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Steve McCaffery

Interviewed by Charles Bernstein on LINEbreak (1995)

  1. Part 1 (29:05): MP3
  2. Part 2 (29:00): MP3

CARNIVAL



Reading at Tranzac, Toronto, November 14, 2022

"Jappements à la lune" (1968-1970), Claude Gauvreau's last suite of poems, read by Steve McCaffery. "English in the Jappements" (2022) devised by McCaffery. Video includes complete text.

McCaffery's reading concluded the book launch for the bilingual edition of Gauvreau's Le vampire et la nymphomane / The Vampire and the Nymphomaniac, translated by Ray Ellenwood and published by One Little Goat Theatre Company, in association with Nouvelles Éditions de Feu-Antonin.

This impromptu 'bootleg' recording was filmed on a phone by Adam Seelig with McCaffery's permission.

Media.SAS mirror URL: MP3

EPC@20 Celebration, Opening Remarks, Thursday, September 11, 2014

Steve McCaffery performing "The White Pages" and other works at the Burchfield Penny Art Center, Buffalo, NY. January 14, 2013.

Watch on Media.sas

With cris cheek, performing Panel 3 of Carnival at Birkbeck, June 6, 2012

Segue Series Reading at the Bowery Poetry Club, January 21, 2012

  • Complete reading (36:50): MP3

Performing the Premiere of Carnival, Panel 3 for The Other Room, Leeds Art Gallery, UK, June 7, 2011

in conjunction with Information as Material

also featured: Alan Halsey, Karen Mac Cormack, and Geraldine Monk

Watch on Media.sas



On Cross-Cultural Poetics with Leonard Schwartz:

  • Complete Reading (17:00):MP3

On Cross-Cultural Poetics with Leonard Schwartz, Episode #184, "Pear Diving," February 22, 2009

Complete Recording (4:22): MP3

On Cross-Cultural Poetics with Leonard Schwartz, February 28, 2009:

  • Complete Reading and Discussion from Slightly Left of Thinking (28:20): MP3

Personal Repertoire
  • "Cappucino: a Suffix Structure" (2:55) : MP3
  • "This Face of Mine Enemy" (2:22) : MP3
  • Zaum' Acrostic for Marjorie Perloff (5:29) : MP3
  • On a line of Artaud's (3:08) : MP3


  • Historic Repertoire
  • "The Birds" by Aristophanes, 360 BCE (1:28) : MP3
  • "Sound-Rel" by Raoul Hausmann, 1919 (1:50) : MP3
  • "Le bonbon" by Robert Desnos, 1923 (0:48) : MP3
  • "Epithalame" by Clement Swenssen, 1947 (1:14) : MP3
  • Excerpt from "Jappements à la lune" by Claude Gauvreau, 1982 (1:30) : MP3
  • Explodity: An Evening of Transrational Sound Poetry, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, February 4, 2009

    • Introduction by Nancy Perloff (1:21) : MP3

    Segue Series Reading at the Bowery Poetry Club, November 15, 2008

    • Complete reading (34:05): MP3
    1. The Dangers of Poetry and Spam (11:52): MP3
    2. Digital Poetics (2:31): MP3
    3. Prologue (5:34): MP3
    4. Still Life with Radishes and Counter-Intelligence (2:30): MP3
    5. Little League (3:53): MP3
    6. Percival (7:34): MP3

    Chax Press book launch held at and cosponsored by The Poetry Center at the University of Arizona, March 15, 2008 - on POG Sound

    • Complete Reading (27:55): MP3

    From Charles Bernstein's Portraits Series: McCaffery Up Close, January 28, 2007

    Watch on Media.sas

    Steve McCaffery
    It was Steve's 60th birthday and he had come to New York with Karen to celebrate.

    Appearing on Cross Cultural Poetics, Episode #64, "Language Falls Apart," with host Leonard Schwartz, 2005

    Complete recording (29:15): MP3 (mp4, 52 seconds, 10.1 mb)


    On "What's the Word" Program #163 - Contemporary Language Poetry

    • Complete Reading (29:11): MP3
    • Modern Language Association, 2003, produced by Sally Placksin

    Reading for Wednesdays@4+, Steel Bar, November 8, 2003

    Complete Reading (1:15:02): MP3

    Reading at Steel Bar, February 24, 2001

    Complete Reading (51:38): MP3

    Reading at the Kelly Writers House with Jed Rasula, April 4, 2000

    • Introduction by Bob Perelman (2:49): MP3
    • Introductory remarks (12:38): MP3
    1. Coleridge in Calgary (3:25): MP3
    2. Sin Having Settled (2:11): MP3
    3. Suggestion But No Insult (1:02): MP3
    4. Tam o' Shanter Revisited (0:34): MP3
    5. From "Some Versions of Pastoral" (1:41): MP3
    6. Pastoral Five (0:26): MP3
    7. Afterword (2:12): MP3
    8. The Baker Transformation (6:39): MP3
    9. What As Poetic (4:47): MP3
    • Steve McCaffery and Jed Rasula read their work (49:42): MP3
    1. On anthology production (6:19): MP3
    2. On categorization (4:24): MP3
    3. On timing (7:30): MP3
    4. On technology (6:43): MP3
    5. On procedure (6:06): MP3
    • Q & A on Imagining Language (32:03): MP3

    Reading at SUNY-Buffalo, November 6, 1997

    1. Introduction (1:48): MP3
    2. The Printer to the Reader (5:33): MP3 (from Theory of Sediment, 1991)
    3. Little Hans (3:03): MP3
    4. To Never Leave the Feeding Hand Unbitten (2:09): MP3
    5. Sin Having Settled (2:03): MP3 (from Proper Names)
    6. The Baker Transformation (5:39): MP3
    7. What As Poetic (4:58): MP3 (a gift to Charles Bernstein)
    8. Namings (14:00): MP3
    9. A Picture (4:50): MP3 (from Panopticon)
          Read with Karen Mac Cormack
    10. The Curve To Its Answer (4:01): MP3 (from Theory of Sediment)
    11. The Word (4:00): MP3 (from Panopticon)

    MLA Offsite Series Reading at the Four Seasons Hotel, Washington D.C., December 27, 1996

  • reading from TeachableTexts (6:47): MP3
  • Reading for Wednesdays @ 4 Plus SUNY-Buffalo, April 3, 1996

    • Poetics & Practice of Avant-Pop Literature (lecture and reading) (1:27:34): MP3

    Reading for Wednesdays @ 4 Plus SUNY Buffalo, November 15, 1995

    1. Introduction (2:15): MP3
    2. Broad Topics (1:49): MP3
    3. Sociologically Speaking, the Five Senses (1:40): MP3
    4. Bucolic (3:25): MP3
    5. Sound Poem (3:11): MP3
    6. The Precepts (5:34): MP3
    7. Erasure (4:16): MP3
    8. Modernite Piece (2:53): MP3
    9. Cappuccino (2:35): MP3
    10. White Pages (14:10): MP3
    11. Teachable Texts (7:26): MP3
    • Complete reading (47:52): MP3

    Reading for Wednesday @ Four Plus, SUNY Buffalo, February 20-21, 1991

    February 20 - complete reading (30:51): MP3

    1. Code of System Four (11:20): MP3
    2. Invariant (4:02): MP3
    3. Little House (3:32): MP3
    4. Foucault Acrostic (2:58): MP3
    5. At corners collating when the dislocation fades (30:51): MP3

    February 21 - complete seminar (1:24:01): MP3

    1. The Kommunist Manifesto or Wot We Wukkers Want (text) (6:01): MP3
    2. Appropriation As My Beatrice: Insufficiencies of Theory to Poetical Economies (33:51): MP3
    3. the distinction between theory and poetics (8:28): MP3
    4. the abandonment of primary texts (8:44): MP3
    5. theory in critical vs. creative writing (6:08): MP3
    6. the distinction between primary/secondary texts and high/low art (9:33): MP3
    7. a critique of Bourdieu and contemporary theory (10:50): MP3

    Segue Series Reading at the Ear Inn, New York, May 21, 1990

    1. Command Filter with Negative Entailment (4:25): MP3
    2. Poem (Ulcered Hectic in our Cake...) (1:01): MP3
    3. Codicil (2:33): MP3
    4. Geiger (3:38): MP3
    5. The Master of the Broken Urn (5:08): MP3
    6. Storax (2:40): MP3
    7. Glossarate (A Culture is a Lexicon) (4:00): MP3
    8. Poem (Finesse Quite at Large...) (3:24): MP3
    9. Poem (Nine. Seven. Six. Three. Two...) (6:33): MP3
    10. The Black Debt (11:42): MP3
    • Complete reading (45:29): MP3

    At The Kootenay School of Writing, Vancouver, 1985-2005

  • At New Poetics Colloquium on August 25, 1985 Part 1 (44:00): MP3
  • At New Poetics Colloquium on August 25, 1985 Part 2 (30:27): MP3
  • Reading on February 11, 1988 Part 1 (25:09): MP3
  • Reading on February 11, 1988 Part 2 (30:29): MP3
  • Reading on February 11, 1988 Part 3 (19:31): MP3
  • Talk on February 12, 1988 (48:14): MP3
  • Reading on November 1, 1990 Part 1 (18:16): MP3
  • Reading on November 1, 1990 Part 2 (17:24): MP3
  • Reading on November 1, 1990 Part 3 (19:50): MP3
  • Reading on November 1, 1990 Part 4 (12:37): MP3
  • Reading on May 31, 1995 (23:18): MP3
  • Talk on May 12, 2005 Part 1 (48:53): MP3
  • Talk on May 12, 2005 Part 2 (52:22): MP3
  • Reading on May 13, 2005 Part 1 (13:51): MP3
  • Reading on May 13, 2005 Part 2 (16:22): MP3
  • Reading on May 13, 2005 Part 3 (14:35): MP3
  • Reading on May 13, 2005 Part 4 (14:12): MP3
  • Segue Series Reading at the Ear Inn, New York, January 11, 1985

    1. Possession (9:32): MP3
    2. The Prose Edda (3:16): MP3
    3. Mozart in Tibet (6:50): MP3
    4. The Black Debt (6:56): MP3
    5. White Pages (11:18): MP3
    • Complete reading (37:52): MP3

    St. Mark's Talks, New York City, January 10, 1985

    Reading at the Village Gate, NY, June 18, 1984.

    Featuring Charles Bernstein, Steve McCaffery, and Erica Hunt.
    0:00 3 FIFTHS EQUALS (from Legend, read with Steve McCaffery)
    15:18 Introduction to Entitlement
    16:49 Entitlement (Charles Bernstein as John Milton, Diane War as Jenny Lind, Erica Hunt as Liubov Popova)
    Complete recording (24:35): MP3

    Underwhich Audiographic Series (Toronto), 1980

    • Wot We Wukkers Want (text) / One Step To The Next (23:11): MP3

    Segue Series Reading with Dick Higgins at the Ear Inn, February 7, 1979

    1. "Four Statements for Charles Bernstein" (1:45): MP3
    2. "Sonnet" (0:40): MP3
    3. Poem beginning "You can say anything you want to..." (0:46): MP3
    4. "Reproduction of the Image of an Adult Walking" (1:03): MP3
    5. "The" (1:46): MP3
    6. Engineering Koans (various) (6:14): MP3
    7. "The Parables" (3:43): MP3
    8. Short Pieces beginning with "Deep Vinegar" (various) (4:08): MP3
    9. with Paul Dutton and Rafael Barreto-Rivera (also members of The Four Horsemen)
    10. "Mushy Pea: Six London Texts" (6:03): MP3
    11. "The Precepts" (3:35): MP3
    12. "This piece starts about 4 Inches down from the top and about 3 and half inches in..." (2:20): MP3
    13. A Selection of untitled 'Transforms' (6:01): MP3

    14. Complete Reading (37:39): MP3
      See also, the Six Fillious Reading, featuring McCaffery, which took place immediately prior to his reading.

    Performances from E. no 3, late 1970s

    1. Vortex Blason (1:03): MP3
    2. Cappuccino: A Suffix Story for Henri Poincaré (2:31): MP3

      Reading, Date Unknown, Location Unknown

    • Complete Recording, (41:28)MP3
    • Recording courtesy of Michael Davison

    "The surface starts about two and half inches down", Date Unknown

    Complete Recording (2:55):MP3

    Seven texts based on Californa towns, Date Unknown

    Complete Recording (3:43):MP3

    McCaffery singles

    1. Coleridge in Calgary (3:25): MP3
    2. Some Versions of Pastoral (4:21): MP3
    3. Sin Having Settled (2:03): MP3
    4. Suggestion But No Insult (1:22): MP3
    5. The Baker Transformation (6:40): MP3
    6. What As Poetic (4:48): MP3
    7. The Kommunist Manifesto or Wot We Wukkers Want (5:54): MP3 TEXT

    Also of Interest:

    Steve McCaffery on PennSound Daily


    These sound recordings are being made available for noncommercial and educational use only. All rights to this recorded material belong to the author. © 2004-2014 Steve McCaffery. Used with permission of Steve McCaffery. Distributed by PennSound.