Bill Berkson

PoemTalk #61, Discussing Bill Berkson's "Signature Song," feat. Marci Nelligan, David Kaufmann, and Thomas Devaney

Listen to the complete recording and read program notes at Jacket2.

Close Listening with Charles Bernstein, at Kelly Writers House, February 10, 2015

• Conversation with Charles Bernstein (36:55): MP3
Conversation with Bernstein undergraduate seminar (34:49): MP3

Director and Producer: Mitch Temple
Editor: Mikiko Sasaki
Directors of Photography: David Walter Lech and Chris Tipton King
Original Music by Aiko Fukushima
Sound by David Norfleet
Graphics by Taku Hazeyama

Executive Producer: Kenward Elmslie
Producers: William Blackburn Weir, Margaret Weir
Director: Sophie Constantinou
Editor: Mike Fuller
Artwork courtesy of Kenward Elmslie and the Estate of Joe Brainard
Historical footage courtesy of Prelinger Archives
A production of Citizen Film Inc.
c. 2016 Kenward Gray Elmslie Revokable Trust

1. Introduction (2:19): MP3
2. Opening Remarks (8:15): MP3
3. Paragraph from "Working with Joe" (1:13): MP3
4. Foreword from "New York State of Mind" (3:55): MP3
5. The Designs on the Sidewalk Bill Pointed Out (3:01): MP3
6. Excerpt from Edwin Denby's Memoirs of Willem de Kooning (1:25): MP3
7. Crone Rhapsody (4:33): MP3
8. The Secret of Jane Bowles (3:38): MP3
9. The Infinity of Always (0:15): MP3
10. The Ballad of Popeye and William Blake (3:06): MP3
11. If Things Are... (0:30): MP3
12. When We Meet (2:03): MP3
13. The Big Store (1:50): MP3
14. Anything Between Us Becomes Money and Manners (0:20): MP3
15. Poetry and Sleep (0:22): MP3
16. Decal (0:48): MP3
17. Excerpt from "Bernese Mistress" (7:23): MP3
18. Premises of the Solstice (0:23): MP3
19. To You (1:21): MP3

• Complete recording (47:23): MP3

Recording for Dia's Readings in Contemporary Poetry, February 17, 2015

Reading at the Kelly Writers House, February 10, 2015

1. Introduction by Charles Bernstein (6:37): MP3
2. Introductory Comments (1:39): MP3
3. Premises of the Solstice (0:46): MP3
4. Strangers When We Meet (2:20): MP3
5. Accounts Payable (1:43): MP3
6. Poetry and Sleep (0:42): MP3
7. Exogeny (0:39): MP3
8. Slow Swirl at the Edge of the Sea (0:55): MP3
9. Reprise (1:34): MP3
10. Lady Air (1:10): MP3
11. Anhedonia (4:45): MP3
12. Birthday Greetings (0:41): MP3
13. Double Valentine (0:40): MP3
14. from Not an Exit (6:49): MP3
15. from Songs for Bands (1:58): MP3
16. from Snippets (4:27): MP3
17. First Thing (1:05): MP3
18. Monogram (1:32): MP3
19. Brick (1:10): MP3
20. Surface Codex (1:00): MP3
21. Room Tone (1:38): MP3

Complete Reading (43:47) MP3

1. Business (0:41): MP3
2. Rendition (0:38): MP3
3. Without Penalty (0:51): MP3
4. A Lady at Her Writing Table (0:54): MP3
5. Heine Song (0:44): MP3
6. Landscape with Calm (1:33): MP3
7. As if You Didn't Know (2:10): MP3
8. For the Heart of the Second Floor (1:54): MP3
9. Costanza (5:25): MP3
10. Poetry and Sleep (0:26): MP3
11. Exogeny (0:31): MP3
12. Lady Air (0:37): MP3
13. Omar Little (0:37): MP3
14. Dress Trope (0:29): MP3
15. Last Lines with George (1:03): MP3
16. Slow Swirl at the Edge of the Sea (1:16): MP3
17. The Prophet (2:37): MP3
18. With Impunity (0:50): MP3
19. Anhedonia (2:01): MP3
20. Reprise (0:48): MP3

Complete Reading (26:03): MP3

PoemTalk #61, discussing Bill Berkson's "Signature Song," January 10, 2013

Listen to the complete recording and read program notes for the episode at Jacket2.

Bill Berkson and Clark Coolidge on Philip Guston, June 8, 2011

Complete recording (1:10:31): MP3

On the Joe Milford Radio Show, Georgia, May 7, 2011

• Complete recording (1:29:22): MP3

• Complete recording (16:51): MP3

Collaboration & the Artist’s Book: Vincent Katz, Bill Berkson, Shirley Jaffé, Raphael Rubinstein, Susan Bee & Charles Bernstein, Poetry reading and visual art projection, Maison de la poésie, Paris, April 2, 2011

Reading from Our Friends Will Pass Among You Silently, January 15, 2011

• Complete recording (12:21): MP3

Reading for "Remember Me to Someone" event at Slaughterhousespace, CA, August 29, 2009

Watch on Media.sas
• Complete recording (18:50)

Reading at Moe's Books, Berkeley, California, March 30, 2009

• Complete Recording (1:10:31): MP3

1. Costanza (0:53)
2. Last Lines with George (6:23)
3. Exogeny (7:11)
4. As If You Didn't Know (9:50)
5. October (12:10)
6. Young Manhattan (14:30)
7. Rendition (16:00)
8. Traffic (17:25)
9. Excerpts from Start Over (19:10)
10. Algebra (29:20)
11. Russian New Year (32:15)
12. Ode (36:40)
13. Out There (40:45)

Reading at the CUE Art Foundation, New York, May 3, 2007

Watch on Media.sas

1. Introduction (1:59): MP3
2. Excerpt 1 from What's Your Idea of a Good Time? (3:49): MP3
3. Excerpt 2 from What's Your Idea of a Good Time? (7:17): MP3
4. Tiffany's Song (1:00): MP3
5. Salad Spinner (1:19): MP3
6. Our Friends Will Pass Among You Silently (2:29): MP3
7. Art Diary (1:39): MP3
8. AKA the Pantheon is Flooded (2:07): MP3
9. Uncertain Pictures by Diane Andrews Hall (2:27): MP3
10. Excerpt from "History in Truth" (3:18): MP3
11. Excerpt from "The Uneven Phenomenon: What did you expect?" MP3
12. Gloria (1:16): MP3
13. English Suite (0:36): MP3
14. A Lady at Her Writing Table (1:35): MP3
15. Song for Connie (0:47): MP3
16. After the Medusa (0:49): MP3
17. Poem Beginning with a Remark by Richard Tuttle (5:38): MP3

• Complete recording (42:46): MP3

Reading at the Kelly Writers House, March 15, 2007

1. Introduction (4:36): MP3
2. Tiffany's Song (0:45): MP3
3. Salad Spinner (0:37): MP3
4. Philip Whalen (0:19): MP3
5. Our Friends Will Pass Among You Silently (1:22): MP3
6. "Intentionality . . ." (0:20): MP3
7. AKA The Pantheon is Flooded (1:09): MP3
8. Poem Beginning With A Remark From Richard Tuttle (3:05): MP3
9. What's Your Idea Of A Good Time? (commentary and readings) (10:54): MP3
10. Melting Milk (1:07): MP3
11. By Halves (0:51): MP3
12. The Reader's Lover (5 Poems) (1:03): MP3
13. Baby's Awake Now (0:48): MP3
14. Duchamp Dream (1:26): MP3
15. October (1:53): MP3
16. Out There (for Jasper Johns) (0:52): MP3
17. Gloria (0:21): MP3
18. Extreme Patience (0:26): MP3
19. Merit (0:35): MP3
20. Plot (0:08): MP3
21. After the Medusa (0:42): MP3
22. Tango (1:19): MP3
23. Song for Connie (0:55): MP3

Complete Reading (1:04:02):MP3

Reading with Sarah Riggs, Stephen Rodefer, Andrew Zawacki, Guy Bennet, and Jorie Graham for Double Change Issue 9, July 5, 2005

Watch on Media.sas
• Complete recording (1:52:54)

Reading with Valerie Mrejen for Double Change Issue 8, Paris, June 17, 2005

Watch on Media.sas
• Complete recording (1:13:53)

1. introduction (1:08): MP3
2. Domino (0:46): MP3
3. Poem (0:40): MP3
4. Fourth Street, San Rafael (1:11): MP3
5. A Finial (0:42): MP3
6. Clerical Workers (1:00): MP3
7. Signature Song (1:47): MP3 [text]
8. on the interchange between writing and the present (3:18): MP3
9. on "Signature Song" (0:58): MP3
10. on De Kooning, the "slipping glimpser" and attitude (3:57): MP3
11. on New York and Evergreen Review (3:07): MP3
12. on Fairfield Porter and Alex Katz (9:44): MP3
13. on The Sweet Singer of Modernism (0:57): MP3
14. A New York Beginner (3:34): MP3
15. on deteriorating Pollock and Kline paintings (1:43): MP3
16. on Bay Area arts (10:02): MP3
17. on poetry's place in contemporary culture (3:38): MP3
18. on being diagnosed with emphysema (10:04): MP3

• Part one (28:55): MP3
• Part two (29:06): MP3

"Signature Song" is also featured on PoemTalk Episode 61.

Segue Series Reading at the Bowery Poetry Club, October 19, 2002

1. Introduction (2:36): MP3
2. Red Devil (2:13): MP3
3. After 99 Comes 100 (1:16): MP3
4. No Claim to the Puzzle (0:57): MP3
5. Song Heard Around St. Bridget's (1:25): MP3
6. St. Bridget's Adieu (0:22): MP3
7. A Head at the Covers (1:22): MP3
8. The Obvious Tradition (1:35): MP3
9. Signature Song (1:54): MP3 [TEXT]
10. Purgatory (0:26): MP3
11. Stains of Stalin (1:07): MP3
12. The Recital (0:55): MP3
13. La Poesie Blanche (0:39): MP3
14. from "25 Grand View" (4:16): MP3
15. A Lady at Her Writing Table (0:21): MP3
16. After the Medusa (0:29): MP3
17. Within the Silly Sheets (0:17): MP3
18. Reimagined Episode (0:14): MP3
19. Friends (0:19): MP3
20. Extreme Patience (0:28): MP3
21. The Shadow on the Page (0:23): MP3
22. An Unmentionable Painting (0:27): MP3
23. Tango (1:32): MP3
24. Gloria (0:53): MP3

Complete Reading (35:50): MP3

"Signature Song" is also featured on PoemTalk Episode 61.

Wednesday Night Series: Kenward Elmslie, Bill Berkson, St. Mark's Church, NY, October 17, 2001

Library of Congress recording (1:34:25): link

Discussion on Jackson Pollock on "The Forum" program with Ed Harris and Whitney Chadwick, hosted by Michael Krasny, for KQED, San Francisco, January 18, 2001

• Part One (43:16): MP3
• Part Two (10:08): MP3

Monday Series: Bill Berkson, St. Mark’s Church, NY, March 8, 1999

Recorded on audiocassette. Recording hosted by the Library of Congress.

1. Side A (48:35): link
2. Side B (48:42): link

Reading at The Kootenay School of Writing in Vancouver

1. February 11, 1992 Part 1 (20:45): MP3
2. February 11, 1992 Part 2 (20:32): MP3

Reading with Stephen Ratcliffe and Lyn Hejinian, Bolinas, 1987

• Complete recording (47:27): MP3

Berkson Reading:

1. Opening Comments (0:58): MP3
2. "In an instant the world seems fairly made of wood" (1:56): MP3
3. The Head of the Covers (1:35): MP3
4. A Hand Not My Own (1:07): MP3
5. Chasing the Slip (1:33): MP3
6. Andate (2:40): MP3
7. (unclear title) (1:25): MP3

Complete reading (11:51): MP3

1. introduction (1:56): MP3
2. You Sure Do Some Nice Things (0:34): MP3
3. Fourth Street, San Rafael (1:17): MP3
4. Baby's Awake Now (1:06): MP3
5. Slow Curve, Hampton Road (0:28): MP3
6. Burkhart's Ninth (1:00): MP3
7. Source, To Philip Guston (1:14): MP3
8. Ocean and Grove (0:46): MP3
9. Stopping is Nothing (0:42): MP3
10. From Whence it Came (0:25): MP3
11. Red Devil (2:10): MP3
12. A Fixture (0:52): MP3
13. If I Pray to Anyone it is You (0:58): MP3
14. from Young Manhattan (0:48): MP3
15. Hoo Book (2:15): MP3
16. Incent (1:16): MP3
17. Chaloff (2:32): MP3
18. Missing (2:57): MP3
19. Missing II (1:55): MP3
20. On the High Window (0:40): MP3
21. Ode, I (2:14): MP3
22. Ode, II (2:07): MP3
23. The Position (2:07): MP3
24. First Turns (1:13): MP3
25. End of Century Thrush (1:32): MP3
26. Thumos (0:38): MP3
27. Poem (How Can Equivocation Happen...) (0:34): MP3
28. Annus Mirabilis (0:31): MP3
29. After 99 Comes 100 (1:32): MP3

• Complete reading (39:55): MP3

(recording courtesy of Ron Silliman)

Appearing on In the American Tree, hosted by Alan Bernheimer, September 7, 1979

1. Introduction (0:34): MP3
2. Roots (2:14): MP3
3. Booster (1:46): MP3
4. Algebra (from Young Manhattan) (2:53): MP3
5. Fourth Street (4:23): MP3
6. Duchamp Dream (2:40): MP3
7. Camera Ready Like a Dream (3:10): MP3
8. Poem (3:44): MP3
9. Source (3:43): MP3
10. Basis (1:00): MP3
11. To Marie Cosindas (0:59): MP3
12. Two Days (1:11): MP3

Complete Recording (28:10): MP3

Talk on "Talking," Given at 80 Langton, April 27, 1978

• Part One (47:10): MP3
• Part Two (47:28): MP3
• Recording Courtesy of Bob Perelman

Reading for the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church, New York, May 17, 1978

• Complete Reading (39:58): MP3

Reading at Grand Piano, San Francisco, November 9, 1976

• Complete Recording (43:00): MP3

Reading "Young Manhattan" by Bill Berkson and Anne Waldman, 1974

• Complete Recording (5:57): MP3

Reading with Joe Brainard at Intersection, San Francisco, June 15, 1971

Reading with Kenward Elmslie at Loeb S.C., New York City, February 7, 1969

• Complete Recording (1:12:37): MP3

Reading at MacCombe Community College

• Complete Recording (43:00): MP3

Recorded Poem on Harry's House Vol 2 CD

• Poetry and Sleep - Bill Berkson (0:19): MP3

From The World Record: Readings at the St. Mark's Poetry Project, 1969-1980

Blue is the Hero (1:46): MP3

Also of Interest:

• On Cross-Cultural Poetics with Leonard Schwartz: MP3 (43:00)
• On Cross-Cultural-Poetics with Leonard Schwartz: MP3 (25:23)

Bill Berkson on PennSound Daily

• September 24, 2008: "Cross Cultural Poetics: 5 New Episodes"
• July 31, 2008: "Bill Berkson: Two Newly Segmented Readings"

These recordings are being made available for noncommercial and educational use only. All rights to this recorded material belong to the author. © 2017 Bill Berkson. Used with permission of Bill Berkson. Distributed by PennSound.