Robin Blaser

PoemTalk #113, Discussing Robin Blaser's "A Bird in the House", feat. Kristin Prevallet, Jed Rasula, and Brian Teare

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

In conversation with Robert Hass, UC Berkeley, Cloud House Poetry Archives, November 5, 2008

Direct URL: MOV

Reading at Evergreen State College, February 5, 2007

Direct URL: M4V

Courtesy of Leonard Schwartz

Language is Love - Talk at Woodland Pattern Bookstore, October 3, 2004

• Part One (10:50): MP3
• Part Two (22:52): MP3
• Part Three (7:06): MP3
• Part Four (5:55): MP3
• Part Five (7:12): MP3

Reading at Woodland Pattern Bookstore - Milwaukee, October 2, 2004

• Introduction (3:13): MP3
• For Don Allen (5:14): MP3
• Reading (56:09): MP3

Reading at the Cultural Centre, Vancouver East, 2003

1. Introduction (2:08): MP3
2. Opening Comments (2:14): MP3
3. Psyche (1:31): MP3
4. As If By Chance (4:55): MP3
5. the tired century and ultimate image (2:43): MP3
6. the universe is part of ourselves (0:55): MP3
7. Skylight Smoking a Ramses Cigarette, a Gift in a Pink Box (3:04): MP3
8. Tumble-Weed (1:47): MP3
9. Home (0:36): MP3
10. Sophia Nichols (2:58): MP3
11. Comments and Introduction of Meredith Quartermain (2:00): MP3
12. Oh! (1:19): MP3
13. Glass Road (1:04): MP3
14. who, who, who, who (1:17): MP3
15. good morning (2:00): MP3
16. So (0:41): MP3
17. did you ever see an angel (0:36): MP3
18. when Nietzsche said (0:23): MP3
19. the builders next door (1:08): MP3
20. everyday, the carpenter (0:34): MP3
21. woke this morning (0:15): MP3
22. so Eros has a mind (0:31): MP3
23. Mr. and Mrs. Sew-and-Sew (1:01): MP3
24. In Remembrance of Matthew Shepard (1:38): MP3
25. Well, I heard it on the grapevine (0:36): MP3
26. Being (2:10): MP3
27. a song (1:39): MP3

Complete Recording (43:07): MP3

Reading at The Kootenay School of Writing, Vancouver, 1997

• July 26, 1997 (49:18): MP3

1. Introduction to "Great Companion: Dante Alighieri" (2:29): MP3
2. "Great Companion: Dante Alighieri" (45:09): MP3

Great Companion: Dante Alighieri - Universita d'Annuzio, April 22, 1997

Complete Recording (37:46): MP3

1. Introduction to "Great Companion: Dante Alighieri" (5:25): MP3
2. "Great Companion: Dante Alighieri" (22:17): MP3
3. Summary and explanation of the final section of "Great Companion: Dante Alighieri" (9:40): MP3
4. Q&A and discussion (cut off) (8:56): MP3

Complete Reading (1:05:46): MP3

On "Night Waves," hosted by Patrick Wright, BBC Radio Three, January 22, 1997

"Relocating the High Lyric Voice" (featuring John Kinsella, Denise Riley, Peter Blegvad & Iain Sinclair): MP3

Lecture on Robert Duncan - Buffalo, 1996

Complete Lecture: (41:02): MP3

1. Language and Modernism (3:40): MP3
2. About Emerson (2:42): MP3
3. Reading from Giorgio Agamben (3:59): MP3
4. The "Elf" Of It (15:45): MP3
5. The Self in Postmodern Poetry (3:56): MP3
6. Poetry and Philosophy (3:02): MP3
7. Quotes from Cavell and Emerson (4:39): MP3

Reading at The Kootenay School of Writing, Vancouver, 1995

June 4, 1995 Part 1 (22:04): MP3

1. Introduction (2:40): MP3
2. Reading from Martha Nussbaum's "The Fragility of Goodness" (2:41): MP3
3. "Even on Sunday" (13:14): MP3

June 4, 1995 Part 2 (14:56): MP3

1. "Image-Nation 25 (Exody)" (10:01): MP3
2. "nomad" (1:24): MP3

"Collapse" - A Reading from The Holy Forest, University of British Columbia, June 3, 1995

Complete Reading (36:30): MP3

This CD comes from an issue of Collapse Magazine, published in 1996. The reading, which took place at the University of British Columbia's Frederic Wood Theatre, occurred at a conference held in honor of Robin Blaser's seventieth birthday entitled "The Recovery of the Public World, a celebration of his poetry and his poetics."

Reading at the Writers Institute, Albany, October 26, 1994, recorded by Chris Funkhouser

1. well I was walking up (1:21): MP3
2. of is the word love without the initial consonant (2:34): MP3
3. As If By Chance (5:17): MP3
4. Image-Nation 18 (an apple (3:11): MP3
5. Even On Sunday (13:59): MP3
6. a bird in the house (2:06): MP3
7. Muses, Dionysus, Eros (2:57): MP3
8. rose (4:26): MP3
9. Opening discussion of Great Companion: Robert Duncan (7:08): MP3
10. Great Companion: Robert Duncan (11:24): MP3
11. in the tree tops (2:39): MP3
12. Mappa Mundi (6:28): MP3

Complete Reading (1:06:13): MP3

Poetry Reading and Discussion at the University at Buffalo, September 15, 1993

1. Introduction by Robert Creeley (10:07): MP3
2. Introduction to Cups (2:49): MP3
3. Cups, parts 1 - 12 (12:49): MP3
4. Of the Land of Culture (4:08): MP3
5. A Bird in the House (1:43): MP3
6. In the Tree Tops (Michaux) (2:34): MP3
7. Image Nation 24 from Exody (30:50): MP3

Reading for Wednesdays @ Four Plus, University of Buffalo, April 24-25, 1991

April 24 - "Check Out Your Lintels: Poetry and Doors" (1:07:04): MP3

1. Reading from "The Practice of Everyday Life" (3:55): MP3
2. Poetry and Philosophy (2:41): MP3
3. Public Space (1:14): MP3
4. Interlunar Thoughts (1:28): MP3
5. War and Entertainment (2:27): MP3
6. Aids (4:21): MP3
7. As If By Chance (4:40): MP3
8. Doors and Etmyologies (5:03): MP3
9. On Discourse (13:19): MP3
10. William James letter to C.S. Peirce (0:57): MP3
11. Descartes and Humes (5:16): MP3
12. Skepticism (3:02): MP3
13. God and the World (2:29): MP3
14. The Unspeakable (0:58): Mp3
15. Even on Sunday (13:05): MP3

April 25 - "Homotextualism" (2:13:57): MP3

1. Introduction to Homotextuality (4:04): MP3
2. Bernstein on Homotextuality (3:07): MP3
3. Blaser on Homosexual Texts (15:55): MP3
4. On Code (3:02): MP3
5. Gay Communities (8:06): MP3
6. Criticism and Context (5:48): MP3
7. Shared Poetics (8:07): MP3
8. Otherness and Relation (9:33): MP3
9. Sappho and Classics (10:38): MP3
10. Wittgenstein and Reference (5:26): MP3
11. St. Teresa and "Mystic Speech" (8:19): MP3
12. Sexual Desire (6:29): MP3
13. On Marquis de Sade (7:07): MP3
14. Homosexuality and Poetry (9:03): MP3
15. Outsiderdom (6:13): MP3
16. Eros Unrequited (4:44): MP3
17. "Titillation" (8:28): MP3
18. Models of Text (7:20): MP3

Charles Olson Lectures SUNY Buffalo, March 23-27, 1987

Complete Recording (4:05:42): MP3

Lecture 1, part 1 (46:19): MP3

1. Introduction by Robert Creeley (5:20): MP3
2. Preliminary Remarks to the Lecture (2:15): MP3
3. Poetry and Positivisms (4:39): MP3
4. Reading Olson's Poetry (3:44): MP3
5. On Lucretius (3:58): MP3
6. Silence, the Word, and the Sacred (cut off) (23:33): MP3

Lecture 1, part 2 (38:57): MP3

1. God and Human Nature (5:32): MP3
2. Violence (3:06): MP3
3. "The Fragility of Goodness" (3:21): MP3
4. Search for the Poetic (5:31): MP3
5. On Hölderlin (10:39): MP3
6. On Broch (9:06): MP3

Lecture 2, part 1 (46:09): MP3

1. Preliminary Remarks (1:01): MP3
2. The "No Thing" (12:51): MP3
3. Relations to Words (13:12): MP3
4. Moving Forwards (12:56): MP3
5. Blaser's Reflections (5:17): MP3

Lecture 2, part 2 (26:00): MP3

1. Blaser's Past (3:34): MP3
2. Robert Duncan and God (4:04): MP3
3. Ernst Kantorowicz (3:33): MP3
4. Hannah Arendt (3:04): MP3
5. Blaser's Own Cosmology (1:59): MP3
6. The Theological Metaphysical Past (5:01): MP3

Lecture 3, part 1 (44:45): MP3

1. Introduction (2:57): MP3
2. Reading from "The Death of Virgil" (2:44): MP3
3. Examples of Positivisms (13:03): MP3
4. On Mallarmé (13:21): MP3
5. Mallarmé's Problem (4:02): MP3
6. What Shall We Do Now? (6:28): MP3

Lecture 3, part 2 (44:03): MP3

1. Olson and Myth (2:24): MP3
2. Passages from Olson and Talmudic Texts (5:04): MP3
3. Spangler on God and Music (10:30): MP3
4. Bach's Passacaglia (20:49): MP3
5. From Bach to Olson (4:21): MP3

Poetry reading, concluding Olson lectures, March 24, 1987

1. Introduction (0:40): MP3
2. "When they sit in consilium..." (2:11): MP3
3. "For me, every author is absolutely other..." (0:39): MP3
4. Further (2:19): MP3
5. The Pause (2:40): MP3
6. A conversation poem (1:08): MP3
7. Romance (1:08): MP3
8. Apologies for Repetitions (5:29): MP3
9. Gathering (0:56): MP3
10. Image-Nation (half and half) (4:18): MP3
11. Robert Graves: In Memoriam (19:40): MP3
12. Steps (poem for Allen Ginsberg) (4:32): MP3
13. "I've always liked the notion of the mind as a frying pan..." (5:22): MP3
14. To Whom It May Concern (1:49): MP3

Complete reading (54:05): MP3

Incomplete reading (slightly clearer audio) (42:34): MP3

Complete recording (37:40): MP3

1. Introduction (3:19): MP3
2. Steps (for Allen Ginsberg) (4:43): MP3
3. "I've always liked the notion of..." (5:41): MP3
4. In Memoriam for Robert Graves (16:11): MP3
5. Whom for Boys and Girls (1:33): MP3
6. Advice (0:52): MP3
7. To Whom It May Concern (1:29): MP3
8. To Whom It May Concern (read again) (1:13): MP3

Reading at the San Francisco Poetry Center, February 11, 1976

Part One (31:19): MP3

1. Introduction (1:26): MP3
2. "Windows" (2:38): MP3
3. "Sofia Nichols" (2:11): MP3
4. "The Cry of Merlin" (3:12): MP3
5. "Image-Nation 11" (1:40): MP3
6. "Image-Nation 13 the telephone" (2:36): MP3
7. "Image-Nation 14" (2:07): MP3
8. "Origin" (0:41): MP3
9. "Suddenly," (0:51): MP3
10. "Gathering" (1:05): MP3
11. "Earth condenses as it forms..." (2:35): MP3

Part Two (31:23): MP3

1. On Intellectuals (4:57): MP3
2. On "Image-Nation 12" and language (2:30): MP3
3. "I've got no place to go" (4:09): MP3
4. Revolutions (9:47): MP3
5. Pysche, forms, and language (5:12): MP3
6. On Jack Spicer (3:55): MP3

These are the full recordings edited and transcribed by Miriam Nichols for The Astonishment Tapes Talks on Poetry and Autobiography with Robin Blaser and Friends (University of Alabama Press, 2015)

Reading at the University of British Columbia, 1970

Complete Recording: MP3 (19:40)

1. Translation (0:33): MP3
2. Winter Words (0:34):MP3
3. The Stories (0:43): MP3
4. In a Dark (0:18): MP3
5. The Prints (0:27): MP3
6. Love (0:26): MP3
7. The Private I (0:54): MP3
8. Song (0:26): MP3
9. 1st Tale: Over (0:34): MP3
10. 2nd Tale: Return (1:26): MP3
11. At Last (0:41): MP3
12. Aphrodite of the Leaves (0:26): MP3
13. The City (0:48): The City
14. The Translator: A Tale (1:08): MP3
15. Sophia Nichols (1:58): MP3
16. A Gift (0:49): MP3
17. Bottom's Dream (0:47): MP3
18. The Finder (1:07): MP3
19. Out of the Window (1:03): MP3
20. Merlin (0:56): MP3
21. The Cry of Merlin (2:05): MP3
22. envoi (0:51): MP3

Reading in Vancouver, British Columbia, June 1965

Complete reading (15:32): MP3

1. The Moth Poem (13:48): MP3
   
2. The Translator: a Tale (1:44): MP3
   

(recording courtesy of the estate of Robert Creeley)

Appearing on Cross-Cultural Poetics, hosted by Leonard Schwartz

• Episode #8, "The Inferno," November 24, 2003 (28:38): MP3


1. Introduction by Leonard Schwartz (1:07): MP3
2. Image Nation 13: Telephone (2:47): MP3
3. Discussing Image Nation (2:33): MP3
4. Discussing The Irreparable (4:42): MP3
5. Blaser discussing his new poetry (2:25): MP3
6. Blaser discussing his dual citizenship (1:49): MP3
7. Responsibility in language (1:15): MP3
8. As If By Chance (4:58): MP3
9. Discussing As If By Chance (4:20): MP3
10. Language as a source of poetry (2:41): MP3


• Episode #57, "Mythscape," 2004 (29:59): MP3
• Episode #133, "The Holy Forest," March 11, 2007 (45:03): MP3

Robin Blaser on PennSound Daily

• August 14, 2009: "Robin Blaser: Newly Segmented SUNY-Buffalo Reading"
• May 8, 2009: "In Memoriam: Robin Blaser (1925-2009)"
• January 4, 2008: "Kathleen Fraser and Robin Blaser on Dante"

Also of Interest

• Simon Fraser University Digitized Collections, 1971-1977: Link

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