music

Jack Gilbert reads widely from poems published in the 37-year period between his first book, Views of Jeopardy, and his fifth book, The Dance Most of All, ultimately published in 2009.

Ellen Bryant Voigt reads what she describes as future work: poems from a manuscript that would be published two years after her reading as The Lotus Flowers.

Ishmael Reed performs poems from his extensive body of work, including several unpublished poems. He remarks that his reading will "start out with a song and end with a song"--that is, with his poems "Betty's Ball Blues" and "I'm Running for the Office of Love" as set to music by Taj Mahal and Allen Toussaint.

Al Young reads poems from The Blues Don't Change (1982) and Heaven: Collected Poems 1956-1990 (1992), along with several prose selections.

Poet and Ironwood publisher Michael Cuddihy performs his poetry in a reading given with Franz Douskey and Ramona Weeks.

In this performance, Alison Hawthorne Deming reads both poetry and prose, including excerpts from a book published the year of this reading, The Edges of the Civilized World, and poems from a collection that would be published seven years later, Genius Loci.

Ofelia Zepeda reads from Where Clouds Are Formed (2008). This reading was originally given with Christopher Burawa.

David Dunn presents his work with soundscapes as part of the "Oh Earth, Wait for Me: Conservations about Art and Ecology" series.

At this performance given with Abraham Smith during the Tucson Festival of Books, Kim Addonizio reads from her books Lucifer at the Starlite and What Is This Thing Called Love. Before a question-and-answer session with both poets, Kim Addonizio performs a short song on her harmonica.

Cornelius Eady reads poems from Victims of the Latest Dance Craze (1986) and The Gathering of My Name (1991), many of which focus on dancing, jazz musicians, and the pervasive racial injustice experienced by Black Americans.

Fred Moten reads his sequence "come on, get it!," which would later be collected in The Feel Trio (2014). This performance was given for his Next Word appearance with Rusty Morrison.

Joni Wallace reads primarily from her collection Blinking Ephemeral Valentine and also an unpublished piece accompanied by the guitarist Greg Lewis. This is the first half of a reading which also featured Mary Jo Bang.

This event, a collaboration with the University of Arizona School of Dance, pairs poetry by Richard Siken and Catherine Wing with original music, choreography, and dance performances by School of Dance faculty and students. Original music for this performance was composed and performed by Suzanne Knosp, with choreography by Elizabeth George, Jory Hancock, and Melissa Lowe.

Joyelle McSweeney reads primarily from Percussion Grenade (2012) as well as several unpublished pieces. This reading was originally given with Zachary Schomburg.

This event, part poetry reading and part jazz concert, pairs the work of poet Nathaniel Mackey with the music of jazz pianist Marilyn Crispell, featuring solo performances by each artist as well as two collaborative performances.

Ilya Kaminsky reads primarily from his collection Dancing in Odessa (2004).

Rita Dove reads from her collection American Smooth: Poems (2004).

DJ Renegade reads poems from LibationSong (2002) along with uncollected works. This reading/performance was originally given with Tracie Morris at an event titled Mondo Hip-Hop.

Gerald Stern reads from This Time: New and Selected Poems (1998), Last Blue (2000), and American Sonnets (2002).

Dolores Kendrick reads poems from Now is the Thing to Praise (1984), The Women of Plums (1989), and Why the Woman is Singing on the Corner (2001), as well as new and uncollected work.

Lia Purpura reads from Rough Likeness (2011) as well as new and uncollected work. This reading was given as part of the Hybrid Writing Series, co-sponsored by the UA Prose Series.

Ellen Bryant Voigt lectures on the role of syntax in poetry, examining its uses in Philip Larkin's "Cut Grass," Donald Justice's "To the Hawks," and D.H. Lawrence's "Snake."

Clark Coolidge reads from an unpublished work in progress. This reading was originally given with Teré Fowler-Chapman.

A conversation between Clark Coolidge and John Melillo, followed by a question and answer session.

Al Young reads from Drowning in the Sea of Love: Musical Memoirs (1995), Heaven: Collected Poems 1956-1990 (1992), and The Sound of Dreams Remembered: Poems 1990-2000 (2001).

Camille T. Dungy reads primarily from What to Eat, What to Drink, What to Leave for Poison (2006). This reading was originally given with Richard Siken and Heriberto Yépez as part of the Next Word Series.

Craig Santos Perez engages the audience with several performance pieces incorporating poems from his book from unincorporated territory [guma']  (2014). This reading was originally given with Yona Harvey as part of the Morgan Lucas Schuldt Memorial Reading Series.

In a lecture titled "We, the People, Percussively Agree: Where the Pocket Beats and Breaks Between Go-Go and Hip Hop," Thomas Sayers Ellis discusses the history and evolution of Go-Go and its relationship to Hip Hop, integrating sound and song clips. He finishes by performing a poem from his book The Maverick Room (2005).

This event, part poetry reading and part jazz concert, pairs the work of poet Ron Silliman with the music of jazz pianist Marilyn Crispell, featuring solo performances by each artist as well as a collaborative performance.

John Ashbery reads poems that would later be collected in Hotel Lautréamont (1992), as well as an excerpt from Flow Chart (1991).

Robert Bringhurst reads selections from his poetry and translations, providing background and historical context.

Caroline Langston reads her story "The Haitian Necklace," dedicated to one of her former students.

Ofelia Zepeda reads from Ocean Power (1995) and Where Clouds Are Formed (2008); she also reads several new poems. Some poems are performed in Tohono O'odham and English.

Lynn Luria-Sukenick reads two works of fiction ("The Man With The Blues Guitar" and "Still Life With Bath"), along with a short performance piece called "Bomb." "Bomb" is a collaboration with poet and musician Rob Brezsny, whose part is performed here by Jonathan Penner.

C. K. Williams reads poems from throughout his career, highlighting the musicality of the long lines that have become his signature.

Natalie Diaz reads poems that would appear five years later in Postcolonial Love Poem (2020). She also reads briefly from her first book, When My Brother Was An Aztec (2012).

Luci Tapahonso reads from her collections Seasonal Woman (1982) and A Breeze Swept Through (1987), beginning with a piece that combines spoken poetry with song.

Paul Zimmer reads poems inspired by his troubled youth during the Eisenhower years, as well as several persona poems.

Roland Flint, Poet Laureate of Maryland at the time of this reading, opens with early poems from Say It (1979) and Resuming Green (1983). Flint reads from his National Poetry Series volume Stubborn (1990), interspersing work from Stubborn with recently written poems, some of which would go on to be published in Easy (1999). Flint also discusses his work as a translator of Bulgarian and reads several of his translations.

Nanao Sakaki performs poems and songs in the courtyard of the Poetry Center on Cherry Avenue. Asking the audience, "Any questions? I'll answer by my poems," Sakaki addresses themes raised by audience members such as anger, feeling at home, time, walking, and love for the desert and all forms of life.

In this performance for the Writers at Work Series, Katherine Toy Miller and Vance Bourjaily read from their fiction. Katherine Toy Miller reads six short stories from a collection titled Eleanor, along with a short story titled "The Critical Session." Vance Bourjaily reads segments from a novel-in-progress called The Great Fake Book. Bourjaily ends his reading by performing a short solo on the cornet.

Poet David Baker gives a collaborative performance alongside Lauren Baba, Andrew Rowan, Alina Roitstein, Harrison Kirk, and Gregory Uhlmann of the River Song Quintet, who perform musical settings of his poems. Included in this performance are uncollected and new poems, as well as poems from Baker's collections The Truth about Small Towns (1998) and Scavenger Loop (2015).

Elena Passarello reads essays from Animals Strike Curious Poses (2017). This reading was originally given with David Shields.

Patricia Spears Jones reads poems from across her career as published in A Lucent Fire: New & Selected Poems (2015), along with uncollected work at the 2017 Thinking Its Presence conference. She also reads one poem from Stardust, landmines, and cartoons: Poems from 2006 to 2014 (2015).

Morgan Parker reads from her third poetry collection, Magical Negro (2019), which would be published the year after this reading. She also reads an excerpt from Tommy Pico's Nature Poem (2017). This reading was originally given with Tommy Pico as part of the Morgan Lucas Schuldt Memorial Reading Series. 

Maggie Smith presents a lecture on the ways that poems can enact wonder, questioning, sincerity, and rediscovery. She reads and discusses poems by Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Oliver De La Paz, Ross Gay, and Matthew Olzmann to illustrate her argument.