Photo © 2008 Charles
Bernstein/PennSound
LINEbreak program with Charles Bernstein, New York, 1996
- introduction by CB (0:22): MP3
- on writing a 26 part work and "Albany," the first part of The Alphabet (3:03): MP3
- RS reading from "Albany" (5:05): MP3
- discussing two sentences from "Albany:" "If it demonstrates form some people won't read it," and "If the function of writing is to 'express the world'" (2:25): MP3
- on the different kinds of sentences in "Albany" and the relationships between them (1:02): MP3
- RS's interest in disjuncture (2:11): MP3
- on the poetry audience (3:00): MP3
- circumstances under which poetry has had political efficacy (3:11): MP3
- what is a literary movement? (1:09): MP3
- RS reading from Xing (5:22): MP3
Featuring or participating in PoemTalk
PoemTalk #111, Discussing Naomi Replansky's "In Syrup, In Syrup," and "Ring Song," feat. Ron Silliman, Rachel Zolf, and Charles Bernstein
Listen to the complete recording and read program notes for the episode at Jacket2.
PoemTalk #97, Discussing poems by Larry Eigner
Listen to the complete recording and read program notes for the episode at Jacket2.
PoemTalk #69, Discussing Rachel Blau DuPlessis's "Draft 85: Hard Copy"
Listen to the complete recording and read program notes for the episode at Jacket2.
PoemTalk #62, Discussing Charles Alexander's "Near or Random Acts", feat. Mark Nowak, Ken Jacobs, and Ron Silliman
Listen to the complete recording and read program notes for the episode at Jacket2.
PoemTalk #59, Discussing Paul Blackburn's "7th Game: 1960 Series"
Listen to the complete recording and read program notes for the episode at Jacket2.
PoemTalk #54, Discussing Ron Silliman's "You"
Listen to the complete recording and read program notes for the episode at Jacket2.
PoemTalk #45, Conversation with Alan Golding, Orchid Tierney, Bob Perelman & Ron Silliman
Complete recording (58:22): MP3
PoemTalk #8, Discussing Rae Armantrout's "The Way"
Listen to the complete recording and read program notes for the episode at Jacket2.
A celebration of the life and work of Lyn Hejinian, Kelly Writers House, March 18, 2025
Hosted by Julia Bloch and Laynie Browne; featuring Charles Bernstein, Laynie Browne, Pattie McCarthy, Jena Osman, Ron Silliman, Claire Marie Stancek, and Syd Zolf.
Media.SAS mirror URL: MP4
Ron Silliman: I tried to contextualize the environment that greeted us in the 1970s by confronting just how much the Donald M. Allen anthology shaped and misshaped the poetic landscape of the 1960s by contrasting it with Daisy Aldan's counter anthology, A Folder. And went on to discuss how that conditioned my early relations with David Bromige, whose collected books Bob Perelman and I (and Jack Krick) would go on to co-edit.
Ashraf Fayadh Teach-in at the Kelly Writers House on January 14, 2016
part of the "Life & Freedom for Ashraf Fayadh Worldwide Reading"
- Introduction by Charles Bernstein (3:26): MP3
- Untitled excerpts from Instructions Within (used as "evidence" by the Saudi courts in sentencing Fayadh to death for "apostasy") read by Ron Silliman (5:28): MP3
- "A Space in the Void" (original Arabic) (4:14): MP3
- "A Space in the Void" (trans. Johnathan Wright) read by Julia Bloch (2:08): MP3
- "A Melancholy Made of Dough" oOriginal Arabic) (5:58): MP3
- Brief Remarks on "A Melancholy Made of Dough" from Rachel Blau Duplessis (2:21): MP3
- "A Melancholy Made of Dough" (trans. Tariq al Haydar) read by Rachel Blau Duplessis (3:00): MP3
- "The Last of the Line of Refugee Descendants" (original Arabic) (12:31): MP3
- "The Last of the Line of Refugee Descendants" (trans. Johnathan Wright) read by Ariel Resnikoff (6:59): MP3
Segue Series Reading at the Zinc Bar, New York City, January 24, 2015
- Complete recording: (35:45): MP3
The BookThug Interview, 2014
Video recording:
Watch on Media.sas-
Complete interview (20:05): MP3
- On Revelator and Zukofsky (1:47): MP3
- On Revelator, line, and form (2:09): MP3
- On John the Revelator (1:43): MP3
- On the United States (3:26): MP3
- On national borders (3:00): MP3
- On retirement and writing (2:32): MP3
- On the significance of form (1:06): MP3
- On the function of line and margin (1:56): MP3
- Reading from Revelator (2:06): MP3
- Section 3 of "Carbon" from The Alphabet - Ron Silliman (1:18): MP3
Opening passage from "Sunset Debris" Video recording:
Reading for ex.it, Materiali Fuori Contesto, Albinea, Italy, April 12, 2013
- Audio recording (5:07): MP3
Reading for the Readings in Contemporary Poetry series at Dia Art Foundation, New York: Chelsea, March 4, 2013
with Robert Fitterman
Convergence on Poetics, University of Washington Bothell, North Creek Events Center, September 27-30, 2012
Recordings engineered and edited by Steve McLaughlin.Reading and discussion of "BART," Kelly Writers House, University of Pennsylvania, October 25, 2012
- Ron Silliman reading "BART" (28:38): MP3
- Group discussion led by Al Filreis (with Ron Silliman, Kristen Martin, Lily Applebaum, Max McKenna, Molly O'Neill, Emily Harnett, Dave Poplar, and Amaris Cuchanski) (42:59): MP3
Reading from The Alphabet, Penn State University, October 9, 2012
- Introduction by A.L. Nielsen (2:54): MP3
- prefatory comments on The Alphabet (1:58): MP3
- Albany (7:29): MP3
- Blue (5:51): MP3
- Carbon (14:59): MP3
- For Larry Eigner, Silent [from VOG] (6:43): MP3
- Seven Sad Forests [from VOG] (1:43): MP3
- from What (11:13): MP3
- Complete reading (56:40): MP3
Reading from Wharf Hypothesis, 43rd International Poetry Festival, Rotterdam, June 12-17, 2012
Complete reading (4:18): MP3
Complete discussion (1:27:20): MP3
- introduction by Al Filreis (6:32): MP3
- introduction by Rivky Mondal (6:16): MP3
- introduction by Jamie-Lee Josselyn (2:14): MP3
- from Ketjak (14:45): MP3
- remarks on Ketjak (3:39): MP3
- Ketjak shadow text (22:09): MP3
- Q & A (14:19): MP3
- Complete reading (1:09:54): MP3
Video recording:
"Un-scene, Ur-new: Time, History & Ambition in The Collage Poems of Drafts," Rachel Blau DuPlessis Celebration, Temple University, October 21, 2011
- introduction (1:14): MP3
- Silliman's first encounters with Drafts (4:50): MP3
- the long poem in relation to the modernist literary project (6:36): MP3
- Zukofsky's A as a useful counterpoint to Drafts and the crisis of the long poem that is at the heart of its composition (5:54): MP3
- finding and defining boundaries in relation to the question of what constitutes a long poem (7:12): MP3
- gendered critique and the long poem as a male form (5:38): MP3
- thinking of what enters into the poem not as new information but as contamination (6:24): MP3
- graphic intervention and extralinguistic information in "Drafts 1-8" (4:50): MP3
- the act of the mark upon paper, the edge of legibility and articulation (2:39): MP3
- the dimensions of the grid and color, and reading horizontally as well as vertically (2:22): MP3
- "Draft 94: Mail Art," "Draft 110: Primer," and exploring the frontier of literacy (11:23): MP3
- Complete reading (1:01:58): MP3
Video recording:
(with Al Filreis, Danny Snelson, erica kaufman, Bob Perelman, Mel Nichols, Judith Goldman, Chris Funkhouser, Kristen Gallagher, Michael S. Hennessey, Rachel Blau DuPlessis and Charles Bernstein)on The Opening of the Field by Robert Duncan (6:42): MP3
Complete program (2:20:13): MP3
Silliman's segment ("Low cricket solos") (2:31): MP3 Complete reading (2:36:46): MP3 Complete interview (34:58): MP3 View video recording: Vimeo
MLA Off-Site Reading at the Rotunda, Philadelphia, December 29, 2009
Appearing on Cross-Cultural Poetics, Episode #195, "The Alphabet/Farout", June 7, 2009
Reading at the Birkbeck Poetics Centre, London, May 5, 2009
Segue Series Reading at the Bowery Poetry Club, April 4, 2009
Recording (begins midway through) (17:46): MP3
The Alphabet Reading at the Kelly Writers House, February 17, 2009
- Introduction by Jessica Lowenthal (3:09): MP3
- Comment by Rachel Blau DuPlessis (10:44): MP3
- Comment by Charles Bernstein (5:18): MP3
- Comment by Bob Perelman (4:12): MP3
- The Alphabet Reading (52:10): MP3 Albany [pp. 1-2] (5:51): MP3
Force [pp. 43-48] (9:55): MP3
from Non [pp. 356-357] (2:35): MP3
from Paradise [pp. 410-411, 425-431] (26:18): MP3
from VOG, "For Larry Eigner, Silent" [pp. 607-609] (6:40): MP3
Complete Recording (1:08:10): MP3
Watch a video recording of this event via KWH-TV
Watch on Media.sas
Ron Silliman
After a PoemTalk recording
at CPCW, Rachel, Ron, and I wondered over to a Thai place a few
blocks West on Chestnut. We then walked back to Walnut and 38th
and stopped for a minute on parking ramp, before getting in Ron's
car so he could drive Rachel home and drop me off at Bob and
Francie's.
(mp4, 29 sec., 11mb)
- Introduction by Stephen Ratcliffe (6:10): MP3
- The Age of Huts (15:10): MP3
- A Chinese Notebook (7:09): MP3
- 2197 (10:26): MP3
- Q&A (15:48): MP3
Complete Reading (58:35) MP3
"this April eve you do deceive..." (0:29): MP3
Reading at Kutztown State University in PA, March 6, 2006
Complete recording (35:41): MP3
Desert City Reading at Chapel Hill, March 2, 2006
Complete recording (39:48): MP3
Amy King interviews Ron Silliman on a miPOradio POdcast at Bowery Poetry Club, November 19, 2005
Discussing "Quindecagon" (11:25): MP3Complete interview (50:15): MP3
- Introduction (3:43): MP3
- Silliman's opening comments (3:08): MP3
- Quindecagon (from The Alphabet) [pp. 433-440] (8:38): MP3
- Albany (from The Alphabet) [pp. 1-2] (5:26): MP3
- On Under Albany (1:53): MP3 from Under Albany
- "If a function of writing is to express the world" (4:40): MP3
- "A benefit reading" (10:17): MP3
- "Co-payment" (3:37): MP3
Complete Reading (42:07): MP3
Talk at the Kelly Writers House, University of Pennsylvania, "Theorizing" series, February 23, 2005
Plotless Prose: Robert Duncan's H.D. Book (1:30:00): MP3
Reading at the Kelly Writers House, University of Pennsylvania September 21, 2004
- Introduction by Bob Perelman (6:07): MP3
- Albany (from The Alphabet) [pp. 1-2] (5:55): MP3
- Quindecagon (from The Alphabet) [pp. 433-440] (9:57): MP3: text, © Ron Silliman 1995, 2004
- From Xing (from The Alphabet) [pp. 861-882] (20:48)MP3
- from Vog, "Woundwood" (from The Alphabet) [pp.735-741] (8:07): MP3
- Discussion (10:05): MP3
Reading for Subtext Reading Series, Richard Hugo House, Seattle, WA, August 12, 2004
- Albany (from The Alphabet) (6:20): MP3
- Carbon (from The Alphabet) (11:47): MP3
- Quindecagon (from The Alphabet) (9:50): MP3
- Woundwood (from Vog, from The Alphabet) (8:00): MP3
- Xing (from The Alphabet) (19:41): MP3
Complete reading (55:43): MP3
Reading at La Tazza, Philadelphia, August 8, 2003
- Introduction (2:00): MP3
- Opening Comments (1:08): MP3 Selections from "VOG," from The Alphabet
- Of Grammatology [pp. 595] (1:14): MP3
- Dogs Love Trucks [pp. 708-710] (2:15): MP3
- Seven Sad Forests [pp. 720] (1:54): MP3
- (G)hosts [pp. 742-743] (1:14): MP3
- Woundwood [pp. 735-741] (7:34): MP3
Complete reading (18:03): MP3 (Reading courtesy of Jack Krick.)
- Introduction by Al Filreis (1:17)
- Introduction by Ron Silliman (1:39)
- The Desert Music (4:08)
- The Poet (3:30)
- To A Dog Injured In The Street (2:12)
- from Paterson (4:16)
- from Spring And All (2:53)
- Untitled work from Crow (3:11)
- Berkeley (5:31)
- from Ketjak (2:55)
- William Carlos Williams reading (2:37)
Segue Series Reading at Double Happiness, May 13, 2000
- Introduction (1:48): MP3
- Silliman's Introduction (1:18): MP3 from the "You" section of The Alphabet
- XVII [pp. 917-918] (2:30): MP3
- XVIII [pp. 918-919] (for Bob and Francie) (2:34): MP3
- XXVI [pp. 928-929] (0:39): MP3
- XXXVIII [pp. 941-942] (for Linh Dinh) (2:44): MP3
- LII [pp. 955-956] (2:30): MP3 From the "VOG" section of The Alphabet
- Silence of the Looms [pp. 598-599] (5:14): MP3
- For Larry Eigner; Silent [pp. 607-609] (4:10): MP3
- Spiderduck [pp. 613-633] (11:59): MP3
Complete reading (38:22): MP3
"You" is also featured on PoemTalk Episode 54.
Reading at SUNY-Buffalo, March 16, 2000
Introduction (11:02): MP3
Paradise (from The Alphabet) [pp. 409-431] (1:05:47): MP3
- describing his current poetic practice (1:56): MP3
- expressing frustration with the generalization that contemporary experimental poetry is abstract (3:24): MP3
- on Kenneth Goldsmith's 111 (1:35): MP3
- on Charles Reznikoff's Testimony (1:10): MP3
- on what motivates his writing (2:15): MP3
- on ways of reading (2:11): MP3
- explaining how he got to write avant-garde style poetry based on his educational background (1:44): MP3
- on poetry and avant-garde music (0:59): MP3
- on living as consciously as possible and writing (1:03): MP3
- the uneven relationship between the writer and reader in the activity of making meaning (1:19): MP3
- feeling encouraged by the community of readers (0:52): MP3
PhillyTalks Episode #3 with Jeff Derksen, January 21, 1998
Excerpts from "You," (from The Alphabet)- I [p. 903] (1:23): MP3
- II [pp. 903-904] (1:30): MP3
- III [pp. 904-905] (1:23): MP3
- V [p. 906] (1:42): MP3
- VI [p. 907] (1:47): MP3
- VII [pp. 907-908] (2:13): MP3
- VIII [pp. 908-909] (2:07): MP3
- XII [p. 912] (1:13): MP3
- XVIII [pp. 918-919] (2:59): MP3
- XIX [pp. 919-920] (5:11): MP3
- XXIII [pp. 924-925] (3:12): MP3
Complete recording (24:49): MP3
"You" is also featured on PoemTalk Episode 54.
Excerpt from "Oz" (from The Alphabet) [p. 365) (3:27): MP3
Philadelphia (2:45): MP3
The Marginalization of Poetry, Segue Series at Double Happiness, NYC, March 22, 1997
The Marginalization of Poetry - an evening of responses to Bob Perelman's recent book of that name from Princeton University Press, with Bob Perelman, Ann Lauterbach, Ron Silliman, Juliana Spahr, and Steve Evans. Moderated by Sean Killian (curated by Sean Killian & Dan Machlin).
Part 1: Watch on Media.sas
Part 2: Watch on Media.sas
Reading at Lehigh University, March 17, 1997
- Introduction (3:05): MP3
- Opening Comments for "Sunset Debris" (3:43): MP3
- Sunset Debris (29:05): MP3
Complete Reading (35:50): MP3
Question & Answer Session (37:07): MP3
(Reading courtesy of Jack Krick)Reading with Lyn Hejinian, November 6, 1995
Moderated by Bob Perelman
Alternate angle Watch on Media.sas
Temple University Creative Writing Series, Philadelphia, PA, February 3, 1994
Buffalo Poetics Program, February 2, 1994
"Jones" and ® from The Alphabet, intro: Charles Bernstein (56:28): MP3
Segue Series Reading at The Ear Inn, January 29, 1994
Complete reading (36:46): MP3
Appearing on Live at the Ear Inn, a compilation from Elemenope Productions, 1994
Reading from Oz (6:01) , textPoetry Project, lecture, c. 1990
- from "Toner" (from The Alphabet) [pp. 481-508] (23:34): MP3
Politics of Poetic Form reading, The New School, NYC, November 11 1988
Complete Recording (55:16): MP3
Segue Series Reading at The Ear Inn, February 15, 1987
- Opening Comments (2:38): MP3
- "I am Marion Delgado" (from The Age of Huts) (9:44): MP3
- last section of "Oz" (from The Alphabet) [pp. 389-407] (26:08): MP3
Complete Reading (38:28): MP3
- a draft of "Postmodernism: Sign for a Struggle, the Struggle for the Sign"
- Poetics Journal, No. 7, September, 1987, pp. 18–39. Reprinted in Contemporary American Poet-Critics, op. cit.; translated into Serbian by Dubravka Djuric and published in Gradina, Vol. 26, No. 2–3, 1991, Nis, Yugoslavia, pp. 162–179
- introduction (3:43): MP3
- Ron Silliman (1:34:33): MP3
- discussion (40:39): MP3
Segue Series Reading at The Ear Inn, NYC April 12, 1986
Complete Reading (37:27): MP3
At New Poetics Colloquium, Kootenay School of Writing, Vancouver, August 22 and 23, 1985
- Reading from Demo Part 1 on August 22, 1985 (20:07): MP3
- Reading from Demo Part 2 on August 23, 1985 (1:27:59): MP3
Segue Series Reading at the Ear Inn, NYC April 7, 1984
- Opening Comments (0:40): MP3
- "Force" (from The Alphabet) [pp. 43-48] (8:52): MP3
- Lit: Section One (from The Alphabet) [pp. 225-227] (5:22): MP3
- Lit: Section Two [pp. 227-238] (16:45): MP3
Complete Reading (31:37): MP3
Reading for the Anthology Film Archive, March 8, 1981
Complete Reading (40:29): MP3
- oppositional writing (9:09): MP3
- our relationship to a community and "highbrow" hegemonic culture (6:24): MP3
- considering the possibility of and what could be defined as ruling class poetry (9:02): MP3
- writers, class, and downward social mobility (12:01): MP3
- leisure time, the new flaneur, and the work experience (7:58): MP3
- the project of writing and dealing with an experience (4:06): MP3
- group definitions and social formations (7:30): MP3
- Ron Silliman reading "Poem" by Ron Padgett (0:18): MP3
- on Ron Padgett's "Poem" (7:26): MP3
- the break between Black Mountain & St. Mark's and reformulating positions between social groups (6:33): MP3
- correspondence and conversation (4:05): MP3
- interpersonal relationships and social formations (14:33): MP3
- a self assessment of the conversation and tape (8:10): MP3
- 17th century prose and the "clear style" (4:09): MP3
- contextualizing and highlighting the political dimensions of the poetry one writes (8:09): MP3
- on the term "language poetry" and making generalizations (4:50): MP3
- composition as explanation (4:13): MP3
- the influence of class background (13:58): MP3
Part 2 (44:43): MP3
Part 3 (43:32): MP3
Presenting "The New Sentence" as a talk at the San Francisco Art Institute, September 16, 1979
From the Bob Perelman tapes.- Part 1 (1:33:20): MP3 (Break around 45:00 - 46:00 when tape flips over.)
- Part 2 (1:32:09): MP3 (Break around 45:00 - 46:00 when tape flips over.)
Complete Recording (3:03:49): MP3 (5-second breaks every 45:00 - 46:00 minutes when the tapes flip over.)
Reading at The Grand Piano June 20, 1978
From Tjanting (44:00): MP3
Residency for Writers Workshop, Talk and Discussion, 1978
Recordings from the Maureen Owen Collection of Greenwich Village Poetry, at the Yale Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Also of Interest at PennSound:
Friday reading, Trouble Ticket (5:32): MP3
Saturday reading (4:34): MP3
These sound recordings are being made available for noncommercial and educational use only. All rights to this recorded material belong to the author. © 2004-2016 Ron Silliman. Used with permission of Ron Silliman. Distributed by PennSound.