Sugar, Alcohol and Meat: The Dial-A-Poem Poets.

(New York, NY): Giorno Poetry Systems, 1980. First edition. Double LP Album. In 1968, Giorno created Dial-A-Poem placing ten landlines connected to reel-to-reel answering machines in a room in New York City’s Architectural League. In its first four-and-a-half months of operation, Dial-A-Poem logged 1,112,237 incoming calls, including some from listeners overseas. (The original phone number was 212-628-0400.) The hours of heaviest traffic suggested that a lot of bored office workers were sneaking a little poetry into their 9-to-5 day. The idea inspired a number of spin-offs such as Dial-A-Joke, Dial Sports and Dial-A-Horoscope. This volume includes:1. Peter Gordon – Excerpt from “Extended Niceties”, performed by Peter Gordon & David Van Tieghem, 2. John Giorno – I Resigned Myself To Being Here, 3. John Cage – Alex & Gretchen Corazzo, The 6th Patriach Of Zen Buddhism, Once I Was Visiting My Aunt Marge, Dorothy Invited Me, One Of Suzuki’s 4. Tom Carey – Good Night Irene, 5. Andreí Vosnesensky – I Am Goya, Song of Moscow Ancient Church Bells. Side Two: 1. Miguel Pinero – New York City Hard Times Blues, 2. Miguel Algarin – Setenta Y Cinco Abriles, 3. Mitchell Kreigman – In The Bathtub, 4. William S. Burroughs – From Nova Express: I was traveling with The Intolerable Kid on The Nova Lark, 5. William S. Burroughs Jr. – Translucent Boy, An Excellent Time, & For Neal Cassidy, 6. Charlie Morrow – Oh Yeh—Don’t Die, 7. Ted Berrigan – To Jack Kerouac. Side Three: 1. Charlotte Carter – Six Months In Brooklyn, 2. Patti Smith – Parade, 3. Cliff Fyman – Coffee, 4. Robin Messing – 3 Subway Poems from “Temporary Worker”, 5. Paul Violi – Whalefeathers, 6. Bob Holman – RAP IT UP, 7. Allen Ginsberg – C.I.A. Dope Calypso, 8. Anne Waldman – Lady Tactics, 9. John Ashbery – Litany, excerpt from Part II, with Ann Lauterbach, 10. Beth Anderson – I Can’t Stand It, 11. Rene Ricard – Rene Ricard Famous at 20, 12. Barbara Barg – Chicks, 13. Ned Sublette – Nice Young Mormons, 14. Kathy Acker – I Was Walking Down The Street, 15. Eileen Myles – Lorna & Vicki. Side Four: 1. Barbara Barg – So Fine, With Chassler, 2. Didi Susan Dubelyew – Who Needs Exercise, 3. Rochelle Kraut – New Born Sleep,
4. Gary Snyder – What You Should Know To Be A Poet, 5. Daniela Gioseffi – Eggs, 6. Regina Beck – Message From Confucius, 7. Bernard Heidsieck – Canal Street, No 4., 8. Charles Bernstein – Wall As, 9. Steve McCaffery – Viking Log Part 2, with Ted Moses on sax, 10. Ron Padgett – Zzzzz. A very good example with jacket photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe.