surrealism

David Ignatow reads widely from his work of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s; this reading also includes several uncollected poems.

James Tate returns to read for the Poetry Center for the first time since 1968, performing poems from several books.

John Ashbery reads widely from his body of work, including poems from both Shadow Train and A Wave, which were published in the four years that followed this reading.

In this performance, Michael Burkard reads from his first three books, particularly from the 1981 collection Ruby for Grief. He also reads some uncollected work.

David Ignatow reads widely from his work. This reading includes poems collected in Facing the Tree (1975) and Tread the Dark (1978), as well as uncollected poems and early drafts of poems that would go on to appear in collections such as Whisper to the Earth (1981) and Leaving the Door Open (1984).

Dean Young reads poems appearing in Elegy on Toy Piano (2005).

Sherwin Bitsui reads from his work in English and Navajo as part of a multilingual poetry reading also featuring Alberto Rios (reading in English and Spanish) and Ofelia Zepeda (reading in English and O'odham). The reading includes selections from Water, an artist book created by Karla Elling to commemorate the Poetry Center's 50th anniversary. "Water" features a chainlink of poetry composed and translated by Bitsui, Rios, Zepeda, and Zapotec poet Natalia Toledo.

Ana Božičević reads work from Stars of the Night Commute (2009) as well as work that would go on to be collected in Rise in the Fall (2013). This reading was given alongside Kazim Ali as part of the Next Word in Poetry series.

In a performance given alongside the Poetry Center's 2011 summer poet in residence, Harmony Holiday, poet Matthew Rotando reads poems from The Comeback's Exoskeleton and newer work.

Zachary Schomburg reads from Fjords (2012) and Scary, No Scary (2009). This reading was originally given with Joyelle McSweeney.

Matt Hart reads primarily from Revelated (2005), Who's Who Vivid (2005), and Wolf Face (2010). This reading was originally given with Dean Young.

Dean Young reads from Embryoyo (2007) and Primitive Mentor (2008). This reading was originally given with Matt Hart.

CAConrad reads poems from The Book of Frank (2009), A Beautiful Marsupial Afternoon: New (Soma)tics (2012), and Translucent Salamander: A (Soma)tic Poetry Ritual and Resulting Poems (2013), along with new and uncollected work.

Sawako Nakayasu reads from So We Have Been Given Time Or (2004) and Nothing Fictional but the Accuracy or Arrangement (She (2006), as well as poems which would later be collected in The Ants (2014). This reading was originally given with Catherine Wing and Deborah Bernhardt for the Next Word in Poetry Series.

Matthea Harvey reads primarily from Sad Little Breathing Machine (2004). This reading was originally given with Olena Kalytiak Davis and James Thomas Stevens for the Next Word in Poetry Series.

James Tate reads poems from throughout his career. His world-famous sense of humor is on display in both his verse and his presence before the audience.

Jerome Rothenberg performs a retrospective survey of his prolific body of work, beginning with poems written in the 1960s and continuing in chronological order. Most of the poems read here are collected in Eye of Witness: A Jerome Rothenberg Reader (2013). 

Erin Stalcup reads from her short story collection And Yet It Moves (2016). This reading was originally given with Vickie Vértiz.

Sawako Nakayasu mixes her poetry and her translations, crafting a reading that she describes as a translation of the innovative form of her book Mouth: Eats Color (2011). She reads her own poems from The Ants (2014) and Some Girls Walk Into the Country They Are From (2020), a manuscript in progress that would be published two years after this reading. She also reads translations of poems by Japanese modernist Chika Sagawa from Mouth: Eats Color and Korean modernist Yi Sang, later published in Yi Sang: Selected Works (2020). 

Charles Simic reads from New and Selected Poems, 1962-2012 (2013) and The Lunatic (2015).

Dean Young reads work from his collection Solar Perplexus (2019) as well as several uncollected poems. 

Former U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera begins with English and Spanish readings from Akrílica (2022), trading languages with translator Farid Matuk. Together, they also read Herrera’s poem "i am not a paid protestor," which Herrera terms a "duo poem" for two voices in dialogue with one another. Herrera closes out the reading with poems and remarks about mass shootings, classical music, space exploration, and human suffering and connection.

Manuel Paul López reads primarily from his fourth collection, Nerve Curriculum (2023), as well as from his third collection, These Days of Candy (2017), and uncollected work. Surreal but grounded in recognizable places and situations, his selection of poems also includes dialogue from a verse play. This reading was originally given with Adam O. Davis.