Ted Pearson


Ted Pearson is an American poet. He is often associated with the Language poets.

Life and work

Pearson was born in 1948 in Palo Alto, California. He began studying music in 1960 and began writing poetry in 1964. He subsequently attended VanderCook College of Music, Foothill College, and San Francisco State University. In 1977, Pearson began his long association with the San Francisco Language Poets, who were then actively involved in creating a new school of innovative writing that emerged in San Francisco, New York, and other places during this period. In 1988, Pearson left the Bay Area, and has since lived in Ithaca, Buffalo, Detroit, Redlands, Oakland, and Houston. He now lives in Northampton, MA, with his wife, Sheila Lloyd.
During the 1990s, Pearson was in charge of readings and residencies at Just Buffalo Literary Center.
His poetry has appeared in magazines including the Chicago Review.

Selected publications

  • The Grit, 1976, Trike Books
  • The Blue Table, 1979, Trike Books
  • Soundings, 1980, Singing Horse Press
  • Ellipsis, 1981, Trike Books
  • Refractions, 1982, Origin
  • Flukes, 1982, Privately Printed
  • Coulomb's Law, 1984, Square Zero Editions
  • Mnemonics, 1985, Gaz
  • Catenary Odes, 1987, O Books
  • Evidence: 1975-1989, Gaz 1989,
  • Planetary Gear, 1991, Roof Books
  • Mnèmoniques, 1992, Trans. Françoise de Laroque, Un bureau sur l'Atlantique
  • Acoustic Masks, 1994, Zasterle Press
  • The Devil's Aria, 1999, Meow Press
  • Songs Aside: 1992-2002, 2003, Past Tents Press
  • Encryptions, 2007, Singing Horse Press
  • Extant Glyphs: 1964-1980, 2014, Singing Horse Press
  • An Intermittent Music: 1975-2010, 2016, Chax Press
  • The Coffin Nail Blues, 2016, Atelos
  • After Hours, 2016, Singing Horse Press
  • The Markov Chain, 2017, Shearsman Books
  • Trace Elements, 2019, Tuumba Press
  • Personal Effects, 2019, BlazeVox Books
  • Exit Music, 2019, Singing Horse Press
  • Last Date, 2020, Singing Horse Press
  • Set Pieces, 2021, Spuyten Duyvil
  • Durations, 2022, Selva Oscura Press
  • Overtures, 2023, BlazeVox Books
  • Chamber Music, 2024, Shearsman Books
  • Early Autumn, 2025, Chax Press
  • Trilogy, 2025, forthcoming
  • Epistrophy, 2025, forthcoming