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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


The Air You Breathe, 2017

Watch on Media.sas

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

Citizen Film: Bill Berkson, School of Poets

Watch on Media.sas

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

A celebration for New York School Painters & Poets: Neon in Daylight and reading of his own work at Moe's Books, Berkeley, March 11, 2015

  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

Full recording available here.

Reading at the Kelly Writers House, February 10, 2015

Watch on Media.sas
  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

Recorded at the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing, UPenn, April 3, 2013

  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

Reading with Gwenaëlle Stubbe, Double Change, Fumoir De China, Paris, April 4, 2011

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

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

  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

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

Interviewed by Carlos Villa, KUSF, San Francisco, September 4, 2004

  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

Reading, February 17, 1983 (Location Unknown)

  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

The Berkson/Brainard reading here.

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:

Bill Berkson on PennSound Daily

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.