Robert Duncan CD

1969. Introduced by John Ashbery.

Duncan is at the height of his powers at the time of this reading, which contains poems from The Opening of the Field, Roots and Branches, and Bending the Bow.

"He is the alchemist of modern poets," Ashbery tells us in his introduction, "and his work is an endless series of experiments, each changing the nature of the last." "Three Pages from a Birthday Book" is here read in public for the first time. And Duncan's dramatic delivery of "The Letter" and "My Mother Would Be a Falconress" are unforgettable.

Length: 54 min.

Track List:

1. Introduction by John Ashbery
2. An African Elegy
3. Bring it Up in the Dark
4. Introduction to "Structure of Rime"
5. Structure of Rime XXVVII
6. Ancient Questions
7. Further Introduction to "Structure of Rime"
8. Structure of Rime IV
9. Structure of Rime V
10. Structure of Rime VI
11. Three Pages from a Birthday Book
12. "The performance we wait for defines us its attendance..."
13. The Letter
14. A Part Sequence for Change
15. My Mother Would be a Falconress
16. Transgressing the Real