"Litany" originally appeared in As We Know (1979). A brief excerpt of this session previously appeared on the Giorno Poetry Systems album, Sugar, Alcohol and Meat in 1980.

• "Litany" part 1 (15:49): MP3
• "Litany" part 2 (54:40): MP3
• "Litany" part 3 (14:08): MP3

1. Complete Reading, part one (44:56): MP3
2. Complete Reading, part two (12:15): MP3

written by Julia Brown, produced by Ara Guzelimian

• Complete Program (28:40): MP3

• Complete Reading (1:54:53): MP3

• Complete Recording (4:41): MP3

Provided by: The Poets' Theater and Woodberry Poetry Room, Harvard Univeristy Library

1. introductionn (4:08): MP3
2. The Task (5:05): MP3
3. Variations, Calypso and Fugue on a Theme of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (12:07): MP3
4. For John Clare (4:26): MP3
5. The Chateau Hardware (0:49): MP3
6. The Other Tradition (2:45): MP3
7. The Couple in the Next Room (0:55): MP3
8. And Ut Pictura Poesis is Her Name (0:49): MP3
9. At North Farm (1:59): MP3
10. The Songs We Know Best (4:24): MP3
11. Landscape (After Baudelaire) (1:57): MP3
12. A Wave (excerpt): (5:59): MP3
13. A Mood of Quiet Beauty (1:13): MP3
14. October at the Window (2:41): MP3
15. Disguised Zenith (1:49): MP3
16. Forgotten Song (2:28): MP3
17. Vetiver (2:36): MP3
18. Vaucanson (3:05): MP3
19. Someone You Have Seen Before (5:45): MP3

Complete Recording (1:17:41): MP3

1. Introduction (1:27): MP3
2. Two Scenes (2:33): MP3
3. Popular Letters (2:16): MP3
4. Thoughts of a Young Girl (1:21): MP3
5. The New Realism (2:13): MP3
6. Plainness and Diversity (1:56): MP3
7. Variations, Calypso and Feud (11:55): MP3
8. Chateau Hardware (0:46): MP3
9. Worsening Situation (2:48): MP3
10. The Other Tradition (2:33): MP3
11. The Gazing Grain (1:26): MP3
12. And Ut Pictura Poesis Is Her Name (3:26): MP3
13. At North Farm (2:26): MP3
14. The Songs We Know Best (4:18): MP3
15. Tableaux Parisiens (2:07): MP3
16. More Pleasant Adventures (1:30): MP3
17. A Wave (6:41): MP3
18. Finished Rapsody (7:19): MP3
19. Vettiver (2:11): MP3
20. A Mood of Quiet (1:03): MP3
21. October at the Window (2:53): MP3
22. Forgotten Song (2:56): MP3
23. Someone You Have Seen Before (4:49): MP3

Academy of American Poets Discussion with John Ashbery, Ned Rorem and June LeBell

1. setting poetry to music (4:46): MP3
   
2. appropriate poems and appropriate music (6:05): MP3
   
3. the singer's experience (2:05): MP3
   
4. on phrasing "Thoughts of a Young Girl" (3:15): MP3
   
5. reading and discussing "Fear of Death;" on composers in poetry (5:19): MP3
   
6. on having poetry set to music by Elliot Carter (7:12): MP3
   
7. on poets reading their own poetry, and the human voice (3:11): MP3
   

Complete Conversation, recorded April 30, (52:53): MP3

• Ashbery's Commencement Address to students at the Kansas City Art Institute (27:00): MP3
• Reading in Boyslston Hall, Harvard University, November 10, 1987

  Provided by: The Poets' Theater and Woodberry Poetry Room, Harvard Univeristy Library

  1. introduction by Stratis Haviaras (3:45): MP3
  2. Some Trees (1:33): MP3
  3. Popular Songs (1:55): MP3
  4. Glazunoviana (0:59): MP3
  5. He (3:07): MP3
  6. At North Farm (1:24): MP3
  7. The Songs We Know Best (4:07): MP3
  8. Landscape (After Baudelaire) (1:57): MP3
  9. Just Walking Around (1:07): MP3
  10. 37 Haiku (4:47): MP3
  11. The Lonedale Operator (5:01): MP3
  12. Vetiver (2:12): MP3
  13. Riddle Me (2:04): MP3
  14. Morning Jitters (1:49): MP3
  15. A Snowball in Hell (1:34): MP3
  16. A Mood of Quiet Beauty (0:52): MP3
  17. When Half the Time They Don't Know Themselves (1:20): MP3
  18. Adam Snow (3:04): MP3
  19. The Ice Storm (10:05): MP3
  20. April Galleons (4:08): MP3
  Recording for Radio Helicon, hosted by John Tranter, ABC, June 19, 1988

  John Ashbery (in New York) was interviewed by John Tranter (in Sydney), in May 1988. This interview was edited by John Tranter, and broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Radio National program 'Radio Helicon', on Sunday 19 June 1988, from 8.15 to 10.00 p.m., with other material.

  A partial text of this interview appears in Jacket Magazine's second issue, available here.

  1. "Paradoxes and Oxymorons" (1:09): MP3
  2. "Two Scenes" (1:08): MP3
  3. "Picture of a Little JA in a Prospect of Flowers" (2:53): MP3
  4. "Some Trees" (1:00): MP3
  5. John Ashbery in discussion with John Tranter (8:31): MP3
  6. introduction to "Thoughts of a Young Girl" (0:39): MP3
  7. "Thoughts of a Young Girl (0:39): MP3
  8. "Last Month" (0:59): MP3
  9. John Ashbery in discussion with John Tranter (9:56): MP3
  10. John Tranter introducing Imre Salusinszky's review of Selected Poems (0:30): MP3
  11. Imre Salausinszky (7:03): MP3
  12. "The Painter" (2:05): MP3
  13. Imre Salausinszky (5:55): MP3
  14. "Worsening Situation" (1:51): MP3
  15. Imre Salausinszky (7:24): MP3
  16. musical interlude: from Arvo Pärt's Arbos (6:04): MP3
  17. "Forties Flick" (1:27): MP3
  18. introduction to "Soonest Mended" (0:49): MP3
  19. "Soonest Mended" (4:52): MP3
  20. John Tranter introducing Philip Mead (0:36): MP3
  21. Philip Mead discussing Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror (26:59): MP3
  22. introduction to "And Ut Pictura Poesis Is Her Name" (0:37): MP3
  23. "And Ut Pictura Poesis Is Her Name" (1:43): MP3
  24. discussion of "And Ut Pictura Poesis Is Her Name" (4:45): MP3
  25. "My Erotic Double" (0:59): MP3
  26. "Or In My Throat" (1:06): MP3
  27. "Purists will Object" (1:18): MP3
  28. "Paradoxes and Oxymorons" (1:09): MP3
  29. closing remarks (0:53): MP3
  • complete recording (1:42:49): MP3
  John Ashbery reads Eliot as part of "In Different Voices: T.S. Eliot at 100," organized by Richard Howard, Symphony Space, New York City, October 22, 1988
  • Ashbery's Intro (4:02): MP3
  • Marina (2:08): MP3
  • Animula (2:14): MP3
  Reading at the Poets' Corner Vespers Service for the Induction of Wiliam Faulkner and Wallace Stevens, The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, NYC, October 22, 1989
  • Complete Recording (56:40): MP3
  Reading at 92nd Street Y with James Schuyler, November 11, 1989
  • Ashbery Reading (34:48): MP3
  • Complete Recording with James Schuyler (1:21:34): MP3
  Reading for the Modern Languages Auditorium, University of Arizona, Septeber 12, 1990
  • Complete Recording (45:01): MP3
  "Poets Reading in the Village", April 25, 1991

  Complete recording (37:42): MP3

  1. Introduction (3:00): MP3
  2. Elephant Visitors (1:59): MP3
  3. The Youth's Magic Horn (3:06): MP3
  4. Withered Compliments (1:17): MP3
  5. In My Way / On My Way (5:12): MP3
  6. Private Syntax (1:18): MP3
  7. Korean Soap Opera (4:10): MP3
  8. Of Linnets and Dull Time (1:06): MP3
  9. From Flow Chart (15:21): MP3

  Tracks 2-8 can be found in Hotel Lautréamont (1992), track 9 is from Flow Chart (1991)

  Reading excerpts from Flow Chart on WBAI Radio, New York. April 25, 1991

  Complete recording (16:53): MP3

  Reading and interview on The Book Show, 1992 Hosted by Tom Smith, The Book Show was produced by the New York State Writers Institute at SUNY Albany.
  On this program, Ashbery discusses Flow Chart (1991) and Hotel Lautréamont (1992).
  Complete program (25:09): MP3 Reading of "Syringa" for WNYC's 50th Anniversary, June 13, 1994
  • Complete Recording (5:48): MP3
  Reading for Wednesdays @ 4Plus, University at Buffalo, October 12, 1996
  Ashbery read as part of the Robert Creeley 70th birthday celebration. Introduction by Susan Schultz (introduced by Charles Bernstein)
  

  Complete Reading (48:37): MP3

  Appearing on BBC Radio 3, Contemporary American Poetry Program, July 24, 1999 Complete Reading (19:48): MP3
  From The Voice of the Poet, 2001
  1. Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror (I: "As Parmigianino did it") (8:16): MP3
  2. Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (II: "Tomorrow is easy but today is uncharted") (6:07): MP3
  3. Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (III: "A breeze like the turning of a page") (11:41): MP3
  4. Soonest Mended (4:35): MP3
  Kelly Writers House Fellow, 2002

  Reading at the Kelly Writers House, March 25, 2002

  1. Introduction (10:27): MP3
  2. This Room (2:51): MP3
  3. If You Said You Would Come With Me (3:28): MP3
  4. A Linnet (1:24): MP3
  5. The Bobinski Brothers (1:30): MP3
  6. Merrily We Live (3:32): MP3
  7. Invasive Procedures (2:46): MP3
  8. Memories of Imperialism (2:23): MP3
  9. Strange Occupations (1:45): MP3
  10. Full Tilt (1:58): MP3
  11. Heartache (2:03): MP3
  12. Onion Skin (0:18): MP3
  13. Redeemed Area (2:35): MP3
  14. Crossroads in the Past (1:48): MP3
  15. The Underwriters (2:34): MP3
  16. A Nice Presentation (3:08): MP3
  17. Disagreeable Glimpses (5:41): MP3
  18. Runway (1:52): MP3
  19. As Umbrellas Follow Rain (6:13): MP3
  In discussion with Al Filreis, March 26th, 2002

  Complete discussion (1:03:44): MP3

  1. introduction by Al Filreis (7:36): MP3
  2. memory and age (2:36): MP3
  3. "Crossroads in the Past" and "Enjoys Watching Foreign Films" (5:03): MP3
  4. prose and verse (3:59): MP3
  5. Harvard lectures (2:58): MP3
  6. Delmore Schwartz (3:25): MP3
  7. unknown, "minor" poets (5:54): MP3
  8. confessional poems (3:08): MP3
  9. narrative poetry (1;07): MP3
  10. on publishing (6:35): MP3
  11. reading Ashbery in anthologies and "The One Thing That Can Save America" (3:01): MP3
  12. connections to music and visual art (2:54): MP3
  13. influence of Delmore Schwartz (4:55): MP3
  14. the space between self and poetry (2:47): MP3
  15. current writing process (3:39): MP3
  16. comparison and jealousy (1:50): MP3
  17. "Enjoys Watching Foreign Films" (2:19): MP3

  For more information on Ashbery's visit, and video footage of both events, please visit the Kelly Writers House Fellows Program site.

  From The Key West Literary Seminar, 2003

  lecture on Elizabeth Bishop (12:04): MP3 (more information at Littoral)

  Reading from Chinese Whispers (25:03):MP3

  1. Nice Presentation (3:20): MP3
  2. Disagreeable Glimpses (5:50): MP3
  3. Theme Park Days (1:54): MP3
  4. Why Not Sneeze? (1:06): MP3
  5. View of Delft (1:13): MP3
  6. The Lightning Conductor (2:25): MP3
  7. I Asked Mr. Dithers Whether It Was Time Yet He Said No to Wait (1:11): MP3
  8. Local Legend (2:49): MP3
  9. Runway (1:40): MP3
  10. The Business of Falling Asleep (2) (3:24): MP3
  
  
  John Ashbery appears on "France Culture" on Radio France, February 12, 2003
  • Complete Recording (52:31): MP3
  
  
  Staged Reading of John Ashbery's play "The Compromise"
  Theatre Metropole, Paris, France, March 5, 2007
  1. Introduction (0:54): MP3
  2. Act One (32:08): MP3
  3. Act Two (27:24): MP3
  4. Act Three (36:13): MP3
  
  
  Mo Pitkin's, New York
  June 6, 2007
  

  Readingwith Charles Bernstein

  Sponsored by Poetry magazine & McSweeney's "Chain" issue

  Note: Lynn Emmanuel read first at this event but her reading was not on the CD provided to PennSound.

  • John Ashbery Introduction (1:13) MP3
  • Full Reading by John Ashbery: (22:44) MP3

  Ashbery reads from A Worldly Country

  1. A Worldly Country (3:26): MP3
  2. To Be Affronted (1:58): MP3
  3. Opposition to a Memorial (2:17): MP3
  4. For Now (1:36): MP3
  5. Image Problem (1:34): MP3
  6. A Kind of Chill (0:48): MP3
  7. Well-Scrubbed Interior (1:15): MP3
  8. Thrill of a Romance (1:37): MP3
  9. Phantoum (4:08): MP3
  10. So Long, Santa (1:53): MP3
  https://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/daily/200710.php#24_12:46
  Reading at Haverford College, February 19, 2008

  Complete reading (37:00): MP3

  1. Introduction (0:50): MP3
  2. Discussing Hotel Lautréamont (2:10) MP3
  3. Hotel Lautréamont (2:10) MP3
  4. This Room (0:40) MP3
  5. If You Said You Would Come With Me (2:48) MP3
  6. A Linnet (1:24): MP3
  7. The Bobinski Brothers (1:24): MP3
  8. Merrily We Live (2:46): MP3
  9. The History of My Life (0:45): MP3
  10. Redeemed Area (2:26): MP3
  11. Stanzas Before Time (0:31): MP3
  12. Crossroads in the Past (1:48): MP3
  13. A Nice Presentation (2:24): MP3
  14. Disagreeable Glimpses (5:42): MP3
  15. Sonnet: More of Same (1:00): MP3
  16. A Worldly Country (2:34): MP3

  Please note: the quality of this recording, which was taken from a videotape of the event, is less than optimal; however we felt that its significance merited our posting it, and have done our best to make the audio as clear as possible

  from State of the Union: a Poetry Reading, at the CUNY Graduate Center, October 30, 2008 complete reading (5:58): MP3
  New York Review of Books Podcast, 2009

  John Ashbery reads his selections from among the poems he has published in the New York Review of Books, recorded on February 21, 2009 at the offices of the New York Review of Books. Introduced by Jana Prikryl. Originally broadcast on April 1, 2009, as part of the Review's podcast series.

  1. introduction (0:39): MP3

  from Planisphere

  2. Structures in Sand (0:56): MP3
  3. Working Overtime (0:47): MP3
  4. Episode (1:29): MP3
  5. Summer Reading (1:12): MP3

  from A Worldly Country

  6. introduction to "Pavane pour Helen Twelvetrees" (2:20): MP3
  7. Pavane por Helen Twelvetrees (2:22): MP3
  8. Image Problem (1:26): MP3
  9. discussion of "Strayed Reveler" (0:26): MP3

  from Where Shall I Wander

  10. Days of Reckoning (1:55): MP3
  11. Ignorance of the Law Is No Excuse (1:34): MP3

  from Chinese Whispers

  12. Mordred (2:19): MP3
  13. Random Jottings of an Old Man (1:51): MP3

  from Your Name Here

  14. Crossroads in the Past (1:43): MP3
  15. This Room (0:36): MP3

  from Can You Hear, Bird?

  16. By Guess and by Gosh (1:50): MP3
  from Hotel Lautreamont
  17. On the Empress's Mind (1:39): MP3
  18. From Estuaries, from Casinos (3:53): MP3

  from Shadow Train

  19. Qualm (1:13): MP3
  20. closing remarks (0:27): MP3

  complete recording (31:25): MP3

  Appearing on Belgische Radio en Televisie, Brussels (date unknown) complete recording (55:02): MP3
  
  1. on French writers (4:15): MP3
  2. on achieving the objective rather than the subjective (2:05): MP3
  3. the writing process (0:38): MP3
  4. on writing Three Poems (0:31): MP3
  5. reading "Le Livre est Sur la Table" and discussing influences (5:10): MP3
  6. reading "Variations, Calypso and Fugue on a Theme of Ella Wheeler Wilcox" (17:53): MP3
  7. on writing "Variations, Calypso and Fugue on a Theme of Ella Wheeler Wilcox" (1:19): MP3
  8. sources of inspiration (2:32): MP3
  9. reading "The Tennis Court Oath" (1:57): MP3
  Also on PennSound:
  • They Dream Only of America (Recorded July 22, 1994, in Hudson, NY) (1:07): MP3
  • Setting Poetry to Music Discussion with Ned Rorem (date and location unknown) (1:14:38): MP3
  • Lyrikmagasinet Reading; May 15, 1996 (43:28): MP3
  
  
  John Ashbery on PennSound Daily
  
  
  • January 26, 2010: "John Ashbery: Two Newly Segmented Broadcasts, 1988 and 2009"
  • January 19, 2010: "John Ashbery: "Everyman" at the Poets' Theatre, Harvard University, 1951"
  • October 19, 2009: "John Ashbery Week, Plus PennSound Daily's Anniversary"
  • October 20, 2009: "John Ashbery Week, Day 2: New Letters on the Air and Radio Helicon"
  • October 20, 2009: "John Ashbery Week, Day 3: "Attitudes Towards the Flame" (with Robert Creeley) and Reading T.S. Eliot"
  • October 22, 2009: "John Ashbery Week, Day 4: WNYC and Academy of American Poets Anniversaries, Modern Languages Auditorium"
  • October 23, 2009: "John Ashbery Week, Day 5: With James Schuyler at the 92nd Street Y, 1989"
  • May 18, 2009: "John Ashbery: Staged Reading of "The Compromise," Paris, 2007"
  • April 6, 2009: "John Ashbery: New York Review of Books Podcast, 2009"
  • January 30, 2009: "John Ashbery on Susan Howe's Pacifica Radio Program, 1975"
  • January 14, 2009: "John Ashbery: Four New Recordings"
  • September 8, 2008: "Selections from the Key West Literary Seminar"
  • August 16, 2008: "PoemTalk #9: John Ashbery's 'Crossroads in the Past'"
  • July 18, 2008: "John Ashbery: Four New Readings from the 1960s and 70s"
  • April 2, 2008: "John Ashbery Reading at Haverford College"
  • February 19, 2008: "John Ashbery: Several New Recordings Added"
  • February 7, 2008: "John Ashbery: A Complete 'Litany', read with Ann Lauterach"
  • December 28, 2007: "John Ashbery: Two New Recordings from 1991-1992"
  • November 26, 2007: "John Ashbery's The Songs We Know Best"
  • October 26, 2007: "John Ashbery's 1994 reading of 'They Dream Only Of America'"
  • October 25, 2007: "John Ashbery's 2007 reading at Mo Pitkin's"
  • October 24, 2007: "John Ashbery In Conversation with Al Filreis, 2002"
  • October 23, 2007: "John Ashbery's 2002 Reading at KWH"
  • October 22, 2007: "John Ashbery at Ear Inn"

  These sound recordings are being made available for noncommercial and educational use only. All rights to this recorded material belong to the author. © 2007-2009 John Ashbery. Used with the permission of John Ashbery. Distributed by PennSound and UbuWeb. With special thanks for The Flowchart Foundation's Ashbery Resource Center.
  
  
  From Giorno Poetry Systems
  
  1. THE WRONG KIND OF INSURANCE (3:11)
  
  
  Recorded 10/20/76
  from The World Record (Readings at the St. Mark's Poetry Project, 1969-1980
  
  
  
  2. The Tennis Court Oath (1:56)
  
  
  recorded GPS, February 26, 1969
  from Dial-A-Poem Poets Disconnected (Giorno Poetry Systems, 1972)
  
  
  
  3. A Blessing in Disguise (1:20)
  
  
  Recorded WNET-TV, Poetry: U.S.A., 1966
  from Biting off the Tongue of a Corpse (Giorno Poetry Systems, 1975)