Miriam Nichols’s expertly edited The Astonishment Tapes (2015), a transcript of twenty autobiographical audiotapes recorded in an attic room in Vancouver by poet Robin Blaser in 1974. Thirty years prior, Blaser, along with Robert Duncan and Jack Spicer, formed the Berkeley core of what is now known as the San Francisco Renaissance. Reminiscent of the perfect mix attained by Blaser’s legendary martinis, this talk by Nichols blends gossip and literary legacy into a balanced representation of this mythic poet.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House members.