A year ago, I heard Greg Masters read new work at the Parkside Lounge. The poems he read then are now published in It Wasn’t Supposed to Be Like This. The art work on the cover by Ava Fedorov makes one want to pick […]
Category Archives: Books That Come My Way
Michael Ruby reads from The Star-Spangled Banner
Michael Ruby is not only a poet, but a journalist who works as an editor at the Wall Street Journal where he is involved with the news—whatever it may be—right there in the thick of it from day to day. This brings us to […]
On Reading Max Turns Yellow by Martha King
When I look back on my life as a reader, there are particular books I remember with pleasure because they drew me in as soon as I started them. Tom Sawyer was one, and Wuthering Heights—much to my surprise—was another; in fact, I read […]
Francine Witte reads some Charley Poems
I’ve heard Francine Witte read her Charley poems on several occasions, and I’ve always enjoyed them, so it had been on my mind to ask her to read them for the blog. Charley is a man (the many men) the poet has dated, and […]
Rosemary Cappello reads from Wonderful Disaster
In Philadelphia, Rosemary Cappello—since the 1970s—has edited magazines, organized readings, and published books by Philadelphia poets, helping the poetry scene to thrive there. When she sent me a copy of her book, Wonderful Disaster, I was moved by her memories that have become striking enjoyable […]
Bamboo Pavilion: Chinese Poems and Paintings by Joanne Wang and Alfred Corn
… Bamboo Pavilion is a beautiful jewel of a book. Chinese poets like Du Fu and Li Bai are translated by Alfred Corn with paintings by the contemporary Chinese artist, Joanne Wang, the present and that past in a really pleasurable collaboration. I’ve scanned a […]
Timothy Liu reads from Let It Ride
… A year ago I got in touch with Timothy Liu and asked if I could record him reading from his new book, Let It Ride, which was coming out in September. Well, one thing led to another, and we never got around to doing […]
Jason Schneiderman reads from Hold Me Tight
… Jason Schneiderman’s new book, Hold Me Tight, has some striking violence on its cover yet is very comfortable to hold. It’s this oxymoron about the book that pleases me the most. Pleasing too is the fluid order of the poems, a past, present and […]
Janet Hamill reads from A Map of the Heavens
… In the early 1970s, poets began to memorize their poems so what was coming to the listener was coming from the poet, not from the page. Janet Hamill was one of the first to do this as much a seer as a poet in […]
Basil King reads from Disparate Beasts
… Basil King focuses on the details that sparkle and create the most important events in an artist’s life. His new book, Disparate Beasts, is the history of a thousand pages condensed through poetry into one. Although he began as a painter—and still is—Basil King […]
Tess Taylor reads from Last West: Roadsongs for Dorothea Lange
… On a Thursday I went to see Dorothea Lange’s “Words and Pictures” at MoMa, and on the following Monday, as luck would have it, I heard Tess Taylor read at KGB from her new book that the museum had commissioned her to write to […]
Val Vinokur reads from Isaac Babel, The Essential Fictions
… When I heard Val Vinokur read from Isaac Babel, The Essential Fictions it was an epiphany. I’d heard of Isaac Babel, but I’d never read him, and always associated him with Sholem Aleicham on Broadway in Fiddler on the Roof. Listening to Val Vinokur […]
