Books

BOOKS THAT HAVE BEEN PRINTED

1. As Is — poems and one story, cover photo by John Harryman : The Figures, Berkeley, CA, 1978

2. Blindspots — three long works (two performance transcripts and two poems), cover design by Michael Waltuch : Whale Cloth, Cambridge, ME, 1981

3. Blue Book — selected performance transcripts and poetry from 1978 through 1986, cover painting by Ross Bleckner : The Figures, Great Barrington, MA/Roof, New York, NY, 1988

4. Reverse Order — three long works (an interleaved prose text, a serial poem, and a performance transcript), cover by Vic Moan : Potes & Poets, Elmwood, CT, 1989

5. Roaring Spring — one process work spanning 13 months, cover by Gertrudis Rivalta : Zasterle, Gran Canaria, Spain, 1998

6. Open Clothes — poems, prose, notebook, transcripts, cover photo by Jasper Benson-Sulzer : Atelos, Berkeley, CA, 2005

7. The Grand Piano: An Experiment in Collective Autobiography, San Francisco, 1975-1980 (co-authored with ten other writers, in ten volumes) — Mode A, Detroit, MI, 2006-10

8. Do Your Own Damn Laundry --- collaboration with Suzanne Stein, published by Gauss PDF Editions as GPDF272/GPDFE038, presents in full all 36 dialogue texts resulting from live online improvised colllaborative performances (from 5/8/2011 to 8/10/2012), available in print from Lulu

9. It's a Stool Pigeon Universe --- collaboration with The Splatter Trio, includes a CD of 30 thoroughly improvisational tracks recorded in studio by Splatter and Benson in May 1992, transcripts of vocals on those tracks, memoirs by band members Gino Robair, Myles Boisen, and Dave Barrett, 58-page collection of Benson writing from 1989-1993, essay by Norman Fischer, and photographs, the entire book designed by Dave Barrett and published by Rastacan Records in 2021, available through its Bandcamp pages

10. AS IT HAPPENS --- Three long works written 2011-2017, each on a daily basis, self-published by Benson and available as books from Lulu online since 2021

11. Four Eyes --- Benson's transcripts of four public performances variously improvised for the occasions in 2005-2012, with a new Benson essay on his approach to improvisation in performance, published 2025 by City Point Press, distributed by Simon & Schuster 

CHAPBOOKS

1. The Busses — long serial field poem in page form, cover design by Lyn Hejinian : Tuumba #32, Berkeley, CA, 1981

2. Briarcombe Paragraphs — serial prose revisions, cover by Johanna Drucker and Joseph Simas : Moving Letters, Paris, France, 1984

3. Dominance — fantastic prose, cover design by David Scheidlower : The Coincidence, Oakland, CA, 1985

4. What Are These Signals From? — volume two of a trilogy (WHAT THIS IS), published on line as EP 49 at http://www.essaypress.org/ep-49/ : Essay Press EP series, internet, 2016

MAGAZINES with only Benson work in them (so, kind of like chapbooks too)

1. Steel Idea — Miam 6, ed. Tom Mandel, 1978

2. Echo & Narcissus — Qu 1, ed. Carla Harryman, 1980

3. Don’t Explain &  Voiceovers — Abacus 29, ed. Peter Ganick, 1987

4. the door, so that now — tolling elves, ed. Thomas Evans, 2003

BOOKS I MADE, given to some friends at the time

1. 1. Untold Words — saddlestitched, various prose and poems, 1976

   2. X Words — saddlestitched, various prose and poems, 1977

   3. Views of Communist China — saddlestitched, talk transcript, 1977 (See http://www.kenningeditions.com/2009/12/previews-supplements-steve-bensons-views-of-communist-china/ for documentation of this book.)

   4. X — sewn, “vanity mirrors” and prose studies for “Blindspots,” 1977