1974 Larry Eigner recordings

left: Larry Eigner by Kit Robinson; right: S Press cassette cover

On July 1 and again on July 11 in 1974, Michael Koehler recorded Larry Eigner reading twenty-seven of his poems in Swampscott, Massachusetts. The recordings were later released by S Press, as tape number 37 in their series, under the title Larry Eigner: around new / sound daily / means: Selected Poems. A number of university libraries — and of course individuals — own copies of the recording; but it is fairly rare at this point. Among the libraries with a copy is the special collections archive at the University of Connecticut, where the tape was apparently part of the materials Cid Corman gave them to form the Corman Papers there. I located the Eigner recording in the Corman finding aid, asked the UConn librarians to copy it for us at PennSound. (Many thanks for Melissa Watterworth Batt, curator of Literary, Natural History and Rare Books Collections there.) Soon after, with permission from Richard Eigner, Larry's brother and the executor of the poet’s literary estate, we digitized, uploaded and then segmented the recording into individual poems. They are now available for both streaming and downloading at PennSound’s Eigner page. We wish of course to acknowledge S Press for having made this recording available originally.

  1. Dying (0:38): MP3
  2. A Structured Field (0:11): MP3
  3. A Temporary Language (0:20): MP3
  4. Love Children (0:09): MP3
  5. Magnetic Lines (0:11): MP3
  6. Common Sense (0:32): MP3
  7. Tolstoi's Kept On (0:28): MP3
  8. To Negotiate (0:13): MP3
  9. Music is Human (0:19): MP3
  10. Unyielding Rock (0:37): MP3
  11. Paper (0:32): MP3
  12. The Sky (0:15): MP3
  13. Snow Flakes (0:26): MP3
  14. Trees Stand (0:22): MP3
  15. Time Flies (0:06): MP3
  16. Birds (0:33): MP3
  17. How Much a Squirrel (0:37): MP3
  18. The Sun Goes (0:17): MP3
  19. The Cat's Ears (0:27): MP3
  20. You Gotta Have Steam (0:38): MP3
  21. At Death Olson's (1:31): MP3
  22. Tribute to Cage (1:25): MP3
  23. Around the Frames (0:15): MP3
  24. Open Road (0:12): MP3
  25. Enough New (0:11): MP3
  26. Contact Communication (0:12): MP3
  27. Everybody Dies (0:04): MP3