Associations Two

3. Lorine Niedecker: Collected Works—Lorine Niedecker, edited by Jenny Penberthy (University of California Press).

I remember Penberthy giving a lecture for The Poetry Center @ SFSU years and years ago, was it the Oppen Lecture? where Penberthy played the only known recording of Niedecker reading her poems, an incantatory experience for sure. I'm pretty sure Matthew Arnone and Brandon Brown read the entirety of The Granite Pail aloud to each other back at the old Geary St. apartment late one night, whiskey and candles and the whole thing (there probably weren't candles, but I like to imagine there were), Matthew reciting to me from heart days later "fish fowl flood/ water lily mud/ my life" followed by "holy fuck."

This book was a gift, or a gesture really, from a poetry scene acquaintance named Robin, she worked at UC Press at the time and very graciously offered me a copy soon after it was published, I remember meeting her across the street from my apartment in the Tenderloin to grab the book, she had just moved to the neighborhood, she was excited, I was too, thanks for this Robin.

4. Mike And Dale's Younger Poets.

I bought this from Moe’s Books in 1999 I think, I went to Berkeley that day specifically looking for "experimental poetry." I had no idea what “experimental poetry” was, I just knew that I wanted to read stuff other than what they had us reading at DVC (Kim Addonizio, Stephen Dobyns, Galway Kinnell, Raymond Carver). Mike And Dale’s Yale Younger Poets immediately popped, I don’t think I’d ever seen a chapbook at that point, I didn’t even know what a chapbook was, was this thing free? it looked like the playbills my sister collected at the time (with a ticket stub on the cover to boot). I browsed the table of contents, didn't recognize anybody (big surprise!), read a couple poems, maybe something by Duncan Mcnaughton? Fell in love, holy shit EXPERIMENTAL POETRY! (lol). I also found an Alex Katz and Kenneth Koch collabo book called Interlocking Lives. After more baffled yet excited browsing (lot's of Gas magazine, Blue Press, and Skanky Possum) I made my way to the counter, I remember the dude at the register wearing black rimmed glasses and a San Francisco Demons t-shirt (XFL League), such the shit, bookstore clerks used to be so intimidating huh? Years and years later Steve Dickison would introduce me to Michael Price (of Mike And Dale's), Michael gave me a copy of his Double Impact and a smattering of other micro press stuff, Michael had a store in Boulder, CO called Weird Horse (I think that was the name), it was like Formica tables, old typewriters and small press poetry books, a really fun store to visit after a few beers at The Sundowner. Here's a photo of Michael and Steve Dickison standing outside the Boulderado Hotel.

5. To The Secret—Franck Andre Jamme, translated Norma Cole.

I've been paired with Norma a few times, this is always a great thing, I read with Norma again at Bird And Beckett in SF on 4/22, we both have new books out, my The Islands from Nightboat, and her new translation of Jamme's To The Secret from La Presse, I'm also reading with Jamme as he'll be there reading with Norma. I remember the first time seeing Norma read in Berkeley back in 2001, it turned out this was a house reading, I was with Brandon Brown, neither of us had been to a house reading, shit was intimidating, there was wine, but were we allowed to drink it? there was cheese but were we allowed to eat it? I kept waiting for the homeowner to walk up to us and say "excuse me, who do you know here?" and me, mortified stammering "I thought it was open to the public..." and her laughing in my face saying "why would you think that you stupid idiot?! this is my house! do you just walk into people houses where you're from?!" but no one did that, house readings were a thing in the Bay Area I'd later learn and we were welcome (somewhat ironically both Brandon and I would host our own house series' a couple years later, BB's Zaum and my own BOTH BOTH, folks entering my apartment, that same recognizable look of hesitation on their faces that I had painted all over mine that day). Brandon and I drank wine, watched Michael Palmer read, watched Norma Cole read, I can't remember who else was there though, I think Jean Day was there, I took a photo of her and Robert Kaufman (Norma's husband) standing in the kitchen, neither is smiling as they are most definitely wondering who the hell I am, this kid who is pointing a camera at their faces, it's me Jean Day, John Sakkis.

Here are a few photos from the 4/22 reading, (shots by M. Redden)