PennSound Daily

In September 2011, we launched a preliminary installment of preserved and digitized episodes of the groundbreaking television program Public Access Poetry, in collaboration with the St. Mark's Poetry Project. In May 2012 a second installment followed.

If you're not already familiar with these remarkable programs — which included readings by Jim Brodey, Paul Violi, Eileen Myles, Alice Notley, John Godfrey, John Yau, Ted Berrigan, Tim Dlugos, Bob Holman, Ted Greenwald, James Sherry, Tony Towle, Simon Pettet, Jackson Mac Low, Ron Padgett, Joanne Kyger, Lewis Warsh, Michael Lally, Charles Bernstein, and Hannah Wiener, among others — then you've got a long weekend ahead of you. But before you get started, or if you already know and love the series, you'll want to read "'Readers of the Future' Would Be Interested: Gary Lenhart on Public Access Poetry," just published at Jacket2

In this terrific interview (to borrow the superlative Berrigan adjective), Ben Olin talks with Gary Lenhart, a key member of the group of St. Mark's-affiliated poets (that also included Greg Masters, David Herz, Daniel Krakauer, Bob Rosenthal, Rochelle Kraut, and Didi Susan Dubelyew) responsible for producing the series, and traces the entire project in great depth from its initial spark of inspiration through the show's two seasons to its eventual preservation and considerations of its legacy. Olin asks all the right questions, and Lenhart, nearly forty years after the show's launch, hasn't forgotten a single detail, so what emerges is a straightforward story that's capable of effortlessly indulging all sorts of fascinating tangents — from technical arcana to snapshots of the downtown scene in the late 70s. See for yourself here.

Thanks to the good graces of Aldon Nielsen, we're able to bring you the latest addition to his Heatstrings archive page: a reading by Rachel Blau DuPlessis at Penn State University on September 9th of this year.

"As many of you know — and those of you who don't know are certainly going to find out — I write long poems," DuPlessis begins, however she sees it as "a kindness to everybody" to start with a few short pieces to warm up the audience. Thus, she begins with the final segment of "Draft 95: Erg" and "Ledger 11" from her first post-Drafts book, Interstices. From there, she moves into "Draft 104: the Book," "Of the Dead" (the first section of "Draft 109: Wall Newspaper," inspired by Eliot's "The Waste Land"), "Draft CX: Primer" (read as the collage poem was displayed for the audience), "Draft 82: Hinge," and finally, several sections from her most recent book, Graphic Novella. Along the way she offers a coughing audience member a lozenge, ends her set with a triumphant mic drop, and then entertains questions from the audience.

It's a marvelous set, not that that should come as a surprise to faithful listeners, and a treat for completists to see a few more titles added to the rather comprehensive collection of recordings from DuPlessis' Draft series, which you'll find scattered throughout nearly thirty years of readings housed on her PennSound author page.

Joseph Massey was in town last week to record an upcoming PoemTalk episode and take part in a ModPo live webcast, and while we had him at the Kelly Writers House we invited him to pop into the Wexler Studio to record some more of his poetry. This time around, he recorded his 2015 Ornithopter Press chapbook, What Follows in its entirety. In total there are fourteen poems: "Scotoma," "Forced Perspective," "Late August," "Blight,"House at Night," "Northeast Regional," "Sentence," "Measures," "What Follows," "Hex," "South Station," "Holy Name," "Two Days," and "Hour to Hour."

You'll recall this past January Massey popped by KWH to record a career-spanning set in the Wexler Studio, which formed the foundation for his PennSound author page. You'll find those two sessions, as well as a 2015 reading at KWH, here.