watch Marilyn Chin read her poetry at the Zalaznick Reading Series:

Reading by Poet and Writer Marilyn Chin – Thursday, November 12, 2015

Marilyn Chin reads poetry from her award-winning collection,_Hard Love Province_, as well as selections from her fiction work, as part of the Fall 2015 Zalaznick Reading Series. Cornell University Dept. of English, Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall

Marilyn Chin begins speaking at 6:21 minutes.

More info on Marilyn Chin⇒

Finch, Annie 1998

annie-finch

is the sound of my loud carrying life a knell
far across your small ocean? Do you share
the secret that the months keep hidden there?

– Annie Finch, “Three Generations of Secrets”

Broadside of "Three Generations of Secrets" by Annie Finch.

Broadside of “Three Generations of Secrets” by Annie Finch.

Buy this broadside in a series with Paulette Roeske, Debra Bruce, John Frederick Nims, and Cin Salach⇒

Ours are the only mouths
to taste with this smothering slow
touch, and the only steps
to sink like bellsounds and cave
deep into the marble snow.

– Annie Finch, “Frozen In”

Continue reading this poem⇒

Read this interview with Annie Finch from The Harlequin:

Annie Finch – Interview – The Harlequin

An interview with poet Annie Finch in The Harlequin

When I was thirteen she found me,
spiralled into my blood like a hive.
I stood on a porch where she wound me
for the first time, tight and alive,

– Annie Finch, “Moon From the Porch”

Continue reading this poem⇒

Watch Annie Finch read “A Blessing on the Poets:”

Annie Finch reading A Blessing on the Poets

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More info on Annie Finch⇒

Bruce, Debra 1998

debrapic

he smells like leather and mint and the El that shot
him through the city. Now he slips
his headstrap off, his black patch. But not
for them–the ones who heaved at him and swung
their taunt: Let’s see what’s under there.

– Debra Bruce, “The Fitting”

Broadside of "The Fitting" by Debra Bruce.

Broadside of “The Fitting” by Debra Bruce.

Buy this broadside in a series with Paulette Roeske, Annie Finch, John Frederick Nims, and Cin Salach⇒

Read an interview with Debra Bruce from Diane Lockward’s Poetry Salon:

Poetry Salon: Debra Bruce

I am happy to host today’s Poetry Salon for Debra Bruce . I first met Debra on the Wompo Poetry Listserv. I then had the pleasure o…

Sometimes her tongue is numb
all morning, she says, but
she doesn’t say when
to go back, maybe at the first
crackle of bone as you bend
for the baby’s dropped spoon.

– Debra Bruce, “Granny Dunn Says Go Back”

Continue reading this poem⇒

Watch this discussion including Debra Bruce and Jennifer Dotson from Poetry Today:

Poetry Today – Debra Bruce & Jennifer Dotson

Uploaded by Vic Walter on 2015-03-03.

More info on Debra Bruce⇒

Roeske, Paulette 1998

roeske

You have given me
too much: two pearls, two moons ascending–
luminous, miraculous,
like your two hands as I see them in dreams.

– Paulette Roeske, “Too Much”

Broadside of "Too Much" by Paulette Roeske.

Broadside of “Too Much” by Paulette Roeske.

Buy this broadside in a series with Annie Finch, Debra Bruce, John Frederick Nims, and Cin Salach⇒

A man I know is out in it, bent
on a senseless errand. He chafes his hands,
mutters into his frozen bears. If
he returns, he will tell stories
of pigeons fallen like stones
from their perch under the El
while wondering whether I would mourn
his passing.

– Paulette Roeske, “Cold Snap”

Continue reading this poem⇒

More info on Paulette Roeske⇒

Kelly, Brigit Pegeen 1999

Wednesday, November 10, 1999
with Craig Arnold and Talvikki Ansel

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My father said I could not do it,
but all night I picked the peaches.
The orchard was still, the canals ran steadily.
I was a girl then, my chest its own walled garden.

– Brigit Pegeen Kelly, “The Leaving”

Continue reading this poem⇒

Listen to NPR‘s discussion of the poet finalists for the National Book Award in 2004, including Brigit Pegeen Kelly:

The bees came out of the junipers, two small swarms
The size of melons; and golden, too, like melons,
They hung next to each other, at the height of a deer’s breast
Above the wet black compost. And because
The light was very bright it was hard to see them,
And harder still to see what hung between them.

– Brigit Pegeen Kelly, “The Dragon”

Continue reading this poem⇒

Listen to Brigit Pegeen Kelly read poems from her book, The Orchard, on The New York Times:

The New York Times > Books > Audio > A Poetry Reading by Brigit Pegeen Kelly

The poet reads

More info on Brigit Pegeen Kelly⇒