Charles Reznikoff

Reading from Holocaust in his NYC Apartment, December 21, 1975 (recorded by Abraham Ravett)

• (click here for segmented recordings, photographs and Ravett's commentary)

Reading on Susan Howe's radio program, 1975

• Complete Recording (59:37): MP3
• March 27, 1975 session (25:21): MP3
• May 13, 1975 session ("Poems for Jewish Holidays") (38:25): MP3
1. introduction by Susan Howe (1:11): MP3
2. Fable ["Inscriptions No. 50"] (0:36): MP3
3. "One of my sentinels, a tree" ["Inscriptions No. 3"] (0:11): MP3
4. "I have not even been in the fields" ["Rhythms II No. 1"] (0:13): MP3
5. "Blurred sight and trembling fingers" ["Inscriptions No. 48"] (0:18): MP3
6. Heart and Clock [excerpt, from "Separate Way No. 1"] (1:03): MP3
7. "Our nightingale, the clock" ["Jerusalem the Golden No. 61"] (0:12): MP3
8. "The clock" ["Jerusalem the Golden No. 62"] (0:12): MP3
9. "My hair was caught in the wheels of a clock" ["Jerusalem the Golden No. 63"] (0:08): MP3
10. "Hardly a breath of wind" ["Inscriptions No. 12"] (0:17): MP3
11. "After I had worked all day at what I earn my living" ["A Fifth Group of Verse No. 19"] (0:22): MP3
12. Te Deum ["Inscriptions No. 22"] (0:28): MP3
13. "The dogs that walk with me are now and here" ["Inscriptions No. 38"] (0:19): MP3
14. "God saw Adam in a town" ["A Fifth Group of Verse No. 17"] (0:18): MP3
15. "Look triumphantly" [from the original edition, "Rhythms No. 7"] (0:14): MP3
16. "It was in my heart to give her wine and dainties" ["Jerusalem the Golden No. 57"] (0:31): MP3
17. "The new janitor is a Puerto Rican" ["By the Well of Living and Seeing II, No. 10"] (1:48): MP3
18. "This Puerto Rican, just an ordinary laborer" ["By the Well of Living and Seeing I, No. 22"] (0:12): MP3
19. "During the Second World War, I was going home one night" ["By the Well of Living and Seeing II, No. 28"] (1:43): MP3 [text]
20. "Most of the stock in the hardware store" ["By the Well of Living and Seeing II, No. 13"] (2:01): MP3
21. "The Chinese girl in the waiting-room" ["By the Well of Living and Seeing II, No. 11"] (0:24): MP3
22. "Would I write a letter for him?" ["By the Well of Living and Seeing II, No. 3"] (1:53): MP3
23. "The company had advertised for men to unload a steamer across" ["Testimony I"] (2:07): MP3
24. "Amelia was just fourteen and out of the orphan asylum; at her first job" ["Testimony II"] (1:23): MP3
25. Land of Refuge [excerpt, from "New Nation" from "Separate Way No. 11"] (1:08): MP3
26. Brief History [excerpt, from "New Nation" from "Separate Way No. 11"] (0:39): MP3
27. Brief History [excerpt, from "New Nation" from "Separate Way No. 11"] (0:31): MP3
28. A Citizen ["A Fifth Group of Verse No. 10"] (0:21): MP3
29. "You are young and contemptuous" ["Inscriptions No. 5"] (0:12): MP3
30. "A well-phrased eulogy, a low-itched dirge" ["Inscriptions No. 25"] (0:31): MP3
31. "How grey you are! No, white!" ["Inscriptions No. 49"] (0:21): MP3
32. "Now it is cold: where the snow was melting" ["Autobiography: New York VI" from "Going To and Fro and Walking Up and Down"] (1:13): MP3
• September 6, 1975 session (24:30): MP3

Used with permission of Susan Howe.

Reading at the Poetry Center at San Francisco State University, March 21, 1974

1. Introduction by George Oppen (4:45): MP3 [text]
2. (23) "Salmon and red wine" (00:40): MP3 [text]
3. (21) "I have neither the time nor the weaving skill, perhaps," (00:24): MP3
4. (3) "When the sky, the water over the sandy bottom is green" (00:20): MP3
5. (13) Building Boom (00:30): MP3
   1. "The avenue of willows leads nowhere:"
6. (7) "The house-wreckers have left the door and a staircase," (00:08): MP3
7. (69) "Among the heaps of brick and plaster lies" (00:09): MP3
8. (10) "These days the papers in the street" (00:18): MP3
9. (24) "Scrap of paper" (00:08): MP3
10. (41) "Of course, we must die." (00:12): MP3
11. (17) "Rails in the subway," (00:09): MP3
12. (XVIII) "This subway station" (00:15): MP3
13. (39) "What are you doing in our street" (00:09): MP3
14. (42) "Permit me to warn you" (00:06): MP3
15. (20) "As I was wandering with my unhappy thoughts" (00:28): MP3
16. (XXVII) "On a Sunday, when the place was closed," (00:15): MP3
17. (45) "Fraser, I think, tells of a Roman," (00:15): MP3
18. (32) "The hillside facing the river" (00:33): MP3
19. (XII) Rainy Season (00:13): MP3
    1. "It has been raining for three days."
20. (7) Scrubwoman (00:15): MP3
    1. "One shoulder lower,"
21. (4) "The pedlar who goes from shop to shop," (00:11): MP3
22. (5) "The winter afternoon darkens." (00:10): MP3
23. (XVII) "The elevator man, working long hours" (00:13): MP3
24. (XXV) "The young fellow walks about" (00:29): MP3
25. (9) "Showing a torn sleeve," (00:14): MP3
26. (7) "Two girls of twelve or so at a table" (00:37): MP3
27. (8) from Depression (01:04): MP3
    1. "simple soul, who so early in the morning..."
    2. "in the drizzle"
28. (9) "The shop girls leave their work" (00:12): MP3
29. (28) Millinery District (00:10): MP3
    1. "Many fair hours have been buried here"
30. (XXIII) Cooper Union Library (00:18): MP3
31. (11) "You must not suppose" (00:09): MP3
32. (XXVI) "I am always surprised to meet," (00:22): MP3
33. (10) "The new janitor is a Puerto Rican;" (01:15): MP3
34. (13) "Most of the stock in the hardware store" (01:43): MP3
35. (11) "The Chinese girl in the waiting-room..." (00:21): MP3
36. (28) "During the Second World War," (01:31): MP3
37. (50) Fable (00:24): MP3
    1. "It is very pleasant to walk in the woods"
38. (3) "One of my sentinels, a tree," (00:10): MP3
39. (1) "I have not even been in the fields," (00:08): MP3
40. (48)"Blurred sight and trembling fingers-" (00:15): MP3
41. (I) Heart and Clock (00:): MP3
    1. "Now the sky begin to turn"
42. (II) "If my days were like the ants," (00:): MP3
43. (62) "The clock" (00:): MP3
44. (63) "My hair was caught in the wheels of a clock" (00:33): MP3
45. (12) "Hardly a breath of wind," (00:14): MP3
46. (19) "After I had worked all day" (00:09): MP3
47. (22) Te Deum (00:07): MP3
    1. "Not because of victories"
48. (II) "Amelia was just fourteen" (01:10): MP3
49. (4) Testimony (01:38): MP3
    1. "The company had advertised"
50. (11) from New Nation (00:37): MP3
    1. (I) "Land of Refuge"
       1. "the sky is cloud on cloud"
51. (11) from New Nation (00:33): MP3
    1. (II) "Brief History"
       1. "the bells of Philadelphia are ringing"
52. (74) The English in Virginia, April 1607 (01:10): MP3
    1. "They landed"
53. (20) Samuel (01:11): MP3
    1. "All day I am before the altar"
54. (15) From the Apocalyptic Ezra (03:10): MP3
    1. "Because I saw the desolation of Zion,"
55. (7) "The highway I was walking on" (03:33): MP3
56. (14) "Horsefly," (00:06): MP3
57. (27) "A row of brownstone buildings-" (00:32): MP3
58. (17) "God saw Adam in a town" (00:15): MP3
59. The Bastard (03:29): MP3
60. (3) from Autobiography: Hollywood (00:36): MP3
    1. "I like the streets of New York City,"

All poems in this reading are from The Collected Poems of Charles Reznikoff.

Original recording by the Poetry Center at San Francisco State University. PennSound publication made with thanks to the Poetry Center at San Francisco State University for their archival work.

Interviews with Reinhold Schiffer, SUNY-Buffalo, 1974*

1. First Segment (30:44): MP3
2. Second Segment (31:29): MP3
3. Third Segment (30:40): MP3
4. Fourth Segment (31:26): MP3

* Please note that this is an informal recording; the interviews are not complete and are often cut off prematurely. Tapes available courtesy Stephen Fredman.

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

1. from Going To and Fro and Walking Up and Down ("The young fellow walks about...") (0:32): MP3
2. from By the Well of Living and Seeing ("You must not suppose...") (0:12): MP3
3. Love Story (3:47): MP3

Reading at the 92nd Street Y, New York, 1967

1. Part One (29:06): MP3
2. Part Two (6:49): MP3

Also at PennSound:

Harvey Shapiro & Norman Finkelstein discuss the objectivists, including Reznikoff (here's a segment in which they discuss Reznikoff's "Holocaust")

Charles Reznikoff on PennSound Daily

• January 22, 2010: "Charles Reznikoff Reads from "Holocaust," Plus Rare Photos"
• December 26, 2007: "Charles Reznikoff: Poetry and Interviews 1967-1975"

These sound recordings are being made available for noncommercial and educational use only. All rights to this recorded material belong to the author. © 2004-2008 Charles Reznikoff. Used by permission of the Estate of Charles Reznikoff and Black Sparrow Press. Distributed by PennSound.