Here is Wendell Berry's well-known poem, "The Peace of Wild Things," read by the author and illustrated in a poetry film by Charlotte Ager & Katy Wang with the On Being Project. Having grown up in the country, I often took refuge in the woods near our home when I was a child. Holding those memories in addition to many experiences in nature through the years, I can attest to the truth of Berry's poem.
e.e. cummings does a delightful reading of his poem, "in just spring."
[in Just-]
in Just-
spring
when the world is mud-
luscious
the little
lame
balloonman
whistles
far and wee
and
eddieandbill come
running
from marbles and
piracies
and it's
spring
when the
world is puddle-wonderful
the queer
old
balloonman whistles
far
and wee
and
bettyandisbel come dancing
from
hop-scotch and jump-rope and
it's
spring
and
the
goat-footed
balloonMan
whistles
far
and
wee
Galway Kinnell reads his poem, "Wait," a poem he wrote as advice to a troubled student. Found on the Poets.org YouTube channel.
A beautiful reading by British-Canadian actor John Neville of John Keats' famous sonnet, "When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be"
From the YouTube notes:
W.S. Merwin reads his poem "Yesterday." Part of the Poetry Everywhere project airing on public television. Produced by David Grubin Productions and WGBH Boston, in association with the Poetry Foundation. Filmed at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival.
____________________________
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
-
Dana Gioia, speaking at the Library of Congress talks about the special power of poetry as an oral art form, how it taps into a different kind of knowing, and how academic analysis in the classroom has robbed poetry of its beauty.
What I love about this poetry reading is that the poem is read not by an actor, not by an English professor but by a high school custodian, demonstrating that poetry is for everyone, not just the academics or the elite.
A couple of years ago, a representative from the Starbucks Company walked into a local Starbucks coffee shop in the Birmingham area and happened to meet a young spoken word artist named Brian Hawkins, aka Voice Porter. They struck up a conversation, Brian shared one of his poems, and the Starbucks rep was so impressed, they made a video of his recitation and flew him out to their convention. We're glad that The Voice happened to be getting coffee that day. Here is Brian Hawkins' poem via Starbucks Presents:
________________________
-
Here is Helen Mirren reading from Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem, "Ulysses," to an emotional Stephen Colbert on The Late Show. This clip has been popular across social media, which is evidence of the beauty and the power of poetry.
Morgan Freeman's voice adds weight to whatever he speaks or narrates on film. In this interview, he recites from memory a poem that has had meaning for him.
"Invictus," by William Ernest Henley is the poem that inspired Nelson Mandela to persevere through hardship.
A thoughtful conversation on Trevor Noah's The Daily Show in which Amanda Gorman talks about reading "The Hill We Climb" at the Presidential Inauguration. She also talks about the role of poetry in society in terms of "cleansing" and "resurrecting" our ideals, and in terms of activism to make things better.
How many times does poetry break into late-night talk shows on television? I don't know for sure, but this week we will be presenting some of those moments.
Today we hear Lawrence Fishburne recite e.e. cummings' "Freedom Is a Breakfast Food" on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
From an article in Open Culture, "The Beatles’ ‘Blackbird’ Sung in the Indigenous Mi’kmaq Language"
To raise awareness of her native language, 16-year-old Emma Stevens sang a version of The Beatles’ 1968 classic “Blackbird” in the Mi’kmaq language, an Eastern Algonquian language spoken by nearly 11,000 in Canada and the United States. A member of the Eskasoni First Nation, the Nova Scotia student sang lyrics that were painstakingly translated by Katani Julian, a teacher who works in language revitalization.I had a truncated version of this interview in my previous post. On YouTube, we find an extended version of Bill Moyers' interview with Coleman Barks in the PBS series, The Language of Life. He talks about Rumi, mysticism, poetry, and those oceanic experiences of life and poetry. I have posted it in four parts below.
Part 1
One of my favorite renditions of a Rumi poem by Coleman Barks.
From the On Being program notes on YouTube:
Shortly before his death in 2008, the late Irish poet John O'Donohue recited his poem, meaning blessing, during an interview with Krista Tippett. We've woven his close friends' photographs of him in his Celtic landscapes with this reading.
Some brief comments from the poet Naomi Shihab Nye about the contributions poetry can make in our individual lives as well as in our society.
I first heard Sonya Sanchez when she came to Birmingham several years ago when the Public Library was having an event celebrating Alabama authors. She read some of her poems and I was engulfed in one of those rare moments when the spoken word transports an entire audience.
Sonya Sanchez, author, poet, and playwright, was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and went on to teach in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1965. She was a pioneer in the development of Black Studies at San Francisco State University.
My thanks to Penny Nash st Penelopepiscopal for sharing this beautiful musical setting. It is e.e. cummings' poem "Daffodils" set to music by Jeremy Kings (b. 1987). It is performed by Vox 16 at Trinity Parish Church, Seattle, Washington.
It is quite fitting as we celebrate National Poetry Month to hear the words of a poet set to music.
______________________________
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
-
I have come to enjoy Irish poet Pádraig Ó Tuama's podcast, Poetry Unbound, in which he reads a poem, discusses it, then reads it again. He exhibits a profound respect for the poem and the poet. Here he is reading his own poem, "The Facts of Life," beautifully accompanied by live music.
National Poetry Month
The poet often taps into what Jung called our collective unconscious, giving voice to our humanity and meaning to our struggles. A good poem, therefore, tells us something we already know. When we read it or hear it we say, “Ah, yes.” An exceptional poem tells us something we are on the verge of knowing. When we read it or hear it, we say, “Oh my!”
~ Charles Kinnaird
National Poetry Month is upon us once again! This month on
my blog, I will be celebrating the spoken word from a variety of poets. In some
cases, we will hear the poets reciting their own work, in other cases, we will
hear others reciting poetry from well-known poets. I hope you will take some
time to listen, perhaps to say, “Ah, yes,” or maybe even to exclaim, “Oh my!”
Be thinking about poems that you remember, or poetry that has had an impact upon you. If you could pick one poem that is a favorite, what would it be?
-
