Kit Robinson

Close Listening: Reading and conversation with Charles Bernstein, October 6, 2019

Full Program (32:22): MP3

PoemTalk #29, discussing Robinson's "Return on Word," March 3, 2010

Listen to the complete recording.

Grand Piano Reading: Episode 4, October 06, 2022

Watch on media.SAS

Kit Robinson: I talk about The Grand Piano project as an exercise in the superimposition of various time frames and how I’m not that guy. Then I present a collaged set of passages from all ten of my chapters in The Grand Piano. A lively discussion follows.

Reading with Neeli Cherkovski and Alan Bernheimer, Bird & Beckett Books, San Francisco, August 4, 2022

Media.SAS direct link: MP4

Reading with Uche Nduke at Unnameable Books, Brooklyn, October 6, 2019

Complete recording (from Thought Balloon and new work) (19:50): MP3

Tribute Reading for Larry Eigner's 90th Birthday, The Green Arcade, San Francisco, CA, August 7, 2017

On occasion of the publication of the selected poems, with Jennifer Bartlett, Norma Cole, Steve Dickison, Richard Eigner, Norman Fischer, Jack Foley, Kathleen Frumkin, George Hart, Lyn Hejinian, and Stephen Ratcliffe.

Complete recording (1:52:07): MP3

Complete Reading including work from Leaves of Class, Marine Layer, and Catalan Passages (31:55): MP3

Tectontic Ambiences, Ariel Resnikoff, Alan Bernheimer and Kit Robinson, E.M. Wolfman Books, Oakland, CA, December 22, 2015

Complete Reading (1:43:35): MP3

1. Ariel Resnikoff Introduces Kit Robinson (0:41): MP3
2. Neighboring Vessels (4:41): MP3
3. Construction is the Noise of Spring (2:34): MP3
4. In My Guise (2:47): MP3
5. The Line in the Sand (2:41): MP3
6. Weather (for Bob Perleman) (1:44): MP3
7. False Bay (2:10): MP3
8. Storm King (1:28): MP3
9. Nine (for Anne Tardos) (1:11): MP3
10. Thought Balloon (1:49): MP3
11. Kit Robinson Introduces Alan Bernheimer (1:46): MP3
12. Lashes Fly Away (2:47): MP3
13. Straw & Bramble (1:56): MP3
14. "You Don't Have Anything to Say About It" (0:40): MP3
15. The Dream (0:51): MP3
16. Alan, brielfy on Francie Shaw and "Rex Works" Collaboration (0:22): MP3
17. Reminder (for and with Bob Perelman) (1:51): MP3
18. Extension Heavens (for Stephen Rodefer) (0:46): MP3
19. Identity of Images (after the French of Robert Desnos) (2:11): MP3
20. The Truth about Mores (0:39): MP3
21. Many Stars and Ones Perpetually Shooting (for Alli Warren) (0:46): MP3
22. Futurama (for Bill Berkson) (0:41): MP3
23. The New Sentience (0:54): MP3
24. It Is Certain (1:17): MP3
25. "A Tiny Essay on the Subject of Realism" (3:12): MP3
26. Dagwood Sandwichs (0:15): MP3
27. Dream (0:12): MP3
28. A Form of Takeout (0:13): MP3
29. Cold Light Rain (0:06): MP3
30. Lunch Break (0:04): MP3
31. Ipsitude (2:40): MP3
32. History of Happiness (1:59): MP3
33. Alan Bernheimer Introduces Ariel Resnikoff (0:53): MP3
34. Ohio is not a Theoretical (for Bob Perelman) (1:17): MP3
35. Interlude (0:25): MP3
36. From Yinglossia (A thru B) (3:19): MP3
37. Teachings of the Magic Kohl-Rabi: IV (Wisdom Change) (1:03): MP3
38. Siftah (Hebrew, Avoth Yeshurun) (3:02): MP3
39. Siftah (English Translation) (2:31): MP3
40. 3 Vocies after Black Mountain (A Review) (3:55): MP3

Segue Series reading at the Zinc Bar, New York, November 7, 2015

• Complete Reading (30:24): MP3

1. Introductory remarks (5:12): MP3
2. The Dolch Stanzas (2:28): MP3
3. On vocabulary (3:40): MP3
4. Train I Ride (4:32): MP3
5. On characterizing his poetry (5:18): MP3
6. On the pervasiveness of language (2:05): MP3
7. Place Poems (7:31): MP3
8. On writing in tercets (3:05): MP3
9. From Determination (1:11): MP3
10. On putting together Determination (4:42): MP3
11. On book cover designs (6:32): MP3
12. 17 Reasons Why (3:22): MP3
13. The Standard (1:56): MP3
14. The Planetary Currents (2:03): MP3
15. Flash of the Spirit (1:40): MP3
16. The Composite (1:42): MP3
17. Leaves of Class (3:40): MP3
18. The Big Sea (1:24): MP3
• Complete reading (1:10:34): MP3

MLA Offsite Reading at ArtShare, LA, January 8, 2011

Complete reading (2:37): MP3

Reading with Ted Greenwald at The Poetry Project, New York, November 5, 2009

Complete Reading (62:16): MP3

Reading at Xavier University with Dana Ward, Cincinnati, OH, October 27, 2009

1. Introduction by Tyrone Williams (3:15): MP3
2. I Remember You (1:53): MP3
3. In the American Tree (2:02): MP3
4. Counter Meditation (5:18): MP3
5. The Wall (1:00): MP3
6. Cloud Water (0:24): MP3
7. The 4th of July (0:38): MP3
8. Line 56 (0:43): MP3
9. Walnuts (1:25): MP3
10. Train I Ride (10:27): MP3
11. Notes Toward a Phenomenology of Time (from The Grand Piano #9) (16:15): MP3

Complete reading (43:43): MP3

Reading at The Drawing Studio, Tucson, AZ, October 24, 2009 - on POG Sound



Photograph © Barbara Henning


Complete Reading (43:56): MP3

Segue Series Reading at the Bowery Poetry Club, November 22, 2008

Complete Reading (36:28): MP3

Reading with Jenn McCreary at the Kelly Writer's House, April 14, 2005

Complete Reading (37:21): Complete Recording

Jenn McCreary's complete reading

1. Introduction by Bob Perelman (5:59): MP3
2. Walnuts (0:36): MP3
3. The sea is the color of poetry (0:54): MP3
4. Line 56 (0:44): MP3
5. Ode to Ed (1:45): MP3
6. The outcome (1:56): MP3
7. Le Meridien (2:05): MP3
8. Neuroses (1:01): MP3
9. The lit (1:13): MP3
10. Omegaville (0:51): MP3
11. Not even (4:19): MP3
12. On the way (0:55): MP3
13. A toolkit (0:30): MP3
14. Next to nothing (1:25): MP3
15. Reading by hand (1:10): MP3
16. Up front (0:39): MP3
17. Resting (0:53): MP3
18. Itself a kind of music (0:59): MP3
19. This train (1:28): MP3
20. Interlocking rhythms (1:31): MP3
21. The second budding (0:34): MP3
22. Hard shadows (1:08): MP3
23. I remember you (3:13): MP3
24. Looks like up (1:01): MP3
25. Working girl blues (3:24): MP3

Down City Poetry Series, sponsored by Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design, Tazza Caffe. Providence, RI, April 13, 2005

Reading List:

• Line 56
• Walnuts
• Ode to Ed
• The Outcome
• Le Meridien
• The Lit

Excerpts from "Not Even"

• I Remember You
• Looks Like Up
• Let’s Call This
• Working Girl Blues

Complete reading (35:59): MP3

Reading at The Poetry Project, New York, April 6, 2005

Introduction by Miles Champion.

Complete Reading with (62:16): MP3

Reading at the Kelly Writers House, University of Pennsylvania, November 11, 1999

1. Introduction (02:34): MP3
2. King E (2:20): MP3
3. Balance Sheet (6:20): MP3
4. In a Hawaiian Garden (3:10): MP3
5. Return on Word (1:13): MP3
6. The Wall (2:19): MP3
7. The Sieve (0:35): MP3
8. A/K/A (from Cloud Eight with Alan Bernheimer) read with Bob Perelman (7:29)MP3
9. On Memory and Writing (4:32): MP3
10. 3:15 (5:31): MP3
11. Distribution (0:37): MP3
12. Progression (0:53): MP3
13. In-Betweenness (1:05): MP3
14. Equinimity (1:47): MP3
15. The Person (3:22): MP3

Full reading (49:51): MP3

"Return on Word" is also featured on PoemTalk Episode 29.

Reading at SUNY-Buffalo, November 10, 1999

1. Introduction (4:12): MP3
2. Introduction to King E (2:03): MP3
3. King E (1:13): MP3
4. In a Hawaiian Garden (2:56): MP3
5. The Term (2:56): MP3

From The Crave (Berkeley: Atelos, 2002)

6. Return on Word (1:01): MP3; also featured on PoemTalk Episode 29.
7. The Touch (0:17): MP3
8. The Big Nowhere (0:38): MP3
9. The Wall (0:49): MP3
10. Cloud Water (0:24): MP3
11. The Sieve (0:24): MP3

From Cloud Eight, with Alan Bernheimer, Lowestoft: Sound & Language, 1999

12. A/K/A (read with Charles Bernstein) (8:04): MP3
Note: This piece was written in 1977, not 1997 as the author erroneously states in his introductory remarks.

From The Grand Piano: An Experiment in Collective Autobiography, San Francisco, 1975-1980, Part 9, with Rae Armantrout, Lyn Hejinian, Ted Pearson, Tom Mandel, Carla Harryman, Ron Silliman, Steve Benson, Barrett Watten and Bob Perelman (Detroit: Mode A, 2009)

13. Notes Toward a Phenomenology of Memory (3:26): MP3

From 9:45 (Sausalito: The Post-Apollo Press, 2003)

14. 3:15 (0:27): MP3
15. 29 (0:13): MP3
16. 3VBH351 (0:15): MP3
17. 30 (0:16): MP3
18. 7' 10" x 10' 10" (0:20): MP3
19. 528-5030 (0:16): MP3
20. 150,000 Sq. Ft. (0:15): MP3
21. 1 (0:16): MP3
22. 2 (0:12): MP3
23. 88.5 (0:12): MP3
24. 760 (0:13): MP3
25. 50 (0:13): MP3
26. 200 (0:17): MP3
27. 27 (0:17): MP3
28. 212 (0:07): MP3
29. 10/30/99 (0:18): MP3

From Democracy Boulevard, (New York: Roof Books, 1998)

30. The Person (3:32): MP3

Wednesday Series: Camille Roy and Kit Robinson, St. Mark’s Church, NY, February 17, 1999

Recorded on audiocassette. Recording hosted by the Library of Congress.

1. Side A (47:50): link
2. Side B (47:45): link

"Word x Music" at NewLangtonArts, San Francisco, June 1, 1996

Featuring poets Laura Moriarty, Norman Fischer, Leslie Scalapino, and Kit Robinson accompanied by musicians Glenn Spearman (tenor saxophone), Jim Routhier (Guitar), and Donald Robinson (drums).

Complete Reading (1:24:04): MP3

"Zen, Poetry, Music, Community" at Jerry Brown We the People Theater, Oakland, September 20, 1996

Poetry and music performed with Glenn Spearman (tenor saxophone).

Complete Recording (14:53): MP3

Reading of Ode on Visiting the Belosaraisk Spit on the Sea of Azov with Author Ilya Kutik, Small Press Distribution, Berkeley, December 1993

Carla Harryman and Lyn Hejinian introduced Robinson's reading of his translation and Kutik's reading of the original and their conversation.

Complete Recording (56:00): MP3

Segue Series Reading at the Ear Inn, December 13, 1983

Complete Reading (39:34): MP3

Segue Series Reading at the Segue Space, 303 E. 8th Street, NYC, May 23, 1993

• Complete reading (50:53): MP3
• Counter Mediation (9:35): MP3
• Balance Sheet (34:43): MP3
• Ice Cubes II (6:35): MP3

Small Press Traffic Reading from Balance Sheet (Roof, 1993), San Francisco, May 23, 1993

Complete Reading (51:45): MP3

Reading for Incognito Lounge, Canessa Park Gallery, San Francisco, October 19, 1990

• 1. The Dolch Stanzas (8:38): MP3
• 2. Dayparts (12:08): MP3
• 3. Pagination in Italy (7:45): MP3
• 4. Counter Meditation (6:23): MP3


• Complete recording (34:53): MP3

Reading at 464 Amsterdam Avenue, home of Charles Bernstein and Susan Bee, July 7, 1982

Group readings include Charles Bernstein, Susan Bee, Alan Davies, Erica Hunt, Bruce Andrews, Ted Greenwald, Michael Gottlieb, Peter Seaton and George-Therese Dickinson

• Part One: Tribute to Nervous (Tuumba, 1982); group reading of prose poems “Verdigris” and “Trial de Novo” (from Windows, 1985) (45:57): MP3
• Part Two: Group reading of the play “Collateral” (37:00): MP3
• undetermined fragment of reading (6:26): MP3

Radio Interview on San Francisco Poets Theater hosted by Denny Smithson, on KPFA FM 94.1 Berkeley, January 25, 1982

Interview on Poets Theater production of "Collateral" by Kit Robinson and "The Alps" by Bob Perelman, with Kit Robinson and Alan Berheimer. Robinson and Bernheimer perform an excerpt from Paterson by William Carlos Williams, then respond to questions from callers on the psychology and names of characters in "Collateral," how to join poets theater, and their opinions on the view that poetry should only be read silently.

Complete Interview (29:01): MP3

"Song," New Langton Arts, San Francisco, July 24, 1980

From the Talk Series curated by Bob Perelman

• Tape 1 (59:05): MP3
• Tape 2 (18:29): MP3

Appearing on In the American Tree, hosted by Alan Bernheimer, July 1, 1979

Complete Recording (33:17): MP3

Listen also to episodes hosted by Robinson with Lyn Hejinian during the 1978 season.

Reading with Steve Benson at Ploughshares Bookstore, Palo Alto, Februrary 18, 1979

• Steve Benson Part 1 Reading (10:55): MP3
• Kit Robinson Part 1 Reading (3:57): MP3
• Steve Benson Part 2 Reading (9:42): MP3
• Kit Robinson Part 2 Reading (13:51): MP3
• Steve Benson Part 3 Reading (5:03): MP3
• Kit Robinson Part 3 Reading (10:45): MP3
• Steve Benson Part 4 Reading (8:22): MP3
• Kit Robinson Part 4 Reading (11:20): MP3


• Complete recording (1:16:19): MP3

Segue Series Reading at the Ear Inn, December 16, 1978

1. In the American Tree (2:07): MP3
2. The Rise of the West (0:18): MP3
3. Dolch 23 (3:36): MP3
4. Casual Blues (10:00) MP3
5. Trans Bay (1:29): MP3

Complete Reading (24:45): MP3

"Bay Area Writers" radio show, reading and interview with Kit Robinson, Hosted by Peter Kuntz, KQED, 88.5 FM, San Francisco, 1976

Kit Robinson reads from "Casual Labor," later retitled "Casual Blues" (Windows, Whale Cloth, 1985), "Seven Days in Another Town" and "Minutes" (Down and Back, The Figures, 1978), and "Hammer Stops" (unpublished).

Complete Reading and Interview (26:25): MP3

Also on PennSound:

• Alan Berheimer's Particle Arms (1982), which featured Robinson as a performer.

Kit Robinson on PennSound Daily

• March 8, 2010: "PoemTalk 29: Kit Robinson's 'Return on Word'"

These sound recordings are being made available for noncommercial and educational use only. All rights to this recorded material belong to the author. © 2017 Kit Robinson. Used with permission of Kit Robinson. Distributed by PennSound.