Readings and Recordings of LZ
Despite
the reputation during his lifetime for being an obscure and neglected poet, LZ
did in fact participate in quite a few poetry readings, especially later in
life when younger poets sought him out. LZ was a very fine reader of his own
poetry and there exist many recordings—the Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas alone holds 17
recordings—although unfortunately none are readily accessible at present (see
below).
The
following is a chronological list of readings and public talks for which we
have a record. The primary source of this information is indicated in
parentheses: CZ: Celia Zukofsky, A
Bibliography of Louis Zukofsky (1969); MB: Marcella Booth, A Catalogue of the Louis Zukofsky Manuscript
Collection (1975); CH: Cathy Henderson, “Supplement to Marcella Booth’s Catalogue” (1987).
1937,
6 June League of American Writers, radio station WOR, NYC
Notes for reading from “A”-8 (from “The Labor Process” to
“SOCONY will not always sign off on this air”) and panel discussion chaired by
Genevieve Taggart with Horace Gregory and Robert Fitzgerald (CH).
1938,
24 October (9:45-10:00pm) radio station WQXR,
NYC
Radio
script of broadcast for series Exploring the Arts and Sciences: A Reading of
Original Poetry by Louis Zukofsky
Excerpt
from “A”, “To my wash-stand,” “So
sounds grass,” “and if it is sun or no sun,” “Anew, sun, to fire summer,” “When
the crickets” (MB).
1941,
23 January Poetry Center, Young Men’s Hebrew Association, NYC
Outline
of talk on “Objectivists” Program with readings of poems: “che di lor suona su nella
tua vita,” “Mantis,” from “A”-8 (from “bringing
together facts” to “Labor light lights on earth, in air, on earth”) (MB).
1942,
23 March Poetry Center, Young Men’s Hebrew Association, NYC
Panel Discussion on Poetry in the American
Way of Life, with Norman
McLeod (Center Director), Robert Goffin & Shaemas O’Sheel.
1947,
Winter The Playwrights’ Seminar, Dramatic Workshop,
NYC, Directed by Irwin Piscator
Reading of Arise, arise (Scroggins).
1954,
6 August Radio station KPFA, Berkeley, CA
Recorded
reading: “The Judge and the Bird,” “Spooks’ Sabbath,” “Little wrists,” “Reading
and Talking,” “George Washington,” “The world autumn,” “I walk in the old
street,” “Catullus viii,” “for Zadkine,” “Glad they
were there,” “Machault,” “A”-11, “A”-9 (second half),
“On Valentine’s Day to Friends” (CZ).
1958,
2 July Little Theatre, San Francisco State College
10
July San Francisco Museum
Notes for readings.
1960,
3-4 November Library of Congress, General Reference and Bibliography Division,
Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature
Recorded
reading: from 55 Poems: 29 Poems 13,
22, 27; 29 Songs 3, 8, 13, 18, 22; “Poem beginning ‘The’”; from Anew: 12, 26, 29, 37, 41; from Some Time: “Sequence 1944-46,” “So That
Even a Lover,” “Xenophanes,” “As to how much,” “Air,”
“The Judge and the Bird,” “Songs of Degrees 1-2,” The Guests,” “Shang Cup,” “The Record”; from Catullus: 1-8 (2 versions of 8); from Barely and widely: 7, 1, title poem, 2-5, 8-10, “4 Other Countries”
(CZ, CH).
1961,
6 August Les Deux Megots,
NYC
Recorded
reading: “A”-6, “A”-7, “A”-9 (second half), “4 Other Countries,” Catullus 22 & 29 (CH).
1961,
11 November Recording made at LZ’s home
Catullus 1-46 (CH).
1961,
14 November Bard College (invited by Robert Kelly)
Recorded
reading: from I’s (pronounced eyes): “Ryokan’s Scroll,” “Homage,” “Jaunt,” Peri Poietikes,” “I’s (pronounced eyes),” “To Friends”; from “A”-13 partita
ii (from “Why hope” to “Look at the harbor,” from “The man on a bench” to “Wha-at!,” from “I lived it” to “ere the day dawn”),
partitas iii, iv & v; from Catullus:
1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14a, 29, 31, 34, 42, 45, 46 (CH).
1962,
28 August A & R Recording Co., NYC (taped for Stan Phillips)
Recorded
reading: from After I’s:
“Atque in Perpetuum,”
“Pretty,” “The Ways,” “The”; “A”-5, “A”-11, “A”-13 partita i,
ii, iv; from Catullus: 7, 8, 14, 14a,
31, 32, 37, 46, 51, 51a; from Barely and
widely: 2, 4, 5, 8; from Some Time:
“Some time has gone,” “Sequence 1944-46,” “So that even a lover,” “Non Ti Fidar,” “Reading and Talking,” “As to how much,” “Claims”;
from Anew: 2, 4, 7, 13, 16, 25, 29,
33, 35, 41; from 55 Poems: 29 Poems
13, 25, 26, 27; 29 Songs 18, “Further than”; “A”-5, “A”-11, “A”-13 partitas i, ii, iv (CH).
1962,
16 November Mannes College of Music, NYC (CH)
Recorded reading.
1963,
26 May Symposium on The Role of the Poet in Society, Spencer Memorial Church,
Brooklyn, with Rev. William Glenesk, Jules Feiffer, Norman Rosten, Joel
Oppenheimer and Paul Blackburn.
1963,
15 December Lamont Library, Harvard University
Recorded
reading: “To my wash-stand,” “her soil’s birth,” “A”-13 partita ii, “A”-11,
“A”-9, Catullus 61 & 68,
“Crickets’ / thickets,” “in that this happening,” from “A”-12, “Finally a
valentine” (CZ)
Reading the previous night at Adams House, Harvard University.
1964,
30 January The Guggenheim Museum, NYC (The Academy of
American Poets)
Recorded
reading: “Reading and Talking,” “4 Other
Countries,” “Peri Poietikes,”
from “A”-12, from “A”-13 partita ii, “Julia’s Wild,” Catullus 68, “Finally a valentine” (CZ)
Reading with Charles Reznikoff,
introduced by Robert Kelly.
1964,
20 February Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY
Recorded
reading: “A”-17, “Daruma,” “Old Poet,” “The
Translation,” “A”-11, “A”-20, Catullus
70, 72 & 73, “tam cari
capitis” (CZ).
1964,
10 December Radio station WBAI-FM, NYC
Recorded
reading: from “A”-6, “A”-7, “A”-9 (second half), “Old Poet,” Catullus 22 & 29.
1965,
27-30 September University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Centennial
Seminar in the Humanities
Recorded reading: “A”-15, “Julia’s Wild,” Catullus 67 and Lectures (CZ).
1966,
19 August National Educational Television, WNDT, New York
Video
recorded interview and reading at home (film released to other cities in USA) (CZ).
1968,
30 January The Guggenheim Museum, NYC (The Academy of
American Poets)
Recorded
reading: from Catullus 64, from
“A”-15 (Iyyob passage), from “A”-18, from “A”-12, “I’s
(pronounced eyes),” “To Friends, for
Good Health” (CZ).
1968,
4 March Albright-Knox Art gallery Buffalo, NY
Second
Buffalo Festival of the Arts Today (broadcast over radio station WBFO, 10 March 1968)
Recorded
reading: from “A”-12, Catullus 63,
“It’s a gay li-fe,” “This Fall, 1933,” “No One Inn,” “Song —¾ time,”
“A”-11, “A”-19, “A”-9 (second half) (CZ, CH).
1968,
16 May University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
Recorded
reading: from “A”-15 (Iyyob passage), Catullus
61, “Man in the Moon” from “A”-13, “A”-11, from “A”-12, “An unearthing” (from
“A”-18), “So that even a lover,” “As to how much,” “Finally a valentine,” 2
versions of “Catullus 8,” “Happier, happier, now” from “A”-15 (CZ).
1969,
29 February Poetry Society of America, NYC
Talk
on poetry (Scroggins).
1969,
15 May Round House, London
Reads with Kenneth Koch.
1969,
20 May Jonathan Cape offices, London
Recorded reading.
1969,
21 May American Embassy, London
Reading (responses to questions
appear as “The Gas Age” in Prepositions).
1969,
20-22 November International Poetry Festival, Austin, Texas
Reading.
1970,
15 September Spoken Word Program, radio station WNYC, NYC
Broadcast
9 November and rebroadcast 3 March 1971; also broadcast by
Pacifica Radio Network, Los Angeles and San Francisco
Recorded
reading: from Little:
Introduction, from Chapters 4, 8, 13, 18 (CH).
1971,
31 March Lincoln Center Library &
Museum of the Performing Arts, NYC
Recording of first performance of Autobiography (CH).
1971,
29 April The Eighth Wallace Stevens Program, Dept. of
English, University of Connecticut, Storrs
Recorded
reading and lecture (revised lecture included in Prepositions) (CH).
1971,
27 October Dept. of English, University of Connecticut, Storrs
Reading (LZ Guest Professor during Oct.-Nov.).
1972,
16 October Paley Library Cultural Series, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Recorded reading (CH).
1972
17 October Glassboro State College, Glassboro, NJ
Recorded reading (CH).
1972,
2 November Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Recorded
reading: from Autobiography: Songs
22, 21, 13, “A Song for the Year’s End,” 29, “Old”; from Little: Chap. 11; from “A”-24: LZ
dedication, CZ’s preface, Act I scene 1, from Act II scene (from thought: pages
170, 171, 215-231; poem: complete scene 4); Catullus:
8 (2 versions) & 70 (CH).
1973,
15 October The Poetry Center of the 92nd Street YM-YWHA, NYC
Recorded
reading: “A”-22, from Catullus: 8,
70, 73, 11, 45, 51; from Autobiography:
Song 13 (“In that this happening”), “A Song for the Year’s End 1,” Anew 29, “So that even a lover 1,” “As
to how much,” “Old” (CH).
1974,
9 May Franconia College, Franconia, NH
Videotaped
reading at the invitation of Robert Grenier (CH).
1975,
8 May Turnbull Memorial Series, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Videotaped
reading: from “A”-22; from “A”-23; from Anew:
19, 20, 21, 22, “Catullus viii”; from “A”-24 (CH).
1975
16 June Symposium to Celebrate the Ninetieth Birthyear
of Ezra Pound, University of Maine, Orono, ME (15-17 June 1975)
Notes for reading (CH).
1975,
13 December Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Recorded
reading and discussion: “A”-11, from “A”-15 (Iyyob passage),
“A”-20, from “A”-21, “It’s a gay li – ife,” “A foin lass bodders
me,” from 80 Flowers (from Epigraph
through #22 Bayberry).
* * *
Although the LZ files have now been removed, the
Factory School’s Digital Audio Archive
had about three hours of readings and comments, plus a full performance of
“A”-24 which is still available. This selection of recordings offered an
excellent range of works from throughout LZ’s writing
career, recorded at various times from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. The
initial titles below are those used on the Factory School Archives page.
Poetry Reading (date unknown)
Time:
51:28
15 Oct. 1973, The Poetry Center,
YM-YWHA, NYC.
“A”-22
[selections from throughout the poem]
Catullus 8, 70, 73, 11, 45, 51
Six songs from the Autobiography:
Song 13 (“in that this
happening”)
A Song for the Year’s End,
part 1
Anew 29 (“Glad they were there”)
So That Even a Lover, part 1
(“Little wrists”)
“As to How Much”
Old
Anew 22, Catullus viii [with comments]
Reading and Discussing his work (date unknown)
Time:
27:28
Apparently the first half of a narrated soundtrack for the NET USA: Poetry
series from 1966 (WNDT, NY), recorded at poet’s
home. The recording breaks off very abruptly as LZ is about
to discuss “A”.
Poem
beginning “The”, First Movement
Robert Herrick’s “Divination by a Daffodil” [included in A Test of Poetry 28, immediately preceding the following]
So That Even a Lover, part 1 (“Little wrists”)
I’s (pronounced eyes), first section (“Hi, Kuh”) [with
comments]
“A”-9, first strophe of both halves
Anew 30 (“Be happy you two”) and 31
(from “From my father” to end)
Statement on Bottom (“Bottom, a weaver,” in Prepositions)
Come shadow, come (“Julia’s Wild” from Bottom)
Songs of Degrees, sections 1 and 2
Barely and widely
Poetry Reading (KPFA
Radio, Berkeley, CA 6 August 1954)
Time: 22:22
The
Judge and the Bird
Spook’s Sabbath, Five Bowings
So That Even a Lover, part 1 (“Little wrists”)
Reading and Talking
George Washington
Anew 37 (“The world autumn”)
Anew 16 (“I walk in the old street”)
Anew 22, Catullus viii
Anew 25, for Zadkine
Anew 29 (“Glad they were there”)
Anew 17, Guillaume de Machault (1300-1377) Ballade: Plourès,
dames
“A”-11
“A”-9, second half
On Valentine’s Day to Friends
Poetry Reading (and
conversation with Hugh Kenner)
Time:
58:59
Recorded at John Hopkins University on 13 Dec. 1975
The tape concludes with a lengthy commentary on “Bayberry,” #22 of 80 Flowers, a transcript of which can be
found in Leggott 369-372.
“A”-11
“A”-15, the opening Job passage
“A”-20
“A”-21, Voice off section from Act IV.7
It’s a gay li – ife
A foin lass bodders me
80 Flowers, Epigraph through #22
Bayberry
misc poems
Time: 8:12
Spook’s
Sabbath, Five Bowings
Songs of Degrees, 2 With Valentine (the 14 February) and 3 (“’Nor did the
prophet’”)
“As to How Much”
Non Ti Fidar
An Incident
The Record
excerpt from “A”-12
Time: 3:10
From
“A”-12 (pages 135-138: “The best man learns of himself … Poetics. With constancy”)
Mantis
Time: 2:30
Song 22
Time: 1:56
Song
22 (“To my wash-stand”)
“A”-24 (Recorded
performance by Benson, Harryman, Heijinian,
Robinson and Watten at UC Davis, CA 1979)
Time:
Act 1 37:10, Act 2 36:03
Bob Perelman on piano
