eNOTHING Audio Series -- Maya Angelou reads her own "Still I Rise"

We've featured several of Dr. Maya Angelou's inspirational poems in our "Poem of the Day" and "Top 100 or so..." blog posts, with fabulous results.  Angelou's poetry and her legacy has served to raise the awareness of poetry in the 20th century - in fact she is perhaps the most popular poet in recent history.

Her themes are largely based on pride, feminism, and a very positive and inspirational approach to celebrate one's unique self.

Although she is lauded for her poems about race and women, she has served as a powerful role model to all -- don't accept inequality, maintain your pride, and confront your enemies and your battles -- with a smile.

Enjoy her wonderful reading:

eNOTHING Audio Series -- Sylvia Plath reads her own "Daddy"

This is one of my favorite poems by one of my favorite poets.  Like most of the eNOTHING Audio series -- featuring some of the master poets reading their own work, I find her voice fascinating, and the connection to her troubled view of her father (foiled suicide attempt to be with him) is there, yet hidden from view.

So, listen to Sylvia reading this classic poem, which of course has made our "Top 100 or so..." list, and enjoy this wonderful poet.

Who should we include next?

eNOTHING Audio Series -- Dylan Thomas Reading "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"/And an Anthony Hopkins rendition

Note:

Listen to BOTH readings below -- one by Dylan Thomas and the other a classic beautiful rendition by actor Anthony Hopkins.

Dylan Thomas is a poetic legend, and several of his classic poems have made either our "Poem of the Day" or "Top 100 or So..." series of articles and tweet broadcasts.  Some of his classic works include "And Death Shall Have No Dominion", "Under Milk Wood", and "Fern Hill" as well has his well known ode to his fathers passing "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night", which is featured here.

One of the goals of our "Audio Series" of articles is to bring you a dose of "reality" with regards to the classic poetry of modern times -- allowing you to listen to the living voice of each of these important literary icons.  On that basis alone Dylan Thomas needs to be represented.  Dylan Thomas legendary wild nights of alcoholism in and around London and New York's Greenwich Village (the Chelsea Hotel of course) and his theatrical and speaking career and reading tours stand for themselves, and so here is the best recording I could find of his classic poem.

You will notice some interesting comments by readers below the YouTube video.  Although I am a staunch defender of poetry, I tend to agree with his opinion about pompousness.  Interesting and important note, here:

One of the reasons for the existence of these pages, is our goal to help bring poetry and poets into the streets, easy for people to understand and easy to grasp why there is/was a pop culture surrounding poetry.  We want to erase or reduce the stigma of "pompousness" and grandiose language and ego which follows poetry in the eyes of the masses...and it's true, that some poets (Dylan Thomas, here) when they read their poems, read for the READING and not to convey the original intent and emotion.

So following the Thomas reading, I've included an absolutely wonderful reading of the same poem by none other than Anthony Hopkins...which probably captures the moments of emotion as Thomas sat down to write the poem, in tears.

Enjoy both!

eNOTHING Audio Series "Sunday Morning" classic poem -- read by Wallace Stevens

The poetry of Wallace Stevens is featured on our blog with 12 different posts or articles.  One of the great romantic Modernist poets of the 20th century, Wallace Stevens poems are such interesting compositions of words presented with such uniqueness -- as word pictures -- and in format -- that I find it impossible to ignore his work.

Wallace Stevens was a corporate Vice President at "The Hartford" insurance company in the mid 20th century.  For many of us who have studied the beat movement and grown up in and through the sixties, this fact sometimes gives him an instinctive negative label - which makes his poetry even MORE interesting.  

I find his lyrical voice and imagery almost psychedelic in nature, and as such - a generation-bending glue that binds creative souls of all types together, despite the surprising cover that surrounds his spiritual book.

Even more amazing, Stevens poetry comes through as obtuse, complex - and he is one of the most analyzed poets of the 20th century (in my mind, second only to Cummings); yet if you look closely he rarely abuses his knowledge of language and words with pretention and complexity of words.  A poet of the common man, using words that everyone can understand (I employ this technique myself as a direct result).

Here, for your pleasure, is one of Stevens more famous poems, "Sunday Morning" -- as read by the poet himself in the mid 1950's, shortly before his death.

His tone, rhythm, cadence and pace are awe-inspiring.  Enjoy this addition to our audio series:

eNothing Audio Series "Somewhere I have never traveled, gladly beyond" reading by E.E. Cummings

Continuing our series of famous poems read by famous poets, we offer one of E.E. Cummings most recognizable works.  Cummings was one of the most innovative, popular and recognizable American poets of the 20th Century.

Well known for his idiosyncratic style, this Cummings poem, like many of his well-known works, is a poem about love.  The spirituality of his phrases envelope the heart and the metaphors he offers to connect this love (to the inevitability of nature, for example) allow the reader to feel their own love in a more expressive way.

Listening to his voice as it transcends time is very interesting, perhaps even eerie.  The scratchiness of the sound quality helps to create this strange sensation.  But the depth of his feeling comes through in his voice, and the careful timing and phonetics that only the poet himself could employ add to the audio.

Enjoy this piece!

eNothing Audio Series "American Haiku" reading by Jack Kerouac (with Jazz Sax riffs!)

This delightful 9 minute audio features Jack Kerouac reading his form of Haiku (self-named "American Haiku") which influenced by the irreverence of the Beat Generation and the coolness, looseness and improvisation of American Jazz. 

Kerouac's form of Haiku was (like the Beat movement itself) a slap in the face of tradition.  As poetry, the strict syllabic rules of traditional Japanese Haiku are ignored in favor of a looser "statement, tension, resolution" style of poetry following the musical tenets of blues and Jazz.

In fact when you listen to each of Kerouacs "American Haiku" poems, you'll notice that each one is followed by an interpretive, creative jazz or blues saxophone riff which closely resembles the mood of the haiku which preceded it!  Delightful.

Enjoy:

eNothing Audio Series -- "Bluebird" by Charles Bukowski -- Read by Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski has about 5 poems represented in the eNothing archive of articles.  "So you want to be a writer", "Fire Station", "To The Whore Who Stole my Poems", are featured here, as well as one of his more famous works, "Bluebird" -- which was originally featured on "POEM OF THE DAY" series and also the "TOP 100 or so POEMS of ALL TIME" series of posts and tweets from the eNOTHING blog.

Our Audio series selects a number of great poems and allows you to listen to them as poetry readings.  Preferably, and in most cases the reading will be performed by the author -- in some cases they will be performed by a professional or amateur.

In any case, the idea is to lift that burden of interpretation occasionally.  Just sit back and listen.

On this poem, you can almost feel the cold toughness of Bukowski -- you can enter his world of "Whiskey, Whores and Cigarette smoke" and actually hear it in his unapologetic voice.  But you also get a teeny hint (and almost subliminal shot) of his heart, his broken heart, his childhood and his sensitivity, through the begrudging existence of the Bluebird there within it.

Enjoy!

eNothing Audio Series -- "Chorus 113 - Mexico City Blues" by Jack Kerouac -- Read by Johnny Depp

This is the first of our Audio Poetry Series posts, in which we'll try to open up the Poetry experience to you by posting readings (usually by the great poets themselves) to allow you to experience the poetry in a more dynamic way.

Some of Kerouac's poetry will definitely be featured here, as well as Ginsberg, Cummings, Neruda, William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, Sylvia Plath and the like.  Very interesting stuff, allowing you to feel the rhythm and meter of the poetry as it was imagined or interpreted by the authors themselves.

In this case we offer one of Kerouacs more famous choruses from his famous collection "Mexico City Blues".  But rather than offer up a reading by Kerouac himself, I chose this interesting, artistic impression by none other than Johnny Depp, the epitome of cool today -- a real throwback to the Beat/Hippie poetry movement and a scholar of great literature and art.  This is a side of Johnny Depp that not everyone is aware of, but in many ways Depp's interest and involvement in the arts is what separates him from the rest.

Listen and watch -- Depp really catches the feeling and despair of Kerouac quite nicely and the music provides a spiritual backdrop which adds to the drama of this exquisite piece!