I am a slow reader and come to a lot of books slowly too, but if you live long enough, as I seem to be doing—so far, so good—good books, or books that I enjoy do come. Such a … Continue reading
Charles Bernstein reads from Near/Miss

I am a slow reader and come to a lot of books slowly too, but if you live long enough, as I seem to be doing—so far, so good—good books, or books that I enjoy do come. Such a … Continue reading
I was very moved listening to Laura Cronk read from her most recent book, Ghost Hour. Her childhood and my childhood have similarities. Although she grew up in Indiana and I grew up in Pennsylvania, I could relate. Her … Continue reading
The first poem that anybody reads who must read something by T. S. Eliot—I think of high school teenagers—is “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” Perhaps, like those who first read it, the poem is young. Many people … Continue reading
For this past January’s inauguration, after so much stress beforehand including armed insurrection, Dorothy Friedman gathered some poet friends together the day after the official celebration for a Zoom poetry reading. This reading is captured below on the Vimeo … Continue reading
Ken Angel gave me a copy of The End Of The Far West, a collection of poems by Frank O’Hara that Ted Berrigan transcribed and mimeographed in 1974 with front and back cover art by Alice Notley. These poems … Continue reading
I’ve known Stephen Paul Miller for going on forty years now, and the conviviality of his personality has never changed; so it’s always a pleasure to run into him, and I am not one who likes surprises. He has … Continue reading
Etheridge Knight wrote some great poems, up there with the best of them. He mastered an African American oral tradition called the Toast. The improvisations of Rap today are a continuation of that tradition, and like the Blues with … Continue reading
Last year I sent out a few Valentines, my poem “In the Circle,” and one came back with a kiss. Those lips are Shelley Kraut’s. Here’s to love, everybody. Mmmmwwahhhh! https://vimeo.com/512038274 219 I want … Continue reading
In March of 1949—not sure of the day—Billie Holiday showed up for a photo shoot at Carl Van Vechten’s. She was told to wear a gown, but wore a grey dress. Her mood, we are told, was also grey. Van … Continue reading
In the Vimeo below, Charles Bernstein reads part of a poem from his book, Dark City that he made for his friend Li Zhimin, a poet and professor at Guangzhou University in China. The excerpt was selected by Li … Continue reading
I am a big fan of chapbooks because they are heartfelt and often come straight from the author. Bonny Finberg’s Déja Vu is that kind of hands-on book with words and collages by the poet herself, a work of … Continue reading
Joan Eardley painted children in the slums of Glasgow and then lived in Catterline, a fishing village nobody went to. She found beauty in the often shabby common present. It is what I admire about her. The paintings below … Continue reading