seasons

W.S. Merwin reads from his early collections The Moving Target (1963) and The Lice (1967), as well as from The Carrier of Ladders (1970), which had not yet been completed at the time of this reading. Used with permission of the Wylie Agency LLC.

Bill Knott reads widely from his work. This reading includes poems from Becos (1983), Outremer (1989), and Poems 1963-1988 (1989), as well as work collected later. 

John Haines reads from Winter News (1966), The Stone Harp (1971), and Twenty Poems (1971).

Paul Zimmer reads from The Republic of Many Voices (1969), along with poems that would be published in The Zimmer Poems (1976) or remain uncollected. Making use of persona, narrative, and humor, he addresses topics such as childhood, identity, and mortality.

Bert Meyers reads from Early Rain and The Dark Birds.

Sandra Alcosser reads from A Fish to Feed All Hunger (1986, reissued 1992) and a working manuscript for Except by Nature (1998), which would be published six years later. She describes her selections as creating a daybook, and the poems follow her moves between Montana, New Orleans, and San Diego. This reading was originally given with Pete Fromm.

Mark Halperin reads work primarily from Backroads (1976). He also reads some unpublished poems at the time, which would go on to be collected in A Place Made Fast (1982).

Here, Hass reads from his collections Field Guide (1973) and Praise (1979). He also reads poems that would later be published, under different titles, in his 1989 collection Human Wishes.

In this dual-language performance, Francisco X. Alarcón reads from Snake Poems: An Aztec Invocation (1992) and Of Dark Love (1992). He also reads work and shares illustrations from five of his books of poetry for children. The poems in many of these books are presented in both Spanish and English. The reading closes with a selection of poems from an unpublished manuscript titled Life Song.

Brenda Shaughnessy reads from Interior with Sudden Joy (1999) and Human Dark with Sugar (2008). This reading was originally given with Gary Copeland Lilley and David Dominguez.

Jack Gilbert reads primarily from The Great Fires: Poems 1982-1992 (1995) and Refusing Heaven (2005).

Brenda Hillman reads from her books Bright Existence (1993), Practical Water (2009), and Seasonal Works With Letters On Fire (2013), along with uncollected and new poems. 

Joy Harjo reads from Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (2015) and How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems (2002). She also plays flute and soprano saxophone. This reading was given as part of the Climate Change & Poetry Series.

Norman Fischer reads poems from I Was Blown Back (2005) and Questions/Places/Voices/Seasons (2009), along with one uncollected poem and a poem by Rodney Koeneke. He also answers questions from the audience.