Online Audio Poetry Resources: Listening to Mimic

We can learn a lot about poetry from the way that poets read their poetry. I have always loved reading the beat poets because of the natural musicality in the poems. Listening to the recordings that they made can make the poetry come to life all the more. When I first listened to the recording of American Haikus by Jack Kerouac, and its accompaniment by Al Cohn and Zoot Sims, I was beside myself that a poet could be so lively and serious in the same recording. Kerouac had a voice that was created to read poetry, which also made his prose reading come alive.

Not all poets are blessed in the way that Kerouac and the other beats were. Some poets read their work and make you think they want to put you to sleep. It is possible to learn from even these poets, though. When we listen to dull poetry readings, we can ask ourselves why the poem fell flat? Was it the poem or the reading that made it dull? What part, if any, peaked your interest? Why? Why was your interest not sustained?

When we listen to wonderful poetry readings that are full of life and wonder, we should also ask ourselves what made it so enjoyable? Was it the poem or the reading? What can you learn from the way the poet paced him/herself? Was the silence used like you would have expected by just reading the poem yourself? Did the silence detract from the value of the poem, or add to it? Did the words have a natural rhythm, or did the poet have to help it along? Were you able to forget about the rhymes as if they were not there (a feature of all great rhymed poems)? Did the poet use harsh sounds (cacophony) or pleasant sounds (euphony), or did the poet mix the two?

I have compiled a list of online audio poetry collections that you can and should visit to listen to great poetry recordings. Listen to the poems, both those you know and also new-to-you poetry. As you listen to the poems, first enjoy the poem for what it is, then ask yourself the above questions to help you understand why the poem had the effect it did on you. This will not only help your own readings, but also your writing. It will give you a better ear for what works and what doesn’t. The poetry and other audio on the sites listed below are free to listen to. Warning: you can easily spend many hours on each one of these sites.

10 Online Audio Poetry Resources

• PennSound Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing at the University of Pennsylvania. PennSound is an ongoing project, committed to producing new audio recordings and preserving existing audio archives.
• UbuWeb is a completely independent resource dedicated to all strains of the avant-garde, ethnopoetics, and outsider arts.
• Lannan Foundation Audio Archives. You can find links here to all of the audio recordings available on the Lannan Foundation website. The archives contain audio files from the popular Readings & Conversations series, other public Lannan events from the past 16 years, as well as selections from the award-winning literary radio program “Bookworm” with Michael Silverblatt.
• The Poets.org Listening Booth. There are more than 400 audio clips on Poets.org, and our list is always growing.
• Poetry Audio at Salon.com.
• BBC Poetry Out Loud.
• Book of Voices. The Book of Voices is e-poets’ living gallery of literature in text, spoken word, and multimedia; a literary collection lending context, a sense of place, and identity to aural poetry from artists throughout e-poets’ community. It illustrates what we mean when we advocate “aural literacy”: language and wisdom are no less valid when borne of breath instead of paper.
• HarperAudio!
• The Poetry Archive. The Poetry Archive exists to help make poetry accessible, relevant and enjoyable to a wide audience.
• The Poetry Foundation Audio & Podcasts.