Poetry on Record: 98 Poets Read Their Work

by Rebekah Presson Mosby (Compiler & Producer)

Hardcover in slipcase. Light edgwear to case, no other notable flaws. Almost like new. AD

Genres: Poetry, Audiobook

68 pages, Audio CD

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Jackie B. - Death by Tsundoku · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poetry on Record is perfect for anyone who thinks poetry isn't for them. 4 discs, 98 poems, all recordings of the poets reading their own works. Suddenly, it all makes sense; this is how poetry is meant to be experienced. Thrust into this world you can hear how poetry can be an incredibly moving art. But, just like physical art, you won't enjoy all 98 works. And that's okay. To each their own.

Each poet is as diverse as their words. For example, Gertrude Stein knows her poetry is a form of performance art and owns it in If I Told Him: A Completed Portrait of Piccasso (which is an AMAZING poem). On the other hand, Ogden Nash seems to merely read, rather than recite his poetry. That said, his words still rang true to my ears. And Anne Waldman's Uh Oh Plutomium shocked me-- I cannot imagine this poem performed in any other way. It must always be done with 80'stastic rock music and back-up singers.

All-in-all, I'd recommend Poetry on Record to anyone who thinks they don't like poetry or who is convinced poetry is a waste. This will change your mind, if you can get past some of the poor recordings. And if you love poetry, or even have a cursory enjoyment, but you haven't heard the original poets read their own works-- check this out. Please. You won't regret it.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am listening to this in the car on my l o n g commute to work. You should have seen me laughing my head off at Alan Ginsberg reading his poem "America". I would never have thought he meant his poem that way if I hadn't heard him read it. Favorite line: America, I was a communist when I was a boy and I'm not sorry. The audience loved it, too.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Hear poems read by the poets the way they want them read,” writes Rebekah Presson Mosby in the producer’s note.

It is here that we can celebrate the ancient tradition of oral poetry, which predates writing. The first known poems date back thirty-five hundred years, written down much later.

This sixty-page book accompanies four audio discs of over a hundred poems as read by the poets.

The early style of reading to the public heard here harkens to a time when poets and writers talked in large theaters, projecting into the balcony before amplification.

In high school English one day, the teacher brought in a record player so that we could hear Carl Sandburg and Robert Frost reading their poetry. That class stuck with me. Here, at long last, I can hear again these two reading some of their work, although I want to find audio of more familiar work by Carl Sandburg.

Dorothy Parker also reads a few of her poems. Jack Kerouac reads his haikus, accompanied by Zoot Sims.

[Ambrose Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Besides the 63 page book of essays, track list and poet bios, there are 98 poets who read their own work from Thomas Edison's wax recordings of 1889-1890 of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning and Walt Whitman. The anthology ends at 2006 with the poetry of Carl Hancock Rux. Excellent!

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of poems, recorded by the poets who wrote the poems.

I received this many years ago as a gift, and I've listened to it many times over the years.

I pulled it out recently for a re-listen during National Poetry Month.

[Nandan · Rating 3 out of 5]

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

- William Carlos Williams

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful collection, which I listen to about once a year, of mostly 20th-century poets reading their work.

What’s truly astounding, though, is listening to 19th-century ones—Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Walt Whitman—whose voices I, for one, never expected to hear. My favorite will always be Edna St Vincent reading Recuerdo: We were very tired/We were very merry/We went back and forth all night on the ferry....

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is how poetry was meant to be experienced. I listened to these audio recordings of poets reading their poems while driving across the Great Plains during the wheat harvest and the trip left me changed. While the recordings from the 1800s were rough and hard to understand and some poems seemed dated, from Robert Frost's readings onward, these poems gave me a sense of the evolution of our cultural voices (from all-white men to multicultural and multilingual poets) and how far we've come as well as the timeless struggles of the human predicament. There is something that comes across in some of the African-American and women poets that struck me deep in the heart and that will stay with me for a long time. Perhaps it's the ability to transmute great suffering and oppression into an art so small yet so moving and beautiful.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent option for someone like me who doesn't read a lot of poetry to gain exposure. I found myself extremely angry and depressed realizing the huge emotional impact poetry can have (e.g., Adrian Louis, Sterling Brown). I laughed (e.g., Resume by Dorothy Parker, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Bukowski). I was heartbroken (e.g., The Mother by Gwendolyn Brooks). I was deeply moved by just a few words:
The tree looks like a dog, barking at heaven - Kerouac

Of note, I skipped a bunch of disc one. I couldn't get my speaker setting to distill the scratchy, background distortions enough to make listening to the early poems enjoyable.

[Valarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't sure how the poems were selected for this work. Many were downright laughable, but there were also plenty of great works (disc 2 had my favorites) and hearing them read by their original authors was a valuable experience. I'm glad that I listened to this in my car instead of the same music over and over!

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tremendous. A great collection of poetry, that is benefited by being read by the original poets, sometimes with a bit of introduction by the poet. It's very interesting to hear the poets put their spin on their poems, sometimes emphasizing the meter, sometimes the rhymes, and sometimes adding music.

[C · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most beautiful collections of poems that I've ever had the pleasure of listening to. There are a few poems that are hard to hear, but that's because the audio was so old. Utterly moving and magnificent.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was very cool to hear the poets themselves read their own. They even had one from Tennyson from 1880's, although that recording was really hard to understand because it was so old.

[Grady Ormsby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Companion book to a four CD set of poems being read by the poets who wrote them. I've got the poems on my iTunes and really enjoy listening.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love hearing poems in the voice of the poets.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very nice way to enjoy a variety of poetry. Each poem is read by the author.