Category Archives: Books That Come My Way

Lynn McGee reads from Heirloom Bulldog

… Beautiful poems often praise repulsive things like Baudelaire’s rotting carcass. Lynn McGee’s poetry also makes the ugly beautiful. This partly has to do with her poetic sense of empathy. When she writes about the rat, we know the rat … Continue reading →

Bernadette Mayer reads from Scarlet Tanager

11 Sep ’16

… Scarlet Tanager is a favorite book of mine because it was the first book Bernadette Mayer published after her stroke, and as I read it I knew that she could still write a poem. I went upstate to visit … Continue reading →

Ron Kolm reads from Suburban Ambush

31 Aug ’16

… Ron Kolm and I are both Pennsylvanians who moved to New York City. During his time here, he’s edited magazines and published the work of other poets; The Ass’s Tale by John Farris is a great example of his … Continue reading →

Elaine Equi reads from Sentences and Rain

3 Aug ’16

… Elaine Equi and her husband Jerome Sala came over to my place last week to record some of their poetry. I’d enjoyed hearing Elaine read from her latest book, Sentences and Rain, and was interested to hear that she … Continue reading →

Jerome Sala reads from The Cheapskates and Spaz Attack

31 Jul ’16

… On this past warm Thursday morning, Jerome Sala and his wife Elaine Equi came over to my place, wading through the heat, to read some poetry. I happened to have Jerome’s first book, Spaz Attack, published in Chicago—Elaine and … Continue reading →

Ryan Eckes reads Old News accompanied by Daniel Yorty

27 Jul ’16

… Several years ago my nephew Daniel gave me a CD of the Philadelphia poet Ryan Eckes reading from his first book, Old News, with Daniel accompanying on drums, tambourine, and shakers. The poems are of a piece and tell … Continue reading →

Tom Savage reads his Bamiyan Buddha Poems

18 Jul ’16

… I went over to Tom’s apartment on East 11th Street a few weeks ago— it’s just around the corner from where I am—and he read some of his Bamiyan Buddha poems from two of his books, Afghanistan (Fly by … Continue reading →

Uche Nduka reads from Eel on Reef and Nine East

15 Jul ’16

… Uche Nduka, a native Nigerian and now a native New Yorker, was kind enough to come over to my place a few weeks ago to read from his two books of poems, Eel on Reef and Nine East. “Fool … Continue reading →

Greg Masters reads from What All the Songs Add Up To

8 Jun ’16

… I saw that Greg Masters was going to be having a book party for his new book, What All the Songs Add Up To, written from the 1970s to the present, some forty years of poems. What a great … Continue reading →

Paolo Javier reads Starfish Aorta Colossus from Court of the Dragon and a poem by Frank Lima

7 Jun ’16

… Last week on a sunny afternoon Paolo Javier came over to my place after work—he teaches English at a public high school—because I’d asked to record him reading from his new book, Court of the Dragon, published in 2016 … Continue reading →

Bob Rosenthal reads from Cleaning Up New York

31 May ’16

… Before Bob Rosenthal became Allen Ginsberg’s secretary in 1977, he was cleaning apartments in NYC and studying for an MA in writing with Francine de Plessix Gray, the writer and critic, whose class was focused on nonfiction, the new … Continue reading →

Cliff Fyman reads from Nylon Sunlight and Fever

29 May ’16

… I went over to Cliff Fyman’s apartment last Monday in the early afternoon to record him reading from his chapbooks. Most chapbooks are beautiful to begin with and Cliff’s are no exception. To hold them in your hand is … Continue reading →