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Robert Grenier

photo: © Charles Bernstein 2006

Robert Grenier lives in a sometime ecstatic state, but sometimes not, in Bolinas, California where he extends the tradition of the pastoral poem in ways entirely his own. One of the most influential poets of his generation, Grenier has, over the past forty years, pushed poetry into constantly new frontiers of practice and utterance. Over the past decade, Grenier has created handwritten poems that cross the upper limit of inscription to be both writing and drawing.

Grenier in conversation with Charles Bernstein, Oct. 20, 2006 - two programs:

Close Listening -- readings and conversations at WPS1.Org; Clocktower Studio, New York, October 20, 2006

program one:

Grenier discusses his development as a poet, his breaking away from conventional book format, his movement toward handwritten or "drawn" poems, and his relation to Larry Eigner.

Complete Recording (26:57): MP3

program two:

Grenier reads from and discusses Sentences, a digital version of which is linked to his EPC page.

Complete Recording (27:34): MP3

A guide to the reading of Sentences in this recording:

At 3:54 in this recording Grenier discusses how his "Sentences" are an homage to Creeley. At 5:15 he discusses the relationship of one card to another. At 8:00: bird sounds and "Sentences"; at 9:55, he reads "Bird"; at 13:50, he reads an introduction to a French translation of the work; at 15:08 he reads a card, "Walking down Washington Avenue"; at 20:30 he reads "If rain, it's raining" in two ways; at 22:39 Charles Bernstein reads "rain drops the first of many"; at 26:20 Grenier counts to eleven and whistles (bird sound); at 26:36 he reads "A Bird."

WPS1 engineer: Lucy Sinanjuntak

On Natural Language: Four (2011) conversations with Stephen Ratcliffe (with images & 'rough translations' of RG color drawing poems discussed)

PoemTalk Podcast #31, discussing Grenier's "Sentences," April 22, 2010

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

PoemTalk Podcast #30, discussing William Carlos Williams' "Flowers by the Sea" and "The Red Wheelbarrow," March 28, 2010

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

Conversations with Stephen Ratcliffe, Bolinas, 2001-2010

Interview and Discussion on 1959-1964 with Grenier, Al Filreis, Ron Silliman, and Bob Perelman at the Kelly Writers House, on October 27, 2009

Interview Part 1 (1:16:28): MP3

Interview and Discussion on 1964-1970s with Grenier, Al Filreis, Charles Bernstein, and Michael Waltuch in New York City, on March 19, 2010

Interview Part 2 (2:11:44): MP3

Reading with Donald Guravich, Stephen Ratcliffe, and Joanne Kyger, Bolinas Library, January 18, 2011

  • complete reading (1:01:20): MP3

Reading at the Kelly Writers House, University of Pennsylvania, October 27, 2009

Grenier Reading at Mills College for their Contemporary Writers Series, 2003

  • Introduction (6:36): MP3
  • Complete Reading (1:19:08): MP3

Reading at Wednesdays at 4Plus, University at Buffalo, February 6, 2003

  • Complete Recording, part 1 (lecture) (1:26:25): MP3
  • Complete Recoring, part 2 (59:16): MP3

Wednesdays at 4Plus, University at Buffalo, October 22, 1998

Complete Reading (2:21:01): MP3

Wednesdays at 4Plus, University at Buffalo, October 5, 1994

Complete Recording (slide lecture) (1:19:23): MP3

Lecture on "Drawing from Nature," Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, Naropa Institute, July 9, 1992

Complete Reading (1:22:46): MP3

Discussion with David Bromige, May 7, 1986

complete discussion (1:35:33): MP3

Grenier reads from Sentences at the St. Mark's Poetry Project, NY, April 8th, 1981

Complete Recording (52:30): MP3

Two excerpts from Sentences:
TWELVE VOWELS ...
CONCEPTS / they see us ...

Two excerpts from Oakland:
Eyes open the door ...
Go out for a drive ...

Note: PennSound has prepared a summary/transcript [PDF] of this reading; selections from Sentences are marked with times where they occur in the recording.

Reading, November 30, 1978 (location unknown)