Paul Blackburn

PoemTalk #59, discussing Paul Blackburn's "7th Game: 1960 Series"

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

Reading at Blackburn's home with Howard Lindh, Summer 1971

"[Lindh Howard] reading his poems at Paul Blackburn's home (Summer 1971). Blackburn reads from the June Journal 1971. Also, Blackburn and his son Carlos T. attempting to talk."

Recorded on audiocassette. Featured in the Joris and Peyrafitte tape collection.

Sound Warning: The sound levels in this recording vary greatly, especially in the first 4 minutes. Some parts may be inaudibly quiet, while others may be very loud. Consider keeping you device's volume as low as possible.

Complete Recording (25:30): MP3

Reading at SUNY Cortland, April 1, 1971

Blackburn reads poems from The Nets (1961), The Cities (1967), In. On. Or About The Premises (1968) and The Journals

1. Introduction (0:32): MP3
2. Call It The Net (2:41): MP3
3. The Net of Moon (2:08): MP3
4. The Net of Place (3:34): MP3
5. Brooklyn Narcissus (2:37): MP3
6. Park Poem (1:48): MP3
7. Hot Afternoons Have Been In West 15th Street (2:33): MP3
8. The Unemployment Bureau (0:59): MP3
9. 7th Game : 1960 Series (2:38): MP3 [TEXT]
10. Faces: 1 (2:48): MP3
11. This Couldn't Happen Again (0:36): MP3
12. She Holds His Hand (0:38): MP3
13. Ritual: 7 (1:50): MP3
14. The Franklin Avenue Line (1:05): MP3
15. The Yawn (0:30): MP3
16. Clickety-Clack (2:52): MP3
17. The Necessary Goddess (1:20): MP3
18. The Proposition (1:31): MP3
19. Introduction to A Dull Poem (2:42): MP3
20. A Dull Poem (2:41): MP3
21. Sunflower Rock (2:33): MP3
22. This Is Not The Same As Sharing Anyone Else's Despair (2:29): MP3
23. It Might As Well Be Spring (1:40): MP3
24. "For a long time you were lonely..." (0:33): MP3
25. I Pass, You Pass (0:27): MP3
26. Invocation to Venus (0:20): MP3
27. Ten Years (1:39): MP3
28. Birds: Amsterdam (2:38): MP3
29. Train to Amersfoort (1:40): MP3
30. Wet (0:38): MP3
31. Gin (3:03): MP3
32. Selections from November 1967 Journal (5:55): MP3
33. The Game (1:28): MP3
34. Musee Des Augustins: Toulouse (1:27): MP3
35. The Probability (0:41): MP3
36. From March 1968 Journal (3:03): MP3
37. Rituals Preparatory to the Voyage (1:53): MP3
38. Peeing All Over the Peninsula (5:54): MP3
39. The Request (0:41): MP3
40. My Sainted (1:02): MP3
41. It Takes an Hour (2:03): MP3
42. Introduction to 'This Is The Way The World Begins' (1:06): MP3
43. This Is The Way The World Begins (6:11): MP3
44. Introduction to November 1969 Journal (1:20): MP3
45. Selections from Novemember 1969 Journal (8:45): MP3

Complete Reading, Part one (1:00:00): MP3
Complete Reading, Part two (43:57): MP3

(recording courtesy of Bernie Earley, Full Time Lecturer, Department of English, SUNY Cortland)

"7the Game: 1960 Series" is also featured on PoemTalk Episode 59.

Reading (presumably in San Francisco, July 1971 — date and location are uncertain)

1. Introduction (1:13): MP3
2. Blackburn's Introductory Comments (1:56): MP3
3. Paris-Toulouse Train (4:26): MP3
4. The Tissues (2:43): MP3
5. Introduction to Peeing All Over the Peninsula (1:58): MP3
6. Peeing All Over the Peninsula (5:26): MP3
7. from the November Journal (8:43): MP3
8. [Untitled] ("sundaysundaysundaysundaysunday") (1:13): MP3
9. We Definitions (0:17): MP3
10. "Sailboat reflected in the lake" (0:20): MP3
11. Li-Ke-Un (0:12): MP3
12. "Anything you want" (0:18): MP3
13. Along the San Andreas Fault, Along the Santa Fe Trail (for Mike McClusky) (1:14): MP3
14. As It Ends (1:20): MP3
15. The Assassination of President McKinley (3:04): MP3

Complete recording (36:02): MP3

(recording courtesy of Robert Creeley)

Reading, Unknown Location, c. 1969-1970

• Complete recording (35:43): MP3

PennSound only link to full reading with Donald Hall, Diane Wakoski, John Thorpe, and Ebbe Borregaard: MP3

Reading at Bard College, December 6, 1968

1. Oh shake it up baby (4:43): MP3
2. Paris and not spring either (0:51): MP3
3. What you do is pick 'em up and pack 'em in (1:27): MP3
4. The Expensive Meal (0:59): MP3
5. Off and Running (3:28): MP3
6. Facing South (0:34): MP3
7. Signals: 3 (0:31): MP3
8. Birds: Amsterdam (3:14): MP3
9. Gin (3:33): MP3
10. Train to Amersfoort (1:57): MP3
11. Paris-toulouse Train (2:37): MP3
12. Musée des Augustins: Toulouse (1:26): MP3
13. Valencia: Winter (0:59): MP3
14. Fog (0:53): MP3
15. The Probability (0:50): MP3
16. Cutting the Mustard (0:21): MP3
17. Malaga, Port (1:08): MP3
18. Chase Death (1:21): MP3
19. The Quality (1:18): MP3
20. As It Ends (0:41): MP3
21. The Net of Place (3:50): MP3
22. Night Cappy (3:27): MP3
23. The Metamorphosis (1:04): MP3
24. Motivations: 1 (0:14): MP3
25. The Assassination of President McKinley (3:06): MP3
26. Getting a Job (0:55): MP3
27. Two Songs for the Opp (0:43): MP3
28. On the Rocks (2:05): MP3
29. The Slogan (1:11): MP3
30. A Dull Poem for Louis Zukofsky (5:10): MP3
31. Scoffing It (0:33): MP3
32. Sunflower Rock (2:24): MP3
33. It Might As Well Be Spring (1:37): MP3
34. Pre-Lenten Gestures (5:46): MP3
35. Ritual: 7 (1:40): MP3
36. She Holds His Hand (1:18): MP3
37. L'orcus (0:21): MP3
38. Faces: 1 (2:37): MP3
39. The Proposition (1:31): MP3
40. Who Needs Legs? We Do (1:18): MP3
41. Poor Dog (2:14): MP3
42. translation of Guillaume de Poitiers' "Farai un vers, pos mi sonelh" (4:53): MP3
43. translation of Peire Vidal's "Estat ai gran sazo" (4:28): MP3
44. City Sunset (0:51): MP3
45. The Interview with F. Scott Mcnut (1:02): MP3
46. The Tissues (2:43): MP3
47. The Request (0:47): MP3
48. My Sainted (0:48): MP3
49. Ritual 17: It Takes An Hour (4:29): MP3
50. Buzz (2:27): MP3
51. Mary Jane (2:41): MP3
52. The Candidate (0:28): MP3
53. Jazz 1968 (0:24): MP3
54. A Structural Problem (0:33): MP3
55. From November Journal: Fire (7:58): MP3

Complete reading (1:55:31): MP3

Reading at St. Marks, 1969

With introduction by Anne Waldman and Sam Abrams
Reading available at UCSD archives: External link

1. Lines Trees Words (1:20): MP3
2. A Miracle Has Happened (1:31): MP3
3. There Are Doors (0:36): MP3
4. How to Sublet an Apartment to Friends (1:31): MP3
5. The Unemployment Bureau (0:46): MP3
6. Spring Thing (3:21): MP3
7. So Who Needs Legs We Do (1:39): MP3
8. Laurel (1:13): MP3
9. Cancer Ejaculations (0:58): MP3
10. Going Up (0:31): MP3
11. Resentment (0:28): MP3
12. Poem to a Dead Girl (0:36): MP3
13. The Assassination of President McKinley (1:39): MP3
14. Faces One (2:34): MP3
15. The Necessary Goddess (0:50): MP3
16. Origin (1:56): MP3
17. You Light It (1:12): MP3
18. Between Sets (0:24): MP3
19. Ya Lift a Cold One (0:23): MP3
20. Young (0:18): MP3
21. Listening to Sonny Rollins at the Five Spot (1:21): MP3
22. For Alma (1:47): MP3


23. The Man Turned against Himself (0:33): MP3
24. Getting a Job (0:27): MP3
25. Flexibility or the Rich (2:59): MP3
26. Park Poem (1:40): MP3
27. New York Three (0:28): MP3
28. Here They Go (2:16): MP3
29. Ritual Six (1:19): MP3
30. The Gathering (2:27): MP3
31. This Couldn't Happen Again (0:34): MP3
32. She Holds His Hand (0:31): MP3
33. Pals Together (0:40): MP3
34. Sunflower Rock (2:25): MP3
35. Cockcrow Barcelona (0:25): MP3
36. I Think I Know (0:42): MP3
37. The Bones (1:10): MP3
38. Scoffing It (0:28): MP3
39. The Old Days (0:44): MP3
40. Democracy in California (Napalm) (2:07): MP3
41. Blues for Austryn Wainhouse (1:52): MP3
42. That Things Go Well Is My Whole Spiel (0:32): MP3
43. It's a Matter of Tracing It All Back (2:19): MP3
44. The Flower Phantom Strikes Again (1:34): MP3
45. The Geologist (0:27): MP3
46. Rockhound (0:12): MP3
47. The Weathers (0:23): MP3
48. Eat (0:14): MP3
49. More of It (0:14): MP3
50. Style (0:11): MP3
51. The Differences (0:22): MP3
52. O Whence Are You Going (0:06): MP3
53. The Eastern Slopes (0:15): MP3
54. Measure the Takers (0:25): MP3
55. The Forty Five (0:16): MP3
56. Chicken Soup (0:25): MP3
57. Bags (0:38): MP3
58. The Moth Heads (0:40): MP3

• Side A (Complete Recording) (47:27): MP3
• Side B (Complete Recording) (18:43): MP3

Courtesy of Simon Pettet

Also of Interest:

Robert Kelly discusses Blackburn's dedication to recording poetry (5:30): MP3

(recording courtesy of Steve Evans / The Lipstick of Noise)

• July 17, 2009: "Paul Blackburn: 1971 SUNY-Cortland Reading Now Segmented"
• May 12, 2008: "Paul Blackburn: New Author Page Added"

These sound recordings are being made available for noncommercial and educational use only. © 2012 the Estate of Paul Blackburn. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Distributed by PennSound.