Category Archives: American Poets

Daniel W.K. Lee reads from Anatomy of Want

I missed Daniel W.K. Lee’s reading at the Bureau when he was in town. I emailed him and asked if he would read some poems from his new book, Anatomy of Want, so I could share them on my blog. … Continue reading →

Alicia Ostriker reads from The Mother/Child Papers

3 Jun ’22

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 … Continue reading →

Marcella Durand reads from To husband is to tender

1 May ’22

With some books of poetry, you can jump in anywhere, but with Marcella Durand’s To husband is to tender, I would say, “Start at the beginning, and let the book draw you in.” Contemplation, what it means to be … Continue reading →

Barry Schwabsky reads from Feelings of And

1 May ’22

Common comfortable places become uncommon and uncomfortable, common words whose meanings you thought you knew are a puzzle in pieces, and then the puzzle in pieces becomes a thought you know. You see and then you don’t. Some poems … Continue reading →

Matt Proctor reads from Single Room Occupancy

17 Apr ’22

If you want to give words to every moment, every thought and sight worth jotting down, you need a notebook though any scrap of paper will do. Bill Kushner was a poet I remember fondly who always had a … Continue reading →

Lonely Christopher reads at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division

16 Apr ’22

I’m in awe of many poets, and with that being said, I have to say I’m especially in awe of Lonely Christopher. “How does he have the time to do everything he does?” Writer, curator, critic, publisher, editor and director, … Continue reading →

Greg Masters reads from The Complete Thoughts of Greg Masters

15 Apr ’22

I like narrative poetry so I always look forward to a new book by Greg Masters. The Complete Thoughts of Greg Masters is full of stories the poet often recalls from his own life; and it could be something … Continue reading →

Elaine Sexton reads from Drive

19 Mar ’22

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 … Continue reading →

Maya Angelou reads “Still I Rise,” “No No No No,” and “On the Pulse of Morning”

28 Feb ’22

Some poets become so famous that other poets who are not famous, and there are many more of those, think that something must be wrong with a poet who rises so high in her own lifetime that even people … Continue reading →

Elizabeth Bishop’s Sandpiper

8 Feb ’22

Sandpiper The roaring alongside he takes for granted,and that every so often the world is bound to shake.He runs, he runs to the south, finical, awkward,in a state of controlled panic, a student of Blake. The beach hisses like … Continue reading →

Two Elegies by Scott Hightower

24 Jan ’22

Last year on January 30th, my friend Dr. José Fernandez died of a heart attack on his way to work at a nearby hospital. He collapsed on the sidewalk in front of his home. It was an unbelievable shock. … Continue reading →

Reuben Gelley Newman

26 Dec ’21

I read with Reuben Gelley Newman at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn a while back and enjoyed his work; he sang a song too, which is something I always like. I asked him then and there if I could … Continue reading →