Susan Gevirtz and Mei-mei Berssenbrugge: April 26, 2014

The Poetry Center, together with The Green Arcade and Kelsey Street Press, co-presents Susan Gevirtz and Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, reading from their work for the second of two events in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Kelsey Street Press. Gevirtz, who reads from Black Box Cutaway (Kelsey Street Press, 1998), Coming Events (Nightboat, 2013) and work in manuscript, is introduced by artist Lynn Marie Kirby. Berssenbrugge, who reads from Four Year Old Girl (Kelsey Street, 1998), Nest (Kelsey Street, 2002), and Hello, The Roses (New Directions, 2013), is introduced by writer and filmmaker Trinh T. Minh-ha. Patrick Marks of The Green Arcade welcomes the audience and Steve Dickison of The Poetry Center provides further opening remarks. The event takes place at McRoskey Mattress Co., on Market Street in San Francisco.

Publisher
American Poetry Archives
Location
McRoskey Mattress Co., San Francisco
Date
2014-04-26
Event Run Time
01:22:27
Contributors
Patrick Marks
Steve Dickison
Lynn Marie Kirby
Trinh T. Minh-ha
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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Susan Gevirtz (00:33:00)

After an introduction by Lynn Marie Kirby, Susan Gevirtz reads the poems "Storatorio," “Water Garden,” “The Ambassador,” “Hotline,” “Detour,” “Storatorion,” and “Vertion” from Black Box Cutaway. She follows by reading an unpublished piece titled "Notes From Pre," influenced by her efforts to learn Greek, which prompted a deeper study of "English and Englishes" centered on Chaucer and Piers Plowman. She then reads "Orders," from Coming Events, dedicating the piece to Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, whom she credits for "showing so many of us the way." She closes with a longer poem, "Cicada."

Mei-mei Berssenbrugge (00:33:40)

Following an introduction by Trinh T. Minh-ha, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge comments on the profundity of 20 years with Kelsey Street Press, then reads "The Doll" from Four Year Old Girl, which she calls "a poem about borders," those physical and those between life and death. She follows with "The Audience," a longer poem from Nest, written in the persona of a female anime filmmaker. Next, she reads poems from her latest book Hello, The Roses (New Directions, 2013), including "DJ Frogs" — inspired by her reading of art theorist Kodwo Eshun's More Brilliant Than The Sun — and the titular "Hello, The Roses," about communicating with plants. She finishes with a section from "Immortals Having a Party," which she describes as an investigation of the sacred that reflects the speaker's efforts "to comprehend cyclical time." 

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