Kathy Acker and Jim Gustafson: February 9, 1977

The Poetry Center presents Kathy Acker, accompanied in her presentation by Rae Armantrout and Kit Robinson, and Jim Gustafson, hailing from Detroit though at the time resident in the Bay Area. Acker reads from a new work she says is "dedicated to San Francisco" — "Eat Your Heart Out" is entangled in the throes of an obsessive relationship between Janis Joplin and James Dean. Acker then reads, from manuscript, a section from what she calls "a very long and boring book," Kathy Goes to Haiti. Gustafson follows her reading, often in a mix of voices, and singing from newly spun poems. ("I expected Kathy to be dirtier, so I brought all my dirty poems.") The writers are introduced by Lewis MacAdams, director of The Poetry Center, and are onstage at San Francisco State University, in the César Chavez Student Center. 

Please note: due to camera trouble at various junctures in Acker's reading, a freeze-frame was used in editing to replace the missing moving image. Audio is continuous throughout. The cobalt blue cast to the image in toto is a magic trick, to compensate.

Publisher
American Poetry Archives
Location
Barbary Coast Room, César Chavez Student Center, San Francisco State
Date
1977-02-09
Event Run Time
01:15:45
Contributors
Lewis MacAdams
Rae Armantrout
Kit Robinson
Rights

©© American Poetry Archives. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. For all other uses please email poetry@sfsu.edu.

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Kathy Acker (00:52:32)

Jim Gustafson (00:18:08)

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