Poetry Center Archive Goes Live!

Historic video recordings (with downloadable audio) from The Poetry Center's first decade of video documentation. We'll post rare video from the 1970s and 1980s, thanks to digital transfers by BAVC via its Preservation Access Program. Gratitude to Marshall Trammell, Music Research Strategies, for opening credits music and source video. Check in as more recordings from the historic collection get (more)

Monique Wittig and Jayne Cortez: April 12, 1985

The Poetry Center presents Monique Wittig and Jayne Cortez, reading their work on the opening night of the three-day...

Date: 1985-04-12

Nikki Giovanni: December 4, 1984

The Poetry Center presents Nikki Giovanni, talking with the audience and reading from her poetry. Giovanni opens by...

Date: 1984-12-04

Amiri Baraka: October 23, 1984

The Poetry Center, in collaboration with Associated Students Performing Arts, co-presents Amiri Baraka, reading his...

Date: 1984-10-23

David Melnick: April 23, 1984

The Poetry Center presents David Melnick, in what is apparently the only existing recording of the poet performing his...

Date: 1984-04-23

Lucia Berlin and Douglas Woolf: February 24, 1984

The Poetry Center presents Lucia Berlin and Douglas Woolf, each reading from their work, with introductions by...

Date: 1984-02-24

Michael Ondaatje: October 29, 1983

The Poetry Center presents Michael Ondaatje, visiting the Bay Area from his home in Toronto, Canada, in a reading at New...

Date: 1983-10-29

Jackson Mac Low and Steve Benson: March 10, 1983

The Poetry Center presents Jackson Mac Low and Steve Benson, in collaborative performance. The program, as the second...

Date: 1983-03-10

Q. R. Hand Jr., Genny Lim, and Juan Felipe Herrera: February 24, 1983

The Poetry Center presents poets Q. R. Hand Jr., Genny Lim, and Juan Felipe Herrera, presenting their poetry at...

Date: 1983-02-24

Karen Brodine and Meridel Le Sueur: November 5, 1981

The Poetry Center presents poet-activists Karen Brodine and Meridel Le Sueur. Brodine reads poems from her then-newly...

Date: 1981-11-05

Alice Walker on Zora Neale Hurston: October 2, 1980

The Poetry Center presents Alice Walker, talking about the life and work of Zora Neale Hurston and reading from...

Date: 1980-10-02

“Tin Tan” Magazine Reading — Alma Luz Villanueva, Wilfredo Castaño, Alejandro Murguía: October 25, 1978

The Poetry Center presesnts a reading in celebration of  Tin Tan magazine , featuring readings by contributing...

Date: 1978-10-25

Margaret Atwood: May 3, 1978

The Poetry Center presents Margaret Atwood, in her first Bay Area appearance, visiting San Francisco State from...

Date: 1978-05-03

K. Curtis Lyle and Calvin C. Hernton: November 16, 1977

The Poetry Center presents a rare reading by Black Arts Movement poets K. Curtis Lyle, founding member of the Watts...

Date: 1977-11-16

James Broughton and Helen Adam: November 2, 1977

The Poetry Center presents James Broughton and Helen Adam, presenting their poetry at a special reading held at the...

Date: 1977-11-02

"Tempest in a Teapot" Asian American Poets Reading—with Jeffery Paul Chan and Al Robles, Lou Syquia, George Leong, Lane Nishikawa, Janice Mirikitani, Alan Chong Lau, Laureen Mar, Garrett Hongo: May 16, 1977

The Poetry Center presents this landmark 1977 recording of a group reading by eight West Coast Asian American and Asian...

Date: 1977-05-16

Marilyn Hacker and Charlotte Painter: May 4, 1977

The Poetry Center presents Marilyn Hacker and Charlotte Painter, reading from and commenting on their work. Hacker reads...

Date: 1977-05-04

June Jordan: April 20, 1977

The Poetry Center presents June Jordan reading her poetry, from the collection Things That I Do in the Dark: 1954-1977...

Date: 04/20/1977

José Montoya: April 13, 1977

The Poetry Center presents José Montoya, activist and co-founder (with Esteban Villa) of the Royal Chicano Air...

Date: 1977-04-13

Grace Paley and Tillie Olsen: March 9, 1977

The Poetry Center presents Grace Paley and Tillie Olsen, each reading from their fiction. Paley, for her first ever...

Date: 1977-03-09

Amiri Baraka at San Francisco State University: March 2, 1977

The Poetry Center presents Amiri Baraka, talking to students on revolution, political organizing, and the function...

Date: 1977-03-02

Amiri Baraka at New College of California: March 2, 1977

The Poetry Center, in collaboration with New College of California, presents Amiri Baraka, reading from his poetry and...

Date: 1977-03-02

Joan Didion: February 23, 1977

The Poetry Center presents Joan Didion, in what was her first ever public reading. Celebrated prose-stylist, journalist,...

Date: 1977-02-23

Anselm Hollo and Robert Harris: February 16, 1977

The Poetry Center presents Anselm Hollo and Robert Harris, reading from their work at San Francisco State University....

Date: 1977-02-16

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...

Date: 1977-02-09

Sotère Torregian and William Everson: December 15, 1976

The Poetry Center present Sotère Torregian and William Everson, reading their poetry at San Francisco State...

Date: 1976-12-15

Ntozake Shange: November 17, 1976

The Poetry Center presents Ntozake Shange, in a rare early recorded appearance, at the César Chavez Student Union...

Date: 1976-11-17

Ted Greenwald and Al Robles: November 10, 1976

The Poetry Center presents Ted Greenwald and Al Robles, reading their work in succession for this New York–San...

Date: 19761110

Daphne Marlatt and Tom Raworth: November 3, 1976

The Poetry Center presents Daphne Marlatt, visiting from Vancouver, British Columbia, and Tom Raworth, from London, UK,...

Date: 1976-11-03

Alta and Jack Collom: October 10, 1976

The Poetry Center presents Alta and Jack Collom, reading from their poetry in the San Francisco State University Student...

Date: 1076-10-10

Clark Coolidge and Philip Whalen: May 5, 1976

"The Poetry Center is insanely pleased to present the brilliant word theoretician and poet, CLARK COOLIDGE, in...

Date: 1976-05-05

Basil Bunting: April 29, 1976

The Poetry Center presents Basil Bunting, reading Briggflatts,  his most celebrated long poem, and, by...

Date: 1976-04-29

Edward Sanders and Edward Dorn: April 28, 1976

The Poetry Center, together with New College of California, co-present Edward Sanders and Edward Dorn, reading their work...

Date: 1976-04-28

Mei-mei Berssenbrugge: April 21, 1976

The Poetry Center presents Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, in an early recorded solo reading of her poetry. Scheduled to...

Date: 1976-04-21

Alice Walker at San Jose State University: April 10, 1976

The Poetry Center presents Alice Walker, reading from her short prose and poetry, at the Conference on Inter-American...

Date: 1976-04-10

 Janine Pommy Vega and Jack Micheline: March 24, 1976

The Poetry Center presents Janine Pommy Vega and Jack Micheline, each reaading from their poetry, then together on stage...

Date: 1976-03-24

Lorenzo Thomas and David Henderson with Ghetto Violence: March 19, 1976

The Poetry Center presents Lorenzo Thomas and David Henderson, the latter performing with the band Ghetto Violence,...

Date: 1976-03-19

Diane di Prima and Lenore Kandel: March 17, 1976

The Poetry Center presents Diane di Prima and Lenore Kandel, together on stage reading their work and engaging in...

Date: 1976-03-17

Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Michael McClure: March 5, 1976

The Poetry Center presents Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Michael McClure, iconic poets of the Beat movement on the West...

Date: 1976-03-05

Dick Gallup and Victor Hernández Cruz: March 3, 1976

The Poetry Center presents Dick Gallup and Victor Hernández Cruz, reading from their poetry at San Francisco State...

Date: 1976-03-03

Louise Glück and Kathleen Fraser: February 25, 1976

The Poetry Center presents Louise Glück and Kathleen Fraser, each reading their work then responding briefly to...

Date: 1976-02-25

Alice Notley and Bill Bathurst: February 18, 1976

The Poetry Center presents Alice Notley and Bill Bathurst, reading their poetry at San Francisco State University. Notley...

Date: 1976-02-18

Gary Snyder, Balasaraswati Music and Dance School Benefit: February 13, 1976

The Poetry Center presents Gary Snyder, reading his poetry and sharing the stage dancers and musicians in a benefit...

Date: 1976-02-13

Ebbe Borregaard and Robin Blaser: February 11, 1976

The Poetry Center presents Robin Blaser and Ebbe Borregaard, reading their work at the San Francisco State University...

Date: 1976-02-11

Kay Boyle: December 10, 1975

The Poetry Center presents Kay Boyle, reading from her poetry, as well as a short story. On the faculty of Creative...

Date: 1975-12-10

David Meltzer and Jerome Rothenberg: December 3, 1975

The Poetry Center presents David Meltzer and Jerome Rothenberg, reading together in what host Lewis MacAdams describes as...

Date: 1975-12-03

Simon J. Ortiz: November 19, 1975

The Poetry Center presents Simon J. Ortiz, in this early reading of his work at San Francisco State University. Ortiz...

Date: 1975-11-19

Jackson Mac Low: November 5, 1975

The Poetry Center presents Jackson Mac Low presenting a variety of his works. The poet plays a magnetic-tape collage,...

Date: 1975-11-05

Jessica Hagedorn and the West Coast Gangster Choir: October 30, 1975

The Poetry Center presents Jessica Hagedorn and the West Coast Gangster Choir, in this historic mid-1970s video...

Date: 1975-10-30

Carolee Sanchez and Lawson Fusao Inada: October 15, 1975

The Poetry Center presents Carolee Sanchez and Lawson Inada, reading from their poetry in the César Chavez Center...

Date: 1975-10-15

Geoffrey Young, Stephen Rodefer, Larry Goodell: May 8, 1975

The Poetry Center presents Geoffrey Young, Stephen Rodefer, and Larry Goodell, in that sequence, reading and,...

Date: 1975-05-08

Leslie Scalapino, David Hoag, Summer Brenner: May 1, 1975

The Poetry Center presents Leslie Scalapino, David Hoag, and Summer Brenner, each poet reading their work in this early...

Date: 1975-05-01

 John Marron, Harry Mathews, Andrei Codrescu: April 24, 1975

The Poetry Center presents John Marron, Harry Mathews, and Andrei Codrescu, presenting their works at San Francisco...

Date: 1975-04-24

Robert Glück: April 3, 1975

The Poetry Center presents Robert Glück, reading from his poems and other early work, including passages related to...

Date: 1975-04-03

Ted Berrigan, Keith Abbott, and Kenward Elmslie: March 6, 1975

The Poetry Center presents Keith Abbott, Ted Berrigan, and Kenward Elmslie, reading from their respective work, at San...

Date: 1975-03-6

Madeline Gleason, Rosalie Moore, Maxine Kumin: December 11, 1974

The Poetry Center present Madeline Gleason, Rosalie Moore, and Maxine Kumin, reading their poetry. The reading takes...

Date: 1974-12-11

Thom Gunn, Joanne Kyger, Nathaniel Tarn: November 20, 1974

The Poetry Center presents Thom Gunn, Joanne Kyger, and Nathaniel Tarn, each presenting substantial readings of what was...

Date: 1974-11-20

Ai and Faye Kicknosway: November 14, 1974

The Poetry Center presents Ai and Faye Kicknosway, reading from and commenting on their poetry. Ai reads from...

Date: 1974-11-14

John Giorno and William S. Burroughs: November 4, 1974

The Poetry Center, in collaboration with Gay Sunshine , co-presents John Giorno and William S. Burroughs, each reading...

Date: 1974-11-04

Bill Berkson, Jim Carroll, Anne Waldman: October 10, 1974

The Poetry Center presents Bill Berkson, Jim Carroll, and Anne Waldman, reading their work at San Francisco State...

Date: 1974-10-10

Judy Grahn and Diane Wakoski: October 2, 1974

The Poetry Center presents Judy Grahn and Diane Wakoski, appearing at the San Francisco Museum of Art, each reading from...

Date: 1974-10-02

Audre Lorde and Etheridge Knight: September 26, 1974

The Poetry Center presents Audre Lorde and Etheridge Knight, both reading from their work as published by Dudley...

Date: 1974-09-26

Edward Dorn: September 19, 1974

The Poetry Center presents Edward Dorn, reading from new poetry. Dorn's reading is in two parts. He begins with...

Date: 1974-09-19

Kenneth Rexroth: July 2, 1974

The Poetry Center presents Kenneth Rexroth, reading from his poetry and from his translations from classic Japanese...

Date: 1974-07-02

Diane di Prima and Kathleen Fraser: June 21, 1974

The Poetry Center presents Diane di Prima and Kathleen Fraser, each reading from their work, following introductions by...

Date: 1974-06-21

Al Young: May 25, 1974

The Poetry Center presents Al Young, reading from his poetry and fiction. Young reads poems from The Song Turning Back...

Date: 1974-05-25

Poets of the Forties, Part 1 — Robert Duncan, Robert Horan, Rosalie Moore, James Broughton, Madeline Gleason: May 15, 1974

The Poetry Center presents an historic re-creation of the "Festival of Modern Poetry," originally organized by...

Date: 1974-05-15

Poets of the Forties, Part 2 — Robert Duncan, Janet Lewis, Thomas Parkinson, Richard O. Moore, William Everson: May 15, 1974

The Poetry Center presents an historic re-creation of the "Festival of Modern Poetry," originally organized by...

Date: 1974-05-15

Louis Ginsberg and Allen Ginsberg: May 9, 1974

The Poetry Center presents Louis Ginsberg and Allen Ginsberg, each reading their poems for this father-and-son feature at...

Date: 1974-05-09

Adrienne Rich: April 25, 1974

The Poetry Center presents Adrienne Rich, in this rare early color-video recording. Rich, in a solo feature program,...

Date: 1974-04-25

James Welch and Dennis Schmitz: April 18, 1974

The Poetry Center presents James Welch and Dennis Schmitz, each presenting their poetry at San Francisco State...

Date: 1974-04-18

Beverly Dahlen, Holly Prado, Flora Arnstein: April 4, 1974

The Poetry Center presents Holly Prado, Flora Arnstein, and Beverly Dahlen reading from their work. Prado, visiting from...

Date: 1974-04-04

Charles Reznikoff: March 21, 1974

The Poetry Center presents Charles Reznikoff, reading his poetry before an audience at San Francisco State University. He...

Date: 1974-03-21

Ernest J. Gaines: March 6, 1974

The Poetry Center presents novelist Ernest J. Gaines, reading from an early typescript of his subsequent novel In My...

Date: 1974-03-06

Tomas Tranströmer: March 4, 1974

The Poetry Center presents Tomas Tranströmer, reading his poetry in translations by May Swenson, Robert Bly, and...

Date: 1974-03-04

Barbara Guest and Bobbie Louise Hawkins: February 14, 1974

The Poetry Center presents Barbara Guest and Bobbie Louise Hawkins, each in an early appearance recorded to video,...

Date: 1974-02-14

William Stafford and Charles Bukowski: December 6, 1973

The Poetry Center presents William Stafford and Charles Bukowski, reading their works in an anomalous pairing at the San...

Date: 1973-12-06

Robert Creeley and John Wieners: November 15, 1973

The Poetry Center, in one of several special programs marking its 20th anniversary with celebratory readings at the San...

Date: 1973-11-15

James Broughton: November 8, 1973

The Poetry Center presents poet-filmmaker James Broughton, reading from his poetry in an early video recording. Broughton...

Date: 1973-11-08

Mark Linenthal: November 1, 1973

The Poetry Center presents Mark Linenthal, on the faculty at San Francisco State where he taught poetry and creative...

Date: 1973-11-01

Tom Clark and Lewis MacAdams: October 25, 1973

The Poetry Center presents Tom Clark and Lewis MacAdams, reading their poems written solo and in collaboration. Clark...

Date: 1973-10-25

Josephine Miles and Carolyn Kizer: October 18, 1973

The Poetry Center presents Josephine Miles and Carolyn Kizer, reading their poems at San Francisco State University....

Date: 1973-10-18

Michael McClure: October 10, 1973

The Poetry Center presents Michael McClure in a featured solo reading at the San Francisco Museum of Art (subsequently,...

Date: 1973-10-10

Ishmael Reed and Stan Rice: October 4, 1973

The Poetry Center presents Ishmael Reed and Stan Rice, reading from their contemporary works, in this early black &...

Date: 1973-10-04

Kathleen Fraser: June 22, 1973

The Poetry Center presents Kathleen Fraser, reading her poetry shortly after coming to San Francisco from Reed College in...

Date: 1973-06-22

Michael McClure, Personal Universe Deck: June 19, 1973

The Poetry Center presents Michael McClure, in a summer program where he presents a workshop for writers modeling the...

Date: 1973-06-19

John Ashbery: May 16, 1973

The Poetry Center presents John Ashbery, reading from his poetry at the San Francisco Museum of Art (pre SFMOMA), at...

Date: 1973-05-16

Robert Hass and Peter Everwine: May 10, 1973

The Poetry Center presents Robert Hass and Peter Everwine, reading their poetry. Hass reads from his first book, Field...

Date: 1973-05-10

Robert Duncan and George Oppen: February 22, 1973

The Poetry Center presents Robert Duncan and George Oppen, reading from their poetry, in the very first video...

Date: 1973-02-22