Category Archives: Books That Come My Way

Jeff Wright reads from his Top Ten

Last month, I saw Jeff Wright read at the Tompkins Square Library and really enjoyed the poems. He read from several of his books, and also a poem he had recently written. I asked him if I could come over … Continue reading →

A Reading at the Jefferson Market Library

21 Nov ’22

Last Saturday, when I attended a poetry reading at the Jefferson Market Library, I recorded the whole thing. My friend, the teacher and poet, Scott Hightower, had curated it and did the introductions as well. The poets, Skye Jackson, … Continue reading →

Anthony Cappo reads from When You’re Deep In A Thing

20 Nov ’22

I asked Anthony Cappo if I could record him reading from his new book, When You’re Deep In A Thing. Anthony is a born storyteller whose stories crystalize into poems that are personal and universal because they draw you … Continue reading →

Estha Weiner reads from This Insubstantial Pageant

19 Nov ’22

Estha Weiner and I were supposed to read together last summer in Brooklyn, but unfortunately I had to be out of the city. Last week, I was happy to hear Estha read at KGB from her new book, This Insubstantial … Continue reading →

Elliot, Cole & Gordon at Unnameable

12 Nov ’22

Lunar Chandelier Press put together a reading at Unnameable Books in early November. I brought my camcorder intent on recording the whole thing, which I did, and as you can see below. I’m afraid I was a little late … Continue reading →

john compton reads from the castration of a minor god

8 Nov ’22

Facebook is its own MFA program. When I wanted to be a poet back in the late 1960s, artists and writers gravitated to hip cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Philadelphia, to name just a few, but … Continue reading →

Maureen Owen reads from let the heart hold down the breakage Or the caregiver’s log

6 Nov ’22

When I arrived in NYC in the fall of 1979, one of the first things I did was to go to Saint Mark’s Church and join a poetry workshop at the Poetry Project. After all, poetry was why I’d come. … Continue reading →

Noah David Roberts reads from Final Girl Mythos

30 Oct ’22

When I was becoming an adolescent, as I felt my body change and get hairier it wasn’t odd to think that I could be a werewolf or a vampire. Saturdays I stayed up late to watch the classic horror movie … Continue reading →

Basil King reads from There Are No Ghosts, There Are Portraits.

16 Oct ’22

I love reading Basil King’s poetic histories because they connect time and place and people in unexpected ways that I find delightful. In Basil’s new collection, There Are No Ghosts, There Are Portraits, the first piece, “Soutine, Modigliani, Chagall,” makes … Continue reading →

Talbot Road by Thom Gunn, 1981, a chapbook by Helikon Press

7 Oct ’22

In 1981, Helikon Press under the direction of its publisher, William Leo Coakley, published Talbot Road, a poem by Thom Gunn. Recently, Mr. Coakley gave me a copy of this chapbook that is signed by the poet himself. I’ve … Continue reading →

Jaime Manrique reads from Tarzan My Body Christopher Columbus

20 Sep ’22

I began reading Jaime Manrique’s Tarzan My Body Christopher Columbus over the summer, but because of some eye trouble, my watery itching eyes made it difficult to read. I persevered, however, because the poems valen la pena. As the … Continue reading →

John McCullough reads from Panic Response

16 Aug ’22

English is an old ocean whose waves have been crashing for centuries against our ears, and I can feel the breadth and breath and depth of it when I read Panic Response, a book I liked enough to read … Continue reading →