Steve Dalachinsky

Steven Donald Dalachinsky (September 29, 1946 – September 16, 2019) was an American downtown New York City poet, active in the music, art, and free jazz scenes. He wrote poetry for most of his life and read frequently at Michael Dorf's club the Knitting Factory, the Poetry Project and the Vision Festival, an Avant-jazz festival held annually on the Lower East Side of New York City. Dalachinsky also read his works in Japan, France and Germany. He collaborated with many musicians, writing liner notes for artists: William Parker, Susie Ibarra, Matthew Shipp, Joe McPhee, Nicola Hein, Dave Liebman, Roy Campbell, Daniel Carter, Joëlle Léandre, Kommissar Hjuler, Thurston Moore, Sabir Mateen, Jim O'Rourke, and Mat Maneri.

Dalachinsky authored a compendium of poetry written while listening to saxophonist Charles Gayle perform throughout New York City, a collection of poems which focused on his time as a superintendent at an apartment building in Soho, and other books. Along with pianist Matthew Shipp, he co-authored the book Logos and Language: A Post-Jazz Metaphorical Dialogue and collaborated with French photographer Jacques Bisceglia on Reaching Into The Unknown. His spoken word albums include Incomplete Directions and a collaboration with Shipp on the album Phenomena of Interference. Dalachinsky's works also appeared in several journals and anthologies.

He received the Franz Kafka Prize, Acker Award, PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award and was nominated for a 2015 Pushcart Prize. He lived in Manhattan with his wife, painter and poet Yuko Otomo.

Early life

Let’s put it this way, I’m a poet – or let’s put it more succinctly – what I’ve done for the better part of my life – besides complain and be rude to people – is write poetry – I write poetry, you know? That’s what I do. — ~Dalachinsky — He grew up in the Midwood section of the borough that was mostly an Italian and Jewish neighborhood with parents who were working class and a sister, Judy. Dalachinsky graduated from Midwood High School and briefly attended Brooklyn College. Dalachinsky related that writing process was as if "spontaneity mixed with a conscious pushing" and a "descriptive transformation". The collection was honored in 2007 with a PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award. The book is also unusual because not only is it documenting the music, but also Dalachinsky's state of mind at the precise moment of capturing a musical phrase. Sometimes when Gayle's performance came with a sermon or lecture, commenting on topics like abortion or racial separatism, The poems were written over 20 years and described by Kaufman as, "ash can sonatas to lovemaking with wife, eating out in restaurants, illness, cancelled hopes, money worries, cash scores, tenant complaints, landlord humiliations and ruminations on drug addiction". In his review of the book in Sensitive Skin, Valery Oisteanu wrote: "The free-wheeling Dalachinsky jumps easily from free verse to concrete poetry, from chaotic typography to whimsical designs, word constructions and deconstructions, puns, sound percussion ('tachada, tachada'), plays on names and words à la Duchamp or 'mailtrate de la langue a la Americane'". The poems were written over 34 years and described by Oisteanu as, "a dream-like literary mindscape peppered with head-spinning references, using an erudite knowledge, ostentatious name-dropping and a post-beatnik morphistic narrative of rare synchronicity. A perfect collage of cut-ups; train-of-thought à la Allen Ginsberg; an awkwardly unsettling geography laced with hidden meaning". Abroad, he had read his works in Japan, Germany and England, where he read his Insomnia Poems, a collaboration with composer Pete Wyer for BBC Radio 3. His spoken word albums include Incomplete Directions, Phenomena of Interference with Matthew Shipp and I thought it was the end of the world then the end of the world happened again with Federico Ughi.

In 2019, Steve Dalachinsky released his third and last collaboration with The Snobs, Pretty in the Morning, on French label Bisou Records. The album was recorded live at Espace En Cours in Paris in October 2017 with an extended line-up of the band to accompany his voice: Duck Feeling (guitar, Mellotron, synthesizer, drum machine), Mad Rabbit (bass, sampler), Devil Sister (theremin, trumpet, xaphoon), Fuzzy Weasel (guitar, effects).

Anthologies His poems are included in the anthologies: Beat Indeed, Writers Beyond the Margin Downtown Poets Resistance A History of Jews and the Lower East Side Help Yourself Viviparous Blenny Outlaw Bible of American Poetry Ragged Lion Hurricane Blues Up is Up but So is Down La tentation du silence Le gout du Jazz An Eye for an Eye Makes the Whole World Blind The Unbearables The Worse Book I Ever Read Off the Cuffs In the Arms of Words

Journals His works have appeared in the journals:

Personal life and death Dalachinsky lived in Manhattan with his wife, painter and poet Yuko Otomo.

Books dedicated to jazz

Avant-garde jazz has been a major inspiration for his writing, with five books of his poems dedicated solely to jazz musicians. All of them being written while listening to the music live. Incomplete Directions I Thought It Was The End Of The World Then The End Of The World Happened Again Phenomena of Interference Thin Air Merci Pour le Visite Massive Liquidity (with The Snobs) The Bill Has Been Paid The Fallout Of Dreams ec(H)o - system (with The Snobs) Pray For Me Insomnia Poems Fluxporn/the NO!art Statements (w/Boris Lurie & Dietmar Kirves, Kommissar Hjuler, Mama Baer) Genconhjulachinsky (w/Conrad Schnitzler & Gen Ken Montgomery, Mama Baer) Justifiable Homicide (with Alex Lozupone and Pete M. Wyer) Gotta Keep Moving (Steve Dalachinsky & Albey Balgochian >) Pretty in the Morning (with The Snobs)