Search - In Their Own Voices :: In Their Own Voices: A Century of Recorded Poetry

A Feast For The Ears

07/13/1997

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I wonder what our world would be like if our ancestors had learned first to preserve language in an archival form (that is, durable, convenient for shelving, and available for idle perusal) as spoken rather than written. Before we knew how to write, poetry was already a living and ancient art. We knew it as spoken word, recited before a crowd. The recital was as much of a performance as a play. Somewhere in the last two or three millenniums we have forgotten how important the spoken word is to poetry, how far a voice carries toward making the art accessible. This anthology of 20th century recorded poetry, released without an accompanying text, forces us to reconsider our normally complacent approach to verse. We cannot *read* these poems, we can only *listen* as their creators perform them for us. It's a wonderful opportunity and a thrilling experience! The collection starts with a scratchy take of Walt Whitman, notable mostly because it is the first recording of a poem. It progresses smoothly through the 20th century via a multi-cultural variety of 79 known and lesser-known poets reading 122 known and lesser-known poems. Most poetry is spoken, some is sung. A few include music. One of these--an excerpt of Jack Kerouac's "American Haikus" punctuated with a saxophone--is one of the high points of the collection. Another--Anne Waldman's clumsy "Uh Oh Plutonium"--is the worst of the bunch. Even it can be excused, as all selections contribute to the theme at the heart of this anthology: at least some poetry, even in this book-bound age, is meant to be read and heard aloud. The ancient art in its richest tradition is alive and well. END"

Captivating!

Joanna Snyder | Wyoming | 02/10/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As an avid fan of poetry, chills run up my spine when I listen to poems I have held in my hands as paper, read by their creators. This album, is a vocalization of our country's history throughout the twentieth century and you will be captivated with each reading. (Particular favorites of mine: Langston Hughes, Alan Ginsburg, Amiri Baraka, Theodore Roethke, Maya Angelou, to name a few)."

It will break your breath in half!

Eliano Sanchez Jr | New York City, New York United States | 04/17/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"if you're into poetry...this is essential. best purchase of an audio cd i ever made."