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Michael Ruby


Reading From Close Your Eyes, Visions, 2023

Close Your Eyes

  1. Introduction (4:43): MP3
  2. Close Your Eyes 1 (7:13): MP3
  3. Close Your Eyes 2 (5:18): MP3
  4. Close Your Eyes 3 (8:51): MP3
  5. Close Your Eyes 4 (8:51): MP3
  6. Close Your Eyes 5 (7:42): MP3
  7. Close Your Eyes 6 (4:04): MP3
  8. Close Your Eyes 7 (7:27): MP3
  9. Close Your Eyes 8 (5:29): MP3
  10. Close Your Eyes 9 (6:08): MP3
  11. Close Your Eyes 10 (4:11): MP3
  12. Close Your Eyes 11 (9:01): MP3
  13. Close Your Eyes 12 (10:08): MP3
  14. Close Your Eyes 13 (5:03): MP3
  15. Close Your Eyes 14 (3:43): MP3

Visions

  1. Introduction (1:26): MP3
  2. 7-9-07 (0:43): MP3
  3. 7-16-07 (0:56): MP3
  4. 7-16-07 (6:08): MP3
  5. 7-17-07 (3:15): MP3
  6. 7-18-07 (2:38): MP3
  7. 7-19-07 (1:33): MP3
  8. 7-23-07 (0:43): MP3
  9. 7-23-07 (4:50): MP3
  10. 7-30-07 (0:59): MP3
  11. 7-28-08 (4:40): MP3
  12. 8-4-08 (5:00): MP3
  13. 8-12-08 (2:22): MP3
  14. 8-14-08 (1:59): MP3
  15. 8-15-08 (2:25): MP3
  16. 8-16-08 (4:07): MP3
  17. 8-17-08 (3:41): MP3
  18. 8-22-08 (1:28): MP3
  19. 8-25-08 (1:36): MP3
  20. 9-1-08 (2:49): MP3
  21. 9-3-08 (1:55): MP3
  22. 9-4-08 (2:07): MP3
  23. 9-5-08 (1:30): MP3
  24. 9-6-08 (0:51): MP3
  25. 9-15-08 (6:11): MP3
  26. 9-16-08 (1:02): MP3
  27. 7-9-09 (2:02): MP3
  28. 7-13-09 (1:13): MP3
  29. 7-17-09 (1:50): MP3
  30. 7-21-09 (1:16): MP3
  31. 7-27-09 (2:51): MP3
  32. 8-3-09 (1:41): MP3
  33. 8-12-09 (1:28): MP3
  34. 8-21-09 (1:34): MP3
  35. 8-22-09 (2:08): MP3
  36. 9-18-09 (2:12): MP3
  37. 9-21-09 (1:20): MP3
  38. 9-24-09 (1:58): MP3
  39. 9-25-09 (1:44): MP3
  40. 9-28-09 (11:19): MP3
  41. 7-8-10 (0:52): MP3
  42. 7-8-10 (0:32): MP3
  43. 7-12-10 (0:45): MP3
  44. 7-13-10 (1:19): MP3
  45. 7-14-10 (0:30): MP3
  46. 7-26-10 (1:03): MP3
  47. 8-10-10 (1:58): MP3
  48. 8-11-10 (2:14): MP3
  49. 8-12-10 (1:26): MP3
  50. 9-1-10 (1:27): MP3
  51. 9-2-10 (1:58): MP3
  52. 9-20-10 (1:29): MP3
  53. 7-4-11 (0:49): MP3
  54. 7-6-11 (3:42): MP3
  55. 7-6-11 (4:37): MP3
  56. 7-9-11 (6:07): MP3
  57. 7-19-11 (1:53): MP3
  58. 7-21-11 (1:04): MP3
  59. 7-21-11 (1:24): MP3
  60. 7-22-11 (1:48): MP3
  61. 8-16-11 (2:39): MP3
  62. 8-16-11 (0:31): MP3
  63. 8-20-11 (1:47): MP3
  64. 8-20-11 (1:25): MP3
  65. 7-1-12 (0:23): MP3
  66. 7-3-12 (2:14): MP3
  67. 7-11-12 (2:07): MP3
  68. 7-14-12 (4:21): MP3
  69. 7-15-12 (1:26): MP3
  70. 7-20-12 (0:59): MP3
  71. 7-25-12 (0:29): MP3
  72. 7-29-12 (1:39): MP3
  73. 7-30-12 (0:23): MP3
  74. 7-31-12 (2:59): MP3
  75. 8-2-12 (1:48): MP3
  76. 7-8-13 (1:53): MP3
  77. 7-9-13 (0:42): MP3
  78. 7-10-13 (0:30): MP3
  1. From a Red 2001 Standard Diary (4:03): MP3
  2. O world (2:17): MP3
  3. O unconscious (2:24): MP3
  4. Signs on the Post-9/11 Commute to Work (4:04): MP3
  5. O magic property (3:03): MP3
  6. O Elvis (2:36): MP3
  7. Places in Dreams (4:32): MP3
  8. O lockerrooms (2:12): MP3
  9. O irresponsible (2:48): MP3
  10. From a Red 2003 Standard Diary (3:37): MP3
  11. O vehicle (2:22): MP3
  12. O monkey (2:21): MP3
  13. 1957-2037 (3:27): MP3
  14. A Few of My Favorite Things (3:02): MP3
  15. O compulsive (2:15): MP3
  16. O houses (2:15): MP3
  17. Visions (5:09): MP3
  18. O boymel (2:20): MP3
  19. O Indo-European (2:05): MP3
  20. The Triumph of the Red States in 2004 (2:33): MP3
  21. O Momaday (2:28): MP3
  22. O Borodin (2:52): MP3
  23. America's Overseas Military Bases (3:46): MP3
  24. O Tory propensities (3:44): MP3
  25. O oildrops (2:23): MP3
  26. House Republican Leaders Violating the 10 Commandments in 2005 (4:51): MP3
  27. O bring dogs (3:24): MP3
  28. O smiling (2:18): MP3
  29. The Elimination of the U.S. Soccer Team at the 2006 World Cup (3:40): MP3
  30. O stone (2:21): MP3
  31. O adventure (3:20): MP3
  32. A Few of My Favorite Things in American Poetry (3:27): MP3
  33. O oniongrass (2:33): MP3
  34. O petridish (2:12): MP3
  35. A Few of My Favorite Things in T.S. Eliot (4:02): MP3
  36. O wretches (2:15): MP3
  37. O love (2:15): MP3
  38. A Few of My Favorite Things in Allen Ginsberg (4:36): MP3
  39. O America (2:24): MP3
  40. O hope (2:28): MP3
  41. From a Red 2008 Standard Diary (5:11): MP3
  42. O holiday (2:17): MP3
  43. O sandwich (2:10): MP3
  44. From a Notebook of Titles: First Lines (4:04): MP3
  45. O paunts (2:36): MP3
  46. O aberrant phrases (4:01): MP3
  47. U.S. News Headlines in 2010 (5:17): MP3
  48. O lutta perpetua (3:17): MP3
  49. O piecemeal eggs (3:26): MP3
  50. O the fear (2:39): MP3
  51. O relief (3:25): MP3
  52. From a Red 2012 Standard Diary (4:50): MP3
  53. O election (2:19): MP3
  54. O face (2:49): MP3
  55. Repeated Memories (4:42): MP3
  56. O frogs (2:43): MP3
  57. O cicadas (2:56): MP3
  58. U.S. News Headlines in 2014 (6:42): MP3
  59. O zero (2:49): MP3
  60. O yes (2:24): MP3
  61. People in Dreams (4:21): MP3
  62. O bombs (2:15): MP3
  63. O say (2:16): MP3
  64. Memories of the Star-Spangled Banner (3:07): MP3
  65. The Star-Spangled Banner (3:24): MP3
  66. O Ornette (3:00): MP3
  67. O Ornette (3:05): MP3
  68. Donald Trump at the Republican Debate on August 6, 2015 (4:18): MP3
  69. O The Star-Spangled Banner (3:51): MP3
  70. O America (3:04): MP3
  71. Voices at the End of Election Night on November 9, 2016 (6:34): MP3
  72. O failure (2:54): MP3

Reading from The Mouth of the Bay, 2019

  1. Elea (0:25): MP3
  2. Blessed Is Failure (1:02): MP3
  3. Last Thing (1:13): MP3
  4. The Earth Is Held up by Nothing (2:11): MP3
  5. The One Among the Many (0:55): MP3
  6. The Earth Used to Be Covered with Water (0:16): MP3
  7. The Blue and the Green (1:24): MP3
  8. Purifications (3:06): MP3
  9. The Pure (0:31): MP3
  10. What Is This the Remnant Of? (0:58): MP3
  11. Wretches, Stay Away from Beans (9:23): MP3
  12. Further Reaches (8:29): MP3
  13. There's No Beginning and There's No End (1:24): MP3
  14. The Pure (1:13): MP3
  15. We Only Perceive Our Bodies (4:06): MP3
  16. Foghorn (1:30): MP3
  17. Wave Talk (9:34): MP3
  18. Raindrops on a Page (1:03): MP3
  19. The Pure (2:14): MP3
  20. There Are an Infinite Number of Worlds, Some Always Coming to Be, Some Always Perishing (5:41): MP3
  21. Foghorn (1:10): MP3
  22. Elements1 (0:22): MP3
  23. Elements2 (1:11): MP3
  24. Elements3 (1:07): MP3
  25. Elements4 (2:34): MP3
  26. Elements5 (2:00): MP3
  27. Elements6 (0:26): MP3
  28. Elements7 (2:51): MP3
  29. Elements8 (3:18): MP3
  30. Elements9 (1:06): MP3
  31. Elements10 (1:07): MP3
  32. Elements11 (1:48): MP3
  33. Elements12 (1:47): MP3
  34. Elements13 (1:56): MP3
  35. Elements14 (0:56): MP3
  36. Elements15 (0:24): MP3
  37. Elements16 (0:24): MP3
  38. Elements17 (0:21): MP3
  39. Elements18 (0:17): MP3
  40. Elements19 (0:20): MP3
  41. Elements20 (0:19): MP3
  42. Elements21 (1:47): MP3
  43. Elements22 (3:14): MP3
  44. Elements23 (5:46): MP3
  45. The Blue (2:10): MP3
  46. Blue Fields (4:21): MP3
  47. Distant Forhorn (3:11): MP3
  48. Trance Position (8:40): MP3
  49. Foghorn (1:41): MP3
  50. Even Here (2:03): MP3
  51. If We Could Do What the White Birds Do (0:49): MP3
  52. Of Marsden Hartley (2:40): MP3
  53. Distant Foghorn (2:00): MP3
  54. Even Here (4:50): MP3
  55. Purify Me (11:51): MP3
  56. The Blue Water (7:04): MP3
  57. Foghorn (3:48): MP3
  58. Sounds of a Foggy Coast (2:44): MP3
  59. The Day of the Moon (0:51): MP3
  60. The Blue Compels (5:27): MP3
  61. Distant Foghorn (1:48): MP3
  62. Waves (3:38): MP3
  63. The Flowing Blue (2:32): MP3
  64. Foghorn (2:48): MP3
  65. Clouds over Frenchman Bay (1:18): MP3
  66. Foghorns and Waves (3:28): MP3
  67. Clouds over Frenchman Bay (1:03): MP3
  68. "All Our Senses Tell Us Is the World Contains Many Things in Motion" (1:52): MP3
  69. Sounds of High Tide in the Fog (5:04): MP3

Reading from The Edge of the Underworld, 2019

  1. Prologue (4:47): MP3
  2. Sic Fatur Lacrimans (11:50): MP3
  3. Sibilance (3:52): MP3
  4. They're Their There (2:50): MP3
  5. Among Senses (1:08): MP3
  6. The Seal Wore Out (1:09): MP3
  7. Tenebrous Children (2:31): MP3
  8. Five Poems (7:05): MP3
  9. Cape (2:25): MP3
  10. Dusting the Urns (5:35): MP3
  11. Verba Sancta (4:18): MP3
  12. Polymorphous Perversity (1:43): MP3
  13. Antistrophes (1:15): MP3
  14. After the Time of Shared References (0:52): MP3
  15. A Retrospective Glance (0:42): MP3
  16. The Skeleton as a Work of Art (5:43): MP3
  17. Epilogue (5:43): MP3

Reading at the 27th Subterranean Poetry Festival, September 10th, 2017, Rosendale, NY

Michael Ruby (11:53): MP3

Reading from Close Your Eyes (Dusie, 2013) with musicans for Greetings Series at Unnameable Books in Brooklyn, N.Y., on November 6, 2014 (recorded 2014)

Accompaniment from Jed Shahar on alto saxophone, mini-cassette recorder and delay pedal; Dan Veksler on samples, bells and whistles with delay, and percussion; Jeffrey Joe Nelson on drum, stones, jangling keys and African thumb piano. Recorded by Jed Shahar

Full Recording (23:06): MP3

Tracks from American Songbook (recorded 2013)

All of the poems in American Songbook (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2013), recorded in Millburn, N.J., on July 11, 2013, by sound engineer Deena Shoshkes

  1. Pinchbacks—Take ’Em Away (1:55): MP3
  2. Frosty Morning Blues (2:10): MP3
  3. Black Cat, Hoot Owl Blues (1:56): MP3
  4. I’m on the Battlefield for My Lord (3:51): MP3
  5. Keep on the Sunny Side (1:27): MP3
  6. Waiting for a Train (1:51): MP3
  7. Midnight Special (2:18): MP3
  8. My Very Good Friend, the Milkman (1:45): MP3
  9. They’re Red Hot (2:45): MP3
  10. I’m a Gamblin' Woman (1:33): MP3
  11. Blue Skies (2:37): MP3
  12. A Brown Bird Singing (1:18): MP3
  13. Prisoner of Love (1:29): MP3
  14. Over the Rainbow (1:44): MP3
  15. The Desert Blues (9:08): MP3
  16. This Land Is Your Land (1:56): MP3
  17. Gloomy Sunday (1:51): MP3
  18. "Little White Flowers Will Never Awaken You" (2:35): MP3
  19. Don't Explain (1:02): MP3
  20. The Lord Followed Me (3:24): MP3
  21. Summertime is Past and Gone (1:17): MP3
  22. I Dreamed About Mama Last Night (2:20): MP3
  23. Make Up Your Mind (1:43): MP3
  24. In the Good Old Summertime (3:35): MP3
  25. Nightmare (1:26): MP3
  26. Folsom Prison Blues (1:47): MP3
  27. Alright, OK, You Win (2:30): MP3
  28. Love for Sale (3:04): MP3
  29. Summertime (3:35): MP3
  30. She's a Good 'Un (2:09): MP3
  31. Nine Below Zero (1:12): MP3
  32. Help Me (2:29): MP3
  33. Where the Rio De Rosa Flows (1:53): MP3
  34. Johnny B. Goode (2:47): MP3
  35. Can't Help Falling in Love (2:09): MP3
  36. How I Got Over (6:53): MP3
  37. You've Got to Stand Your Test in Judgement (3:21): MP3
  38. Walk in Jerusalem (2:54): MP3
  39. In the Dark (3:37): MP3
  40. It's a Pity (2:27): MP3
  41. Something's Got a Hold on Me (1:41): MP3
  42. A Change is Gonna Come (2:51) (2:07): MP3
  43. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (1:59): MP3
  44. You Keep Me Hangin' On (3:26): MP3
  45. Cigarettes and Coffee (1:52): MP3
  46. You Know, I Know (2:11): MP3
  47. Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again (3:40): MP3
  48. People Are Strange (2:32): MP3
  49. What a Wonderful World (2:42): MP3
  50. I Don't Want No Woman (1:15): MP3
  51. Insane Asylum (3:57): MP3
  52. Ain't No Way (2:07): MP3
  53. Crosstown Traffic (2:54): MP3
  54. The Star-Spangled Banner (I) (3:09): MP3
  55. The Star-Spangled Banner (II) (5:44): MP3
  56. The Thrill is Gone (2:15): MP3
  57. Coal Miner's Daughter (2:47): MP3
  58. Walk Away (3:41): MP3
  59. Little Girl Blue (4:32): MP3
  60. Get It While You Can (3:58): MP3
  61. Truckin' (2:03): MP3
  62. What's Going On (1:42): MP3
  63. Walk on the Wild Side (2:46): MP3
  64. America the Beautiful (3:00): MP3
  65. Midnight Train to Georgia (2:46): MP3
  66. Badlands (2:51): MP3
  67. Hot Stuff (2:36): MP3
  68. Billie Jean (7:36): MP3
  69. I Just Called to Say I Love You (2:00): MP3
  70. Look at Little Sister (1:59): MP3
  71. Come as You Are (2:58): MP3
  72. Bad Love (3:09): MP3
  73. Only God Can Judge Me (6:02): MP3
  74. Hit 'Em Up (5:23): MP3
  75. Life After Death Intro (2:40): MP3
  76. Smooth (4:42): MP3

Tracks from Inner Voices Heard Before Sleep (recorded 2013)

Part of the trilogy Memories, Dreams and Inner Voices (Station Hill Press, 2012), recorded in Millburn, N.J., on November 25, 2013, by sound engineer Deena Shoshkes

Tracks from Compulsive Words

Almost all of the poems in Compulsive Words (BlazeVOX books, 2010) recorded in Brooklyn, N.Y., at various times in 2008-2011, by sound engineer David Kumin

  1. Dread (4:14): MP3
  2. Fields (8:03): MP3
  3. Dreams (1:35): MP3
  4. Dreams of Europe (0:31): MP3
  5. Everyone Makes Up Stories Every Night (1:05): MP3
  6. A Sleeper's Itinerary (3:19): MP3
  7. The Morals of Dreams (2:38): MP3
  8. Fleeting Memories (2:16): MP3
  9. Stuck in Transition (2:34): MP3
  10. Dim Lessons (2:08): MP3
  11. Family Problems (2:13): MP3
  12. The Disequilibrists (2:21): MP3
  13. A Cure for Headaches (1:22): MP3
  14. Incisions (1:24): MP3
  15. To Not (1:38): MP3
  16. Fatalism (1:26): MP3
  17. The Millennium (1:20): MP3
  18. Still Stuck (1:16): MP3
  19. Old Woldinorum (1:53): MP3
  20. Fatality (6:52): MP3
  21. Compulsive Words (3:33): MP3
  22. Beginnings, Middles and Ends (1:53): MP3
  23. A Body (3:24): MP3
  24. Dance of the Chance Automata (4:30): MP3
  25. The Star-Spangled Banner (2:14): MP3
  26. Titles & First Lines (6:20): MP3
  27. What Has Changed? (1:54): MP3
  28. I Can't Change (1:29): MP3
  29. After Another Absence (1:31): MP3
  30. So Much (0:30): MP3
  31. Almost Forever (2:26): MP3
  32. Tue. (1:46): MP3
  33. Too (2:10): MP3
  34. Tu (0:43): MP3
  35. Even You (4:07): MP3

From Radio Poetique presents Poetic Brooklyn, May 24th, 2004

  • Among the Crepusculars (3:52): MP3
  • Only on Tuesday (4:52): MP3
  • Before; Text for Kupka's "Black and White Abstraction" (4:01): MP3
  • First Names (3:23): MP3
  • Among Senses (1:38): MP3
  • Glimpsed from a Car; The Train in the Distance (2:55): MP3
  • Pinchbacks – Take 'Em Away (for Bessie Smith) (4:19): MP3

Interview with Susan Brennan (1:11:57): MP3


Monday Night Series: Tracy Blackmer, Michael Ruby, St. Mark's Church, NY, May 8, 2000

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

  1. Side A (47:45): link
  2. Side B (48:24): link

These sound recordings are being made available for noncommercial and educational use only. All rights to this recorded material belong to the author. © Michael Ruby 2015. Distributed by PennSound.