Listening Up

I've never read this poem, I've only heard it. I highly recommend the experience.

Dan Beachy-Quick

Chorus and Hero


(Play the audio and skip to 3:42)

Poetry Foundation

I must admit, shamefully, that I can't listen to poetry read. From the local open mic to Dylan Thomas to  Elizabeth Alexander's poem for President Obama's inauguration, I just have a hard time paying attention. My mind wanders, I start to critique the emotion and inflection, and then feel guilty for it.


I have a hard time believing poetry was once an oral tradition. I'll take bad jokes, cheesy ghost stories, "Prairie Home Companion" reruns or racist old-timey radio shows before I'll listen to someone read a poem to me. (Maybe this explains my prevailing attitude of "meh" to slam poetry. It's like stand-up comedy but without the funny and with more portentous pauses.)


So it's actually pretty unusual for me to enjoy it this much. I think it's the repetition and variation that really hooks me in. I know I'm missing a lot because I can't take my time, read and re-read, dwell on a sentence or phrase. But for once I enjoy letting the experience just happen, and whatever I'm not getting is just gone.