Although Maged Zaher was in Cairo and I was in New York, when he read via Zoom from his new book, The shadow that doesn’t leave the shirt, I felt that I could reach out and touch him. He is direct, philosophical and intimate, and […]
Category Archives: Books That Come My Way
Alicia Ostriker reads from The Mother/Child Papers
I read The Mother/Child Papers in one sitting. Perhaps it was so accessible because I was sitting by the Atlantic Ocean, at the same time of year as the book begins, in early May, but decades later. I like serendipity. With the added momentum […]
Daisy Fried reads from The Year the City Emptied, translations and adaptions from Les Fleurs du Mal
During the pandemic, while taking care of her dying husband, quarantined from friends, and without much help from Medicaid, one day in the spring of 2020, Daisy Fried read a translation of Baudelaire’s “Paysage” by John Ashbery, thought to herself, “I can do better than […]
Margo Taft Stever reads from The End of Horses
When I began to read The End of Horses, I enjoyed the first poem immediately. It’s about riding a horse bareback, and if one has never done that, this poem will be a pleasurable facsimile with its quick three line stanzas and tempo reminiscent of […]
Brenda Coultas reads from The Writing of an Hour
The poems in The Writing of an Hour happen as the words happen. Now anyone might ask, “Isn’t that obvious?” But what I mean to say is that these poems with their words in the right combinations are written so explicitly in the present, that […]
Ted Rees reads from Dog Day Economy
On March 26, I attended a reading in Philly at Vox Populi on North 11th Street, featuring Jena Osman, Ted Rees, and Samuel Delany that was hosted by Lonely Christopher for the Segue Reading Series. It was great. Samuel Delany, who was last, and […]
Celebrating The Life of a Kalamata
At KGB, a few weeks ago, I attended a reading for Didi Champagne’s new book, The Life of a Kalamata. Dorothy Friedman, Jeff Wright, Linda Kleinbub, and Patricia Carragon each read a poem before Didi took the stage. Didi’s talents are generous and multi-faceted; most […]
Dazié Grego-Sykes reads from Black Faggotry
Early March in the cold pouring rain, I made my way west on the M-8 bus toward the LBGT Community Center on 13th Street near 7th Avenue. The poetry reading that night, on the second floor at the Bureau of General Services—Gay Division bookstore, was […]
Elaine Sexton reads from Drive
Life, we all come to realize, even if we never read Heraclitus, is in constant motion, which is one reason why I walked over to 2 Horatio Street last Monday to record Elaine Sexton reading from Drive, her new book of poems about to […]
Sean Singer reads from Today In The Taxi
At KGB last December, I heard Sean Singer read from a forthcoming book of prose poems called Today in the Taxi, similar journeys, different passengers, with the words of others sometimes added, Duke Ellington, The Talmud, Franz Kafka, helping the cab driver take the […]
Alfred Corn reads his translation of Rilke’s First Elegy from the Duino Elegies
A few years ago, the news that Alfred Corn was working on a translation of Rainer Maria Rilke’s Duino Elegies made me very happy. When I was in my early twenties, Rilke was one of the poets who showed me what a poet was […]
Star Black reads from Waterworn
Many people may think of Star Black as a photographer who has documented NYC downtown art and literary events. She also curated the Monday Night Poetry Readings at KGB Bar beginning in 1997, an event that has been going on non stop for a […]
