Barbara Guest

PoemTalk #140, Discussing Barbara Guest's "The Blue Stairs," feat. Kristin Prevallet, Simone White, Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge

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

PoemTalk #24, Discussing Barbara Guest's "Roses", feat. Natalie Gerber, Randall Couch, and Michelle Taransky

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

Barbara Guest on LINEbreak with Charles Bernstein (1995, recorded in NY)

1. Introduction (0:52): MP3
2. A Reason (1:09): MP3
3. on the New York Poets and their relation to painting (3:31): MP3
4. Parachutes, My Love, Could Carry Us Higher (1:39): MP3
5. Neige Fondant (1:51): MP3
6. on how her work has changed (0:42): MP3
7. on imagination (2:16): MP3
8. on realism (1:30): MP3
9. An Emphasis Falls on Reality (2:45): MP3
10. on how her books connect (0:36): MP3
11. Wild Gardens Overlooked by Night Lights (4:08): MP3
12. on her identity as a woman (2:00): MP3
13. Borderlands (2:04): MP3
14. Multiplicity (2:58): MP3

Kathleen Fraser Interviews Hadley Guest about Barbara Guest, Berkeley, July 17, 2007

1. Introduction (0:23): MP3
2. Hadley Guest reading "The Next Floor" by Barbara Guest (0:51): MP3
3. Kathleen Fraser on being introduced to Barbara Guest and her work (13:46): MP3
4. Barbara Guest's friendship with painters (9:33): MP3
5. Hadley Guest on growing up around poets and painters (5:15): MP3
6. the division between uptown and downtown in the New York art world in the 60s (12:31): MP3
7. Barbara Guest's refusal to be pigeon-holed (2:23): MP3
8. the cruelty of the downtown scene and Barbara Guest's intentional erasure (18:31): MP3
9. Hadley Guest on living with Barbara during the last few years of her life and hearing about her first marriage to John Dudley (7:18): MP3
10. Trumbull Higgins and social position in relation to money (11:33): MP3
11. Barbara's uptown studio and her strong family feelings (16:55): MP3
12. Barbara's shared apartment with Perdita Schaffner and her experience working and walking around Union Square (5:00): MP3
13. productivity, freedom, and moving west (4:15): MP3
14. Stephen Guest and introducing Barbara Guest to H.D. (15:35): MP3
15. Barbara's work on H.D. (12:27): MP3
16. Barbara's awareness of women writers, her relation to feminism, and her commitment to being a wife and mother as well as a poet (15:29): MP3

Susan Gevirtz Interviews Hadley Guest about Barbara Guest, Berkeley, May 9, 2007

• Part 1 (30:44): MP3
• Part 2 (46:42): MP3
• Part 3 (15:32): MP3

Barbara Guest Praise Day Tribute at The Bowery Poetry Club, October 21, 2006

with special guest Hadley Haden Guest and host Kristin Prevallet

Introduction by Kristin Prevallet (2:32): MP3

Lytle Shaw (13:52): MP3

1. Introduction by Kristin Prevallet (0:36): MP3
2. Santa Fe Trail (2:39): MP3
3. Parade's End (0:55): MP3
4. Nebraska (2:23): MP3
5. from Herself Defined: H.D. and her World (2:25): MP3
6. Activities (1:47): MP3

Lewis Warsh (6:51): MP3

1. Introduction by Kristin Prevallet (0:32): MP3
2. discussing The New American Poetry and "Parachutes" (3:50): MP3
3. Parachutes, My Love, Could Carry Us Higher (0:57): MP3
4. discussing "Santa Fe Trail" (1:26): MP3

Marcella Durand (7:47): MP3

1. Introduction by Kristin Prevallet (0:40): MP3
2. Invisible Architecture (3:25): MP3
3. discussing "Invisible Architecture" (0:38): MP3
4. The Poetess (0:49): MP3
5. An Emphasis Falls on Reality (2:11): MP3

Charles Bernstein (14:58): MP3

1. Introduction by Kristin Prevallet (0:38): MP3
2. remembering Barbara Guest (4:32): MP3
3. Composing Herself (Bookforum, April 2006; Jacket 29) (9:47): MP3

Africa Wayne (12:18): MP3

1. Introduction by Kristin Prevallet (0:26): MP3
2. on her friendship with Barbara Guest (1:37): MP3
3. Turkey Villas (3:30): MP3
4. A Reason (0:55): MP3
5. on listening to Barbara Guest read (0:43): MP3
6. The Farewell Stairway (3:31): MP3
7. Negative Possibility (1:09): MP3

Charles North (8:53): MP3

1. Introduction by Kristin Prevallet (0:44): MP3
2. on his relationship with Barbara Guest (3:09): MP3
3. Another July (1:01): MP3
4. Roses (1:19): MP3
5. The Location of Things (2:20): MP3

"Roses" is also featured on PoemTalk Episode 24.

erica kaufman (7:42): MP3

1. Introduction by Kristin Prevallet (0:45): MP3
2. from Seeking Air (4:35): MP3
3. on Barbara Guest's work (0:51): MP3
4. from Confetti Trees (1:27): MP3

Conclusion (6:19): MP3

Complete reading (1:18:40): MP3

Reading from The Red Gaze

The Red Gaze (Wesleyan University Press, 2004)

Recorded for PennSound by Allan Graham, Berkeley, April 7, 2004:

1. Nostalgia of the Infinite (1:39) [titled "Nostalgia" in the book]: MP3
2. An Afternoon in Jeopardy (1:24): MP3
3. Imagined Room (0:57): MP3
4. She Honors De Chirico (0:54) [title changed to "Loneliness" for the book]: MP3
5. A Different Honey (0:39): MP3
6. A Short Narrative (0:29): MP3
7. Roman Stripes (0:56): MP3
8. The Next Floor (1:02): MP3
9. Freedom (0:43): MP3
10. The Hungry Knight (0:35): MP3
11. The Trickster (0:44): MP3
12. The Past (0:31): MP3
13. Modernism (0:46): MP3
14. A Burst of Leaves (0:35): MP3
15. The Smooth Stair (0:49): MP3
16. Alteration (0:32): MP3
17. Freed Color (1:35): MP3
18. Green Numbers (0:50): MP3
19. The Brown Vest (0:39): MP3
20. The Gold Tap (0:22): MP3
21. The Red Gaze (0:45): MP3
22. A Dawn Walk (0:36): MP3
23. Untitled (0:23) [on p. 36 of the book]: MP3
24. Hans Hofmann (2:26) [slightly longer than the published version]: MP3
25. Vignettes (0:26) [one line shorter than version published in the book]: MP3
26. Echoes (0:20) [one line shorter than version published in the book]: MP3
27. Instructions (0:29): MP3
28. Composition (0:41): MP3
29. Supposition (0:15): MP3
30. [quotation from Theodor Adorno] (0:16) [the book's epigraph]: MP3

Reading at The Kootenay School of Writing, Vancouver, 1999

• Reading on August 14, 1999 (51:44): MP3
• Reading on August 15, 1999 (48:49): MP3

Reading in the Mumford Room at the Library of Congress, December 5, 1996

Complete recording (1:05:51); MP3

1. Introduction by Robert Haas (10:43): MP3
2. Windy Afternoon (0:57): MP3
3. Washington (1:47): MP3
4. Green Onions (1:45): MP3
5. Santa Fe Trail (1:37): MP3
6. Sunday Evening (1:15): MP3
7. Another July (0:56): MP3
8. Living Solitarily in the Garret (1:22): MP3
9. Roses (2:05): MP3
10. Nebraska (2:34): MP3
11. Heavy Violets (0:20): MP3
12. Heavy Violets 2 (0:26): MP3
13. Borderlands (1:34): MP3
14. The Blue Stairs (2:32): MP3
15. Parade's End (0:51): MP3
16. An Emphasis Falls on Reality (2:09): MP3
17. Wild Gardens Overlooked by Night Lights (3:06): MP3
18. The View from Kandinsky's Window (1:35): MP3
19. Prairie Houses (1:18): MP3
20. The Sunroom (1:01): MP3
21. There Was a Poem (0:26): MP3; JPG
22. Dissonance Royal Traveller (2:53): MP3
23. The Farewell Stairway (2:52): MP3
24. Winter Horses (1:34): MP3
25. The Surface as Object (1:27): MP3

"Roses" is also featured on PoemTalk Episode 24.

Segue Series Reading at the Ear Inn, October 2, 1993

1. Introduction (0:47): MP3
2. La Problema (1:12): MP3
3. Hieroglyph Acres (1:14): MP3
4. Memory Pale Chloroform (1:56): MP3
5. If So (2:09): MP3
6. Post Office Wisdom (2:02): MP3
7. Bold Plan (1:54): MP3
8. Ojjiba (6:10): MP3
9. The Advance of the Grizzly (2:53): MP3
10. Winter Horses (2:40): MP3
11. Motion Picture 1 (1:58): MP3
12. Motion Picture 4 (4:00): MP3
13. Trousers for Extras (1:08): MP3

Complete reading (30:59): MP3

Reading and lecture/discussion at SUNY-Buffalo - April 1 & 2, 1992

poetry reading - April 1

Entire reading (43:50): MP3

1. The Nude (8:02) [from Fair Realism, 1989; CP, p. 238]: MP3
2. The Farewell Stairway (3:15) [from Fair Realism; CP, p. 232]: MP3
3. An Emphasis Falls on Reality (2:37) [from Fair Realism; CP, p. 221]: MP3; text
4. Heavy Violets (0:46) [from Fair Realism; CP, p. 232]: MP3
5. The Cradle of Culture (2:08) [from Fair Realism; CP, p. 250]: MP3
6. Otranto (6:38) [from Defensive Rapture, 1993; CP, p. 300]: MP3
7. Dove (2:26) [from Defensive Rapture; CP, p. 261]: MP3
8. Defensive Rapture (2:33) [from Defensive Rapture; CP, p. 277]: MP3
9. Borderlands (1:57) [from Defensive Rapture; CP, p. 288]: MP3
10. Winter Horses (2:04) [from Defensive Rapture; CP, p. 304]: MP3
11. The Glass Mountain (3:17) [from Defensive Rapture; CP, p. 295]: MP3
12. Earrings (1:17) [Note: This poem, beginning "Running over the edge...," is not in Collected and might be unpublished.]: MP3
13. Dissonance, Royal Traveller (4:10) [from Defensive Rapture; CP, p. 289]: MP3

Lecture and seminar discussion - April 2, 1992

• I. Lecture titled "How I Got out of Poetry and into Prose" (20:24): MP3
• II. Seminar discussion (1:37:35): MP3
• [Note: This recording drops out once at 0:26:00 minutes and again and 1:13:00 when cassette was flipped or changed during recording.]

From Exact Change Yearbook at SUNY-Buffalo, April 1, 1992

An Emphasis Falls on Reality (2:32): MP3 (2:32)

St. Mark's Talks, March 23, 1986

• "Mysteriously Speaking of the Mysterious Byzantine Proposals of the Poem"


• Introduction (2:48): MP3
• Talk by Barbara Guest (24:59): MP3
• Discussion (54:21): MP3

Segue Series Reading at the Ear Inn, January 25, 1986

1. Introduction (1:04): MP3
2. Kathleen Fraser on Seeking Air (3:26): MP3
3. Susan Howe: Seeking Air, epigraph (0:33): MP3
4. Barbara Einzig: Seeking Air, opening (5:10): MP3
5. Maureen Owen: Seeking Air, 7 (1:19): MP3
6. Susan Howe: Seeking Air, 11 (0:58): MP3
7. Susan Howe: Seeking Air, 12 (1:03): MP3
8. Maureen Owen: Seeking Air, 19 (1:43): MP3
9. Susan Howe: Seeking Air, 20 (1:49): MP3
10. Barbara Einzig: Seeking Air, 22 (2:30): MP3
11. Maureen Owen: Seeking Air, 28 (3:12): MP3
12. Barbara Einzig: Seeking Air, 40 (3:21): MP3
13. Maureen Owen: Seeking Air, 63 (0:49): MP3
14. Susan Howe: Seeking Air, 90 (1:00): MP3
15. Susan Howe: Seeking Air, 100 (0:25): MP3
16. Maureen Owen: Seeking Air, 102 (0:21): MP3

The Location of Things, Studio Recording, May 1984 (reading from poems dated 1960 to 1979)

[Note: The Location of Things is the title of Guest's 1960 volume; this commercial recording included readings from that book and others.]

1. Windy Afternoon (0:49) [Collected Poems, p. 8]: MP3
2. The Piazza (1:52) [titled "Piazzas," CP, p. 4]: MP3
3. Santa Fe Trail (1:23) [in The Open Skies, CP p. 49]: MP3
4. Sunday Evening (1:10) [CP, p. 13]: MP3
5. The Blue Stairs (2:13) [from The Blue Stairs, CP, p. 61]: MP3
6. Saving Tallow (1:46) [from The Blue Stairs, CP, p. 71]: MP3
7. The Return of the Muses (2:15) [CP, p. 72]: MP3
8. A Handbook of Surfing (9:55) [CP, p. 85]: MP3
9. Turkey Villas (2:22) [CP, p. 64]: MP3
10. Egypt (1:15) [from Moscow Mansions, CP, p. 100]: MP3
11. Roses (1:20) [CP, p. 128]: MP3
12. Passage (for John Coltrane) (1:21) [CP, p. 130]: MP3: text
13. Knight of the Swan (11:42) [CP, p. 108]: MP3
14. The Countess from Minneapolis (excerpts) (8:29) [CP, pp. 143-66]: MP3
15. The Turler Losses (excerpts) (9:25) [CP, p. 169-182]: MP3

Credits for The Location of Things:

Selections 1-4, Poems, Doubleday and Company, Inc. Selections 5-9, The Blue Stairs, Corinth Books. Selections 10-13, Moscow Mansions, A Richard Seaver Book/The Viking Press. Selection 14, The Countess from Minneapolis, Burning Deck. Selection 15, The Turler Losses, Mansfield Book Mart Ltd. Copyright © 1962, 1968, 1973, 1976, 1979 by Barbara Guest.

Recording History: All selections were recorded at Artist's Access Studio, New York, New York, May, 1984 Producer: Anne Becker Recording Engineer: Peter Darmi Post Prod. Engineers: Anne Becker & Katherin Mattern Executive Producer: Alan Austin

"Roses" is also featured on PoemTalk Episode 24.

Reading for Emily Dickinson's Birthday Celebration, St. Mark's Church in the Bowery Poetry Project, December 10, 1979

• Guest reads “3 a.m. Amagansett” and Biography (8:22): MP3

Appearing on Susan Howe's Poetry Program on WBAI-Pacifica Radio, April 13, 1978

1. Red Lilies (1:08): MP3
2. on her childhood and when she started to write (1:47): MP3
3. on Stephen Guest and H.D. (2:40): MP3
4. on using a male persona in Seeking Air (2:42): MP3
5. "I don't think I could stand the noise of this city a day longer..." [excerpt, from Seeking Air] (1:55): MP3
6. on Wide Sargasso Sea (0:24): MP3
7. "Night wind blowing from the north..." [excerpt, from Seeking Air] (1:47): MP3
8. on her interest in colonial life (1:25): MP3
9. "Dark, indeed, must have always been mixed..." [excerpt, from Seeking Air] (2:12): MP3
10. "I think of the sallow-skinned men..." [excerpt, from Seeking Air] (1:01): MP3
11. on George Seferis (1:18): MP3
12. "It was like driving a ball from behind that clump of grass..." [excerpt, from Seeking Air] (4:55): MP3
13. on the difference between writing novels and poetry (2:00): MP3
14. on biography, autobiography, and Ford Madox's The Good Soldier (2:09): MP3
15. on breaking down the old idea of hero and heroine (0:59): MP3
16. on the process of working on an autobiography of H.D. (5:52): MP3
17. on particular writers who have been important to her (1:11): MP3

Complete program (1:06:31): MP3

Appearing with John Ashbery on P.E.N. Portraits, hosted by Anne Fremantle, WNYC, May 22, 1977

1. Introduction (3:42): MP3
2. responding to Emily Dickinson's statement that some words made her want to take off her hat to them (3:38): MP3
3. fondness of particular words (3:18): MP3
4. commenting on teaching poetry (1:19): MP3
5. John Ashbery reading "And Ut Pictura Poesis Is Her Name" (1:54): MP3
6. John Ashbery reading "What Is Poetry" (0:46): MP3
7. Barbara Guest reading "June" (1:04): MP3
8. Barbara Guest reading "Passage (for John Coltrane)" [CP, p. 130] (1:33): MP3 : text
9. John Ashbery reading from "Three Poems" (1:22): MP3
10. breaking down the division between ideas and words (4:19): MP3
11. starting with a title and theme v. letting the poem develop as it comes along (4:30): MP3
12. closing comments (1:28): MP3

Reading in the Recording Laboratory at the Library of Congress, June 2, 1969

Complete recording (1:01:59); MP3

1. The Blue Stairs (2:33): MP3
2. Turkey Villas (2:41): MP3
3. A Reason (0:48): MP3
4. Walking Buddha (1:21): MP3
5. Barrels (1:21): MP3
6. East of Omsk (1:16): MP3
7. Clouds Near the Window (1:48): MP3
8. A Way of Being (2:06): MP3
9. Four Moroccan Studies (2:08): MP3
10. Parade's End (0:52): MP3
11. Fan Poems (3:16): MP3
12. Saving Tallow (1:59): MP3
13. Colonial Hours (2:29): MP3
14. 20 (1:16): MP3
15. Direction (1:43): MP3
16. Passage (1:18): MP3
17. See Song (0:24): MP3
18. Days (1:16): MP3
19. 3 AM (1:04): MP3
20. Eating Chocolate Ice Cream: Reading Mayakovsky (2:25): MP3
21. Roses (1:30): MP3
22. Carmen (1:45): MP3
23. Olivetti Ode (0:57): MP3
24. On a Chinese Vase (2:26): MP3
25. The Flaking Ceiling (0:29): MP3
26. The Watering Can (1:57): MP3
27. A Handbook of Surfing (12:21): MP3

"Roses" is also featured on PoemTalk Episode 24.

Reading in the Recording Laboratory at the Library of Congress, June 6, 1960

Complete recording (1:00:04); MP3

1. The Location of Things (2:46): MP3
2. April (1:27): MP3
3. Piazzas (2:23): MP3
4. In the Middle of the Easel (1:28): MP3
5. Windy Afternoon (1:10): MP3
6. All Grey-haired, My Sisters (3:33): MP3
7. Russians at the Beach (1:14): MP3
8. The Hero Leaves His Ship (2:18): MP3
9. Birthday (0:49): MP3
10. On the Way to Dumbarton Oaks (1:19): MP3
11. Les Realites (1:29): MP3
12. The Wandering Musicians by Manet (1:45): MP3
13. Poème Classique (0:47): MP3
14. Cape Canaveral (1:07): MP3
15. Sunday Evening (1:37): MP3
16. The Crisis (1:30): MP3
17. Sadness (1:16): MP3
18. Upside Down (0:41): MP3
19. History (1:03): MP3
20. Parachutes, My Love, Could Carry Us Higher (1:16): MP3
21. Jaffa Juice (3:21): MP3
22. Lights of My Eyes (0:35): MP3
23. In Dock (1:22): MP3
24. Santa Fe Trail (1:48): MP3
25. West 64th Street (1:12): MP3
26. Safe Flights (1:35): MP3
27. The Time of Day (1:11): MP3
28. Heroic Stages (2:10): MP3
29. Belgravia (2:18): MP3
30. The Crisis (2) (1:06): MP3
31. The Past of a Poem (1:09): MP3
32. Snow Angel (0:46): MP3
33. Dido to Aeneas (1:32): MP3
34. Atalanta in Arcadia (1:39): MP3
35. Green Awnings (1:43): MP3
36. From Eyes Blue and Cold (0:59): MP3
37. Palm Trees (0:45): MP3

Appearing on Cross-Cultural Poetics Episode #34 with host Leonard Schwartz

Complete program (1:02:12): MP3

Reading at St. Mark's Poetry Project, NY

• Complete recording (7:39): MP3

Also of Interest

UC Berkeley Lunch Poems: videos

Barbara Guest on PennSound Daily

• October 30, 2009: "PoemTalk 24: Barbara Guest's 'Roses'"

These sound recordings are being made available for noncommercial and educational use only. All rights to this recorded material belong to the author. © 2004-2009 the estate of Barbara Guest. Used with permission of Barbara Guest. Distributed by PennSound.