My Way_ Speeches and Poems - Charles Bernstein

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THELONIOUS MONK 21 To perform a poem is to make it a physically present acoustic event, to give bodily dimension-beat-to what is otherwise spatial & visual. <strong>Poems</strong>, no matter how short, necessarily involve duration, & writing as much as performing is an act of shaping this durational passage. In performance, it becomes possible to lay down a rhythmic beat, a pulse, that is otherwise more speculative or tenuous in the scoring of words on a page. For me, this pulse is constructed around "nodal" points of pauses or silences or breaks-a point I want to put as technically as I can to distinguish this from notions of breath or speech rhythms or other notions of an unconstructed or un imposed reading style. While I am skeptical about the value of appropriating musical terms to discuss performance prosody, I am still tempted to suggest that breaks or silences can be a most active musical device in poetry performance in that they create musical phrases that are then syncopated by the rhythmic pace that precedes & follows them. In my performances, I'm interested in employing several different, shifting, tempos & several different intonations (voices) that pivot & spin around these nodal shifting points. These blank spacessilences or intervals-serve as fulcrums for making audible the rhythmic pulse & phrasing being played out, at the same time scissoring the syntax of the language (that is, cutting against expected breaks of the grammatical phrase or unit of breath). Given these interests, the sound I am laying down is
22 THE LON IOU 5 M 0 N K not simply that of a person reading words in any "straightforward" way but playing each word as if a note or chord on the piano, with slight pauses creating unexpected spaces between words, allowing phrases to veer off into unexpected sequences of wobbling sound. I no more take for granted how to do this than I assume the syntax or prosody of a poem I am writing; it is a highly constructed, albeit improvised, process, based on choosing from a variety of different tonal, rhythmic, & phrasal possibilities. * * * A number of years ago, I was asked to read in the International Sound Poetry Festival in New York, despite the fact that my work & style of reading would not normally be considered sound poetry or performance poetry. I prefaced my reading by saying that I thought there were only two types of poetry: sound poetry & unsound poetry. But now I would change that to sounded poetry & unsounded poetry. It is perhaps a remnant of Romantic ideology that still haunts that performance styles of poetry readings are so often self-represented in terms of an authentic voicing of "the" emotions or "the" unconscious, where effacement of the performative is equated with genuineness of the work, where the acting style is to pretend that there is no
Page 4 and 5: Speeches and Poems [~aTles hmstein
Page 6: for Felix
Page 10 and 11: [ontents Hi Preface A Defense of Po
Page 12 and 13: hef ace I'm incorrect: the learned
Page 14 and 15: ~ ~efence of ~oetr~ for Brian McHal
Page 16 and 17: l~e ~euenge of t~e ~oet-[ritic. or
Page 18 and 19: REVENGE OF THE POET-CRITIC 5 often
Page 20 and 21: REVENGE OF THE POET-CRITIC 7 its pa
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Page 24 and 25: REVENGE OF THE POET-CRITIC 11 inter
Page 26 and 27: REVENGE OF THE POET-CRITIC 13 The q
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Page 32 and 33: THELONIOUS MONK 19 Nonetheless, I'v
Page 36 and 37: THE LON IOU 5 M 0 N K 23 acting, wh
Page 38 and 39: ~n Interuiellllllit~ manuel ~rito M
Page 40 and 41: AN INTERVIEW WITH MANUEL BRITO 27 w
Page 42 and 43: A N IN T E RV lEW WIT H MAN U E L B
Page 44 and 45: AN INTERVIEW WITH MANUEL BRITO 31 a
Page 46 and 47: ~oli~arit~ Is t~e ~ame me ~iue to m
Page 48 and 49: SOL I DAR I T Y 1ST HEN A M E 35 po
Page 50 and 51: WHAT'S ART GOT TO DO WITH IT? 37 co
Page 52 and 53: WHAT'S ART GOT TO DO WITH IT? 39 nu
Page 54 and 55: WHAT'S ART GOT TO DO WITH IT? 41 si
Page 56 and 57: WHAT'S ART GOT TO DOW I T HIT? 43 t
Page 58 and 59: W HAT' 5 ART GOT TO DOW I T HIT? 45
Page 60 and 61: WHAT'S ART GOT TO DO WITH IT? 47 jo
Page 62 and 63: W HAT'S ART GOT TO DOW I T HIT? 49
Page 64 and 65: WHAT'S ART GOT TO DO WITH IT? 51 en
Page 66 and 67: How about strain, does it mean a se
Page 68 and 69: A TEST OF POETRY 55 the echoes of M
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Page 72 and 73: all those express trains hurtling t
Page 74 and 75: that, but philosophyhave you read m
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Page 78 and 79: A N I N T E R V lEW WIT H HAN N A H
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AN INTERVIEW WITH HANNAH MOCKEl-RIE
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I ~on't la~e ~oi[e mail The Object
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I DON'T TAKE VOICE MAll 75 often di
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I DON'T TAKE VOICE MAIL 77 systems
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I DON'T TAKE VOICE MAIL 79 screen o
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Every day. Day by day. The hours ha
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[laiTe-jn-t~e- ~ui l~ing There is n
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C l A IRE· IN· THE· B U I l DIN
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AGAIN EIGNER 87 that is not dissimi
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"slicks" "shakes" "hums" "simmers"
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FRAME LOCK 91 ory, prophylactically
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FRAME LOCK 93 compelling, while the
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F RAM E L 0 C K 95 ence is not sati
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F RAM E L 0 C K 97 with another and
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FRAME LOCK 99 Is criticism condemne
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"PASSED BY EXAMINATION" 101 break o
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"PASSED BY EXAMINATION" 103 Here is
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THE V A L U E 0 F 5 U L FUR 105 tra
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THE V A L U E 0 F S U L FUR 107 poe
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~ertru~e an~ lU~UJif s ~ogus ~~uent
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INTROJECTIVE VERSE 111 one the poem
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oetics of t~e ~meTicas Speaking in
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POETICS OF THE AMERICAS 115 zines p
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POETICS OF THE AMERICAS 117 cupied
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POETICS OF THE AMERICAS 119 defines
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POETICS OF THE AMERICAS 121 and dia
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POE TIC S OFT H E AM E RIC A S 123
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POE TIC S 0 F THE AM E RIC A S 125
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POETICS OF THE AMERICAS 127 and McK
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POETICS OF THE AMERICAS 131 grow ti
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POETICS OF THE AMERICAS 133 also th
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POE TIC S 0 F THE AM E RIC A s 135
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UN ZIP B LEE D 139 texture of truth
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~tein' s Identit~ What is identity
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STEIN'S IDENTITY 143 Of course anyo
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~rouisionallnstitutions Alternative
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PROVISIONAL INSTITUTIONS 147 At the
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PRO V I S ION A LIN S TI T U TI 0 N
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PROVISIONAL INSTITUTIONS 151 out to
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PROVISIONAL INSTITUTIONS 153 articu
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~oun~ an~ t~e ~oetr~ of 1 o~a~ What
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P 0 U N DAN D THE POE TRY 0 F T 0 D
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POUND AND THE POETRY OF TODAY 161 t
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POUND AND THE POETRY OF TODAY 163 g
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INAPPROPRIATE TOUCHING 167 as eyeli
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ROBIN ON HIS OWN 169 'mother may It
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ROB I NON HIS 0 W N 171 to mean in
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ROB I NON HIS 0 W N 173 poetic comp
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Water Ima~es of "'e HeUJ forier May
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WATER IMAGES OF THE NEW YORKER 177
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THE RESPONSE AS SUCH 179 way of say
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THE RESPONSE AS SUCH 181 tribution
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THE RESPONSE AS SUCH 183 Howe has g
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THE RES P 0 N SEA S S U C H t 85 au
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FRO MAN 0 N G 0 I N G I NT E R V lE
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FRO MAN 0 N G 0 I N G I NT E R V lE
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fHplicit ~ersion ~umber ~equired Ye
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HINGE PICTURE 193 Which is to say t
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Generations to a Sunday that holds
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~e2ni~off S ~earness 1. Charles Rez
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REZNIKOFF'S NEARNESS 199 "the pithy
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REZNIKOFF'S NEARNESS 201 reviewed b
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R E Z N I K 0 F F' S N EAR N E S S
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R E Z N I K 0 F F 's N EAR N E S S
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R E Z N I K 0 F F 's N EAR N E S S
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R E Z N I K 0 FF '5 N EAR N E 5 5 2
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REZNIKOFF'S NEARNESS 211 and unassu
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REZNIKOFF'S NEARNESS 213 everywhere
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REZNIKOFF'S NEARNESS 215 23. Hanukk
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REZNIKOFF'S NEARNESS 217 tributed t
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REZNIKOFF'S NEARNESS 219 34. It's a
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R E Z N I K 0 F F 's N EAR N E S s
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REZNIKOFF'S NEARNESS 223 themes in
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R E Z N I K OFF' 5 N EAR N E 5 5 22
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R E Z N I K 0 F F' S N EAR N E S S
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~n ~uto~iograp~icallnteruieUJ Loss
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AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL INTERVIEW 231 t
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AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL INTERVIEW 233 p
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AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL INTERVIEW 235 f
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AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL INTERVIEW 237 e
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A N AUT 0 B lOG RAP H I CAL I NT E
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A N AUT a B lOG RAP H I CAL I N T E
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A N AUT 0 B lOG RAP H I CAL I N T E
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A N AUT 0 B I 0 C RAP HIe A LIN T E
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AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL INTERVIEW 247 s
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A N AUT 0 B lOG RAP H I CAL I NT E
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AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL INTERVIEW 251 o
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~e~on~ fmaciation Hemmed in by ocea
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~idin~' s ~eason That He another da
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RID I N G 's REA SON 257 she lived,
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RIDING'S REASON 259 truthfulness /
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RIDING'S REASON 261 the concept of
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RID I N G 's REA SON 263 configurat
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RID I N G 's REA SON 265 More natur
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RID I N G '5 REA SON 267 important
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WHO S E H E KID DIN G 269 water in
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UNREPRESENTATIVE VERSE 271 only in
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~oetr~ and lffiale11 ~eH I don't kn
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POETRY AND [MALE?] SEX 275 forms of
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POE TRY AND [M ALE? 1 SEX 277 post
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~lose listening Poetry and the Perf
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C LOS ELI S TEN I N G 281 Goffman's
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C LOS EllS TEN I N G 283 Gospel cal
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C LOS EllS TEN I N G 285 mensurate.
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C LOS ELI S TEN I N G 287 reading.
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C LOS ELI S TEN I N G 289 What is t
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CLOSE LISTENING 291 to Giorgio Agam
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C LOS ELlS TEN I N G 293 slippage a
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C LOS ELI S TEN I N G 295 around th
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C LOS ELI S TEN I N G 297 speaks; h
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C LOS EllS TEN I N G 299 bases of r
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CLOSE LISTENING 301 country, and in
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TAP S [I N M EM 0 R I A MER I C MOT
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WAR N I N G - POE TRY ARE A 305 not
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WAR N I N G - POE TRY ARE A 307 whe
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WAR N I N G - POE TRY ARE A 309 lin
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WARNING-POETRY AREA 311 of technolo
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THE REPUBLIC OF REALITY 313 of a de
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THE REPUBLIC OF REALITY 315 to be p
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~otes and ~dnoUJledgments First pub
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Claire-in-the-Building. Mirage #4/P
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NOT E SAN D A C K NOW LED G MEN T S
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My Way_ Speeches and Poems - Charles Bernstein

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