Readings by and Recordings of LZ



Despite a reputation during his lifetime for being a neglected and reticent 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 fine reader of his own poetry and there exist many recordings—the Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas alone holds 23 recordings.

A large selection of these recordings is now available online at PennSound. Please note and respect that these recordings are © 2008 Paul Zukofsky and are made available strictly for noncommerical and educational use through PennSound (Copyright now held by Musical Observations, Inc.).

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, June 7. 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). Some of LZ’s remarks are quoted in Sherwood, “Introduction” to A Useful Art (1-2).

1938, October 24 (9:45-10:00pm) radio station WQXR, NYC – Works Progress Administration, Federal Theatre Radio Division
Radio script of broadcast for series Exploring the Arts and Sciences (Broadcast No. 48) hosted by Carl Miller, “A Reading of Original Poetry by Louis Zukofsky” (HRC 15.7)
Excerpt from “A” [concluding ballade of “A”-8], Song 22 (“To my wash-stand”), Anew 4 (“So sounds grass, and if it is sun or no sun”), Anew 6 (“Anew, sun, to fire summer”), Anew 7 (“When the crickets”) interspersed with interview discussion (MB).

1941, January 23. Poetry Center, Young Men’s Hebrew Association, NYC
Outline of talk on “Objectivists” Program with readings of poems: “Song 8” (“Happier, happier, now”),  “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, March 23. 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, August 6. Radio station KPFA, Berkeley, California
Available at PennSound.
Recorded reading: “The Judge and the Bird,” “Spooks’ Sabbath, Five Bowings” “So That Even a Lover 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, Ballade: Plourès, dames), “A”-11, “A”-9 (second half), “On Valentine’s Day to Friends” (CZ).

1958, July 2, 1 pm. Little Theatre, San Francisco State College, California
Available at PennSound.
from Some Time: “The Guest,” “Sequence 1944-6,” “‘As to How Much,’” “Non Ti Fidar,” “Spooks’ Sabbath, Five Bowings,” “Songs of Degrees 2 & 3,” “An Incident,” “The Record”; from 55 Poems: Poem 27 (“Blue light is the night harbor-slip”), Song 22 (“To my wash-stand”), Song 28 (“‘Specifically, a writer of music’”), “‘Further than’—,” “‘Mantis’,” from Anew: Anew 6 (“Anew, sun, to fire summer”), Anew 16 (“I walk in the old stree”), Anew 19 (“And so till we have died”), Anew 29 (“Glad they were there”), Anew 41 (After Charles Sedley), from “A”-4 (Yehoash), from “A”-12.
Typed introductory notes, reading program (also listed but apparently not read: “Nor did the Prophet,” Anew 33 & 37) and brief note on the structure of “A” (HRC 15.7).

1958, July 10, 8:30 pm. San Francisco Museum of Art, War Memorial Building – Civic Center
from Some Time: “Shang Cup,” “Chloride of Lime and Charcoal,” “So that even a lover,” “Xenophanes,” “Reading and Talking,” “Air,” “The Judge and the Bird,” “With a Valentine (the 14 February),” “Claims”; from 55 Poems: “Poem beginning ‘The'”; from Anew: 6, 18, 26, 29, 41; from “A”: “A”-4 (Yehoash), “A”-8 (bringing together), “A”-11, “A”-12 (anybody’s welcome), (Blest thru December), (I don’t seem to read books thru your sight) (A queen thru end).
Typed program notes with handwritten additions (HRC 15.7).

1960, March. Washington, D.C. At the invitation of Henry Birnbaum and Seymour Gresser.

1960, November 3-4. Library of Congress, General Reference and Bibliography Division, Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature. A home-made recording.
Available at PennSound.
Recorded reading: from 55 Poems: Poems 13, 22, 27, “Poem beginning ‘The’,” Songs 3, 8, 13, 18, 22; from Anew: 12, 26, 29, 37, 41; from Some Time: “Sequence 1944-6,” “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).

1960, Nov. 19. YM-YWHA, Toronto, Canada
Reading.

1961, August 6. Les Deux Mégots Coffee House, 64 East 7th Street, NYC
Available at PennSound.
Recorded reading: from “A”-6, “A”-7, “A”-9 (second half), “A”-11, “4 Other Countries,” Catullus 22 & 29 (CH).

1961, October 22. Interview and reading with Robert Creeley for The Single Voice program on KHFM radio (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
Available at PennSound.
Recording includes interview with Creeley and readings from Catullus 45, 43, Preface, 42, 29 and 34, “A”-11 and an extract from “A”-12.

1961, November 11. Recording made at LZ’s home at 135 Willow Street, Brooklyn, New York [HRC dates this Sept. 11]
Available at PennSound.
Catullus 1-46 (CH).

1961, November 14. Bard College, New York (taped by Robert Kelly)
Available at HRC.
Recorded reading: from I’s (pronounced eyes): “(Ryokan’s Scroll),” “Homage,” “Jaunt,” “Peri Poietikes,” “I’s (pronounced eyes),” “To Friends, for Good Health”; from “A”-13 partita ii (from “Why hop” to “Look at the harbor” (274-275); from “The man on a bench” to “Wha-at!” (275-276); from “I lived it” to “ere the day dawn” (285-289)), partitas iii, iv & v; from Catullus: 1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14a, 29, 31, 34, 42, 45, 46 (CH).

1962, August 28. A & R Recording Co., NYC (taped for Stan Phillips)
Available at PennSound.
Recorded reading: “A”-13 partita i, ii, iv; “A”-5; “A”-11; from After I’s: “Atque in Perpetuum A.W.,” “Pretty,” “The Ways,” “The”; from Catullus: 7, 8, 14, 31, 32, 37, 46, 14a, 51, 51a; from Some Time: “‘Some time has gone’,” “Sequence 1944-6,” “So That Even a Lover,” “Non Ti Fidar,” “Reading and Talking,” “As to How Much,” “Claims”; from Barely and widely: 2, 4, 5, 8; from Anew: 2, 4, 7, 13, 16, 25, 29, 33, 35, 41; from 55 Poems: Poems 13, 25, 26, 27; Song 18, “’Further than’—” (CH).

1962, November 16. The Mannes College of Music,157 East 74th Street, NYC (CH)
Recorded reading. Organized by Jerome Rothenberg.

1963, May 1. Cafe Le Metro, 149 Second Ave., NYC
Recording available from the Paul Blackburn Audio Collection, UC San Diago.
Recorded by Paul Blackburn: from Arise, Arise.

1963, May 26. Symposium on The Role of the Poet in Society, Spencer Memorial Church, Brooklyn, New York with Rev. William Glenesk, Jules Feiffer, Norman Rosten, Joel Oppenheimer and Paul Blackburn.

1963, December 14 & 15. Adams House and Lamont Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Poster
Recording of latter reading available at the Woodberry Poetry Room, Harvard University.
Recorded reading: Song 22 (“To my wash-stand”), Song 6 (“—‘her soil’s birth’), “A”-13 partita ii, “A”-11, “A”-9, Catullus 61 & 68, Song 16 (“Crickets’”), Song 13 (“in that this happening”), from “A”-12, “Finally a Valentine” (CZ)

1964, January 20. Five Spot Café, NYC
Recording available from the Paul Blackburn Audio Collection at UC San Diego.
Reading with Paul Blackburn.

1964, January 30. Reading with Charles Reznikoff. The Guggenheim Museum, NYC (The Academy of American Poets)
Recording available at Woodberry Poetry Room, Harvard University.
Introduced by Robert Kelly. Reading: “Reading and Talking,” “4 Other Countries,” “Peri Poietikes,” from “A”-12, from “A”-13 partita ii, “Julia’s Wild” (“Come shadow, come”), Catullus 68, “Finally a Valentine” (CZ)

1964, February 20. Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York
Reading in honor of Marianne Moore.
Recording available from the Paul Blackburn Audio Collection at UC San Diego.
Recorded reading: “A”-17, “Daruma,” “Old Poet,” “The Translation,” “A”-11, “A”-20, Catullus 70, 72 & 73, “tam cari capitis” (CZ).

1964, June 20. 5 Spot Cafe, 2 St. Marks Place, NYC.
Reading.

1964, December 10. Radio station WBAI-FM, NYC
Recorded reading: from “A”-6, “A”-7, “A”-9 (second half), “Old Poet,” Catullus 22 & 29.

1965, September 27-30. University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky
Centennial Seminar in the Humanities
Recorded reading: “A”-15, “Julia’s Wild” (“Come shadow, come”), Catullus 67 and Lectures (CZ).

1966, March 16. USA: Poetry, produced and directed by Richard O. Moore, National Educational Television, WNDT, New York. 29 minutes.
Video is available online through the Indiana University Media Collections. This link as well as the soundtrack also available at PennSound, where one can find an abbreviated (14 minute) version of the video.
Video recorded interview and reading at home (film released to other cities in USA): “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 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), “Julia’s Wild” (“Come shadow, come”) from Bottom, “Songs of Degrees 1 and 2,” “Barely and widely” (CZ).
“Louis Zukofsky: Second Edition” (1978) was edited from outtakes from the above program, produced and edited by the American Poetry Archive and the Poetry Center at San Francisco State University. Also available from Harvard Library (35 minutes).

1966, Aug. 18-19. National Education Television, NYC
Reading.

1967, March 7. Yale University, New Haven, CT
Reading.

1968, January 30. The Guggenheim Museum, NYC (The Academy of American Poets)
Recording at the Woodberry Poetry Room, Harvard University [misdated 1967]
Introduced by Allen Ginsberg. 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, March 4. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Second Buffalo Festival of the Arts, Buffalo, New York
Available at PennSound.
Second Buffalo Festival of the Arts Today (broadcast over radio station WBFO, 10 March 1968)
Recorded reading: introduced by Robert Creeley; from “A”-12, Catullus 63, Song 5 (It’s a gay li-fe), Song 24 (This Fall, 1933), Song 25 (No One Inn), Song 27 (Song — ¾ time), “A”-11, “A”-19, “A”-9 (second half) (CZ, CH).

1968, May 16. 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, February 27. Poetry Society of America, NYC
Talk on poetry.

1969, May 14. Round House, London
Reads with Kenneth Koch at the Camden Festival.

1969, May 20. Jonathan Cape offices, London
Recorded reading

1969, May 21. American Embassy, London
Reading (responses to questions appear as “The Gas Age” in Prepositions).

1969, Oct. 16. University of Texas at Austin.Poster.
Reading

1969, November 20-22. International Poetry Festival, University of Texas at Austin
Reading.

1970, September 15. Spoken Word Program, radio station WNYC, NYC
Available at PennSound.
Taped Sept. 15 and broadcast 9 November 1970 and rebroadcast 3 March 1971; also broadcast by Pacifica Radio Network, Los Angeles and San Francisco
Recorded reading: from Little: Introduction, Preface, Chapters 4, 8, 13, 18 (CH).

1971, March 31. Lincoln Center Library & Museum of the Performing Arts, NYC
Available at PennSound.
Recording of first performance of Autobiography. LZ reads all the poems included in Autobiography followed by a performance of the poems using CZ’s musical settings sung by professional singers with LZ reading the autobiographical prose interludes (CH).

1971, April 29. The Eighth Wallace Stevens Program, Dept. of English, University of Connecticut, Storrs
Available from PennSound.
Recorded reading and lecture (revised lecture included in Prepositions). Includes readings of five poems by Wallace Stevens, plus: from “A”-15 (Iyyob passage), Catullus 31, from “A”-21, Rudens (Act III.6, Voice off), from Bottom: on Shakespeare (from “Continents”), from “A”-22 (beginning section), from Little, from Chapter 22 (CH).

1971, October 27. Dept. of English, University of Connecticut, Storrs
Reading (LZ Guest Professor during Oct.-Nov.).

1972, October 16. Paley Library Cultural Series, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Available at PennSound.
Recorded reading: Song 22 (“To my wash-stand”), Song 21 (“Snows’ night’s winds on the window rattling”), Song 13 (“in that this happening”), “A Song for the Year’s End,” Poem 29 (“Glad they were there”), “Old,” from Little Chapter 4, from “A”-24 (Explanatory commentary, Dedication, CZ’s Preface and Act I, scene 1, Cousin, Lesson), from “A”-24 (Act II, scene 4 (from Thought voice)), from “A”-24, Act II, scene 4 (from Poem voice, includes “A”-7 and “A”-20), Catullus 70, 87, 11, 45, “Sequence 1944-6” (CH).

1972, October 17. Glassboro State College, Glassboro, New Jersey
Available at PennSound.
Recorded reading: Song 22 (“To my wash-stand”), Song 21 (“Snows’ night’s winds on the window rattling”), Song 13 (“in that this happening”), A Song for the Year’s End, Anew 29 (“Glad they were there”), Old, from Little, Chapter 11, from “A”-24 (Explanatory commentary, tape breaks off) (CH).

1972, November 2. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York (taped by Helen Kelly)
Available from PennSound.
Recorded reading: from Autobiography: Songs 22, 21, 13, “A Song for the Year’s End 1,” Anew 29 (“Glad they were there”), “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).
Letter from Helen Kelly (HRC 24.3).

1973, October 15. The Poetry Center of the 92nd Street YM-YWHA, NYC
Available at PennSound.
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 (“Glad they were there”), “So That Even a Lover 1,” “As to How Much,” “Old,” Anew 22 (Catullus viii) (CH).

1974, May 9. Franconia College, Franconia, NH
Soundtrack available at PennSound.
Videotaped reading at the invitation of Robert Grenier: “A”-22 (beginning through line 129), “A”-22 (end section), “A”-23 (beginning section) (CH).

1975, May 8. Turnbull Memorial Series, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
Color videotaped reading: from “A”-22 [from “AN ERA” to “lovely — initial” (508-511); “Pragmatic meaning…” to “suffer justly?” (519-520); “value is / simple” to end (532-535)]; from “A”-23 (opening “An” song (536-539; from “(His gain” to “go on in peace” (546-549); “Good thoughts” to end (562-563); from Anew: 19, 20, 21, 22 (Catullus viii); from “A”-24 (CH), with explanation by CZ of form of “A”-24 and demonstration of “Aunt” movemetn on piano with LZ reading the Lewis Carroll section (HRC).

1975, June 16. Symposium to Celebrate the Ninetieth Birthyear of Ezra Pound, University of Maine, Orono (15-17 June 1975)
Notes for reading (CH).

1975, December 13. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

Available at PennSound.
Recorded private reading and discussion with Hugh Kenner: “A”-11, from “A”-15 (Iyyob passage), “A”-20, from “A”-21 (IV.7 Voice off), Song 5 (It’s a gay li – ife), “A foin lass bodders me,” from 80 Flowers (Epigraph through #22 Bayberry). Transcription of LZ’s discussion of #22 Bayberry in Leggott, Appendix B.