do any of you do this? i never thought of it until a friend informed me he does this. i'm intrigued.

i mean, i've tried and tried to read poetry and make it something more than pain and torture, but i can't do it. and i'm thinking listening will change my appreciation.

It's hard for the very rational people to enjoy poetry, because a lot of good poetry involves elements of the irrational (See: Lorca's duende). Not that it's impossible. Schopenhauer loved poetry and music. Then again, he's not exactly an analytic philosopher, and I'd definitely put you more in the analytic field.

But yes, poetry is traditionally meant to be read out-loud, and the best poetry sounds as good verbally as it does on the page. Try it. I mean, "Howl" looks awesome on the page, but you don't get the thundering aspect of Ginsberg's voice that way (Note: not his real voice. IRL he was a bad reader.)

It looks great on the page? What kind of massive pages are you reading from?

And by the way, I read Walt Whitman's song of myself just because it was taking forever and I needed a change of pace... it worked well, and I really enjoyed hearing it more than just reading it.

I love the repeating stanzas on the pages. It has a similar hypnotizing effect that reading it does.

Interesting... I'm just not really sure what you mean. Each stanza is basically one massive line...

The version I read looked like this:

http://members.tripod.com/~Sprayberry/poems/howl.txt

I can't say I've listened to that much poetry, but my girlfriend bought me a boxed set of Kerouac reading a lot of his stuff. I enjoy listening to him read things in his voice expecially. It's such a good way to really understand what he means, really, because he puts the emphasis on what he thinks is important. Anyone familiar with Kerouac knows how much his writing comes off as rambling lunacy on the page, but when he reads it, you kind of get him. At least, I do.

Bukowski's "Nirvana" read by Tom Waits.

Ok, I understand that. I read it in an American poetry anthology... I guess the layout was similar to that, but the lines were a little longer. The lines listed in the margin show that each of those stanzas is actually a single line. Basically, if you had paper big enough, the layout is intended to be displayed as a single massive line running the length of the page for every stanza.

this works well for me.

she said to me, over the phone
she wanted to see other people
i thought, "well then, look around, they're everywhere"
said that she was confused...
i thought, "darling, join the club"
24 years old, mid-life crisis
nowadays hits you when you're young
i hung up, she called back, i hung up again
the process had already started
at least it happened quick
i swear, i died inside that night
my friend, he called
i didn't mention a thing
the last thing he said was, "be sound"
sound...
i contemplated an awful thing, i hate to admit
i just thought those would be such appropriate last words
but i'm still here
and small
so small.. how could this struggle seem so big?
so big...
while the palms in the breeze still blow green
and the waves in the sea still absolute blue
but the horror
every single thing i see is a reminder of her
never thought i'd curse the day i met her
and since she's gone and wouldn't hear
who would care? what good would that do?
but i'm still here
so i imagine in a month...or 12
i'l be somewhere having a drink
laughing at a stupid joke
or just another stupid thing
and i can see myself stopping short
drifting out of the present
sucked by the undertow and pulled out deep
and there i am, standing
wet grass and white headstones all in rows
and in the distance there's one, off on its own
so i stop, kneel
my new home...
and i picture a sober awakening, a re-entry into this little bar scene
sip my drink til the ice hits my lip
order another round
and that's it for now
sorry
never be

Good call

I always thought that poem was pretty cringeworthy.

if it doesn't sound right, it doesn't work. words and sounds must make patterns. sometimes something ends up written because of the sound of a single line, which for the writer, has a meaning that can't be shaken and everything ends up evolving around that. What's oddly fascinating to me, is giving up that line because it no longer works, and being left with the poem.

cee bee

that's a damn hard poem.

.

Agreed.

I've never not listened to poetry. Even when I'm reading it silently I'm really listening to it in my head.

i wish poetry always came like this

Maybe it's just the voice and the accompanying music, but I love the way it sounds.

Spoken Word. I love this stuff. Does anyone know of a good website with a whole library of this? I could listen to it for a while. It's like rapping, except better.