Listening to a poem can change everything. As you’ve read before on the Core Blog, James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake seems much less incomprehensible when Joyce is reading it. But what about poetry, so focused on the language and word play, frequently taking at least three readings to understand fully? Yeah, listening to those read can be truly beautiful as well. Poetry has as much a relationship with sound as it does with language. Knowing this, the Poetry Foundation has created a podcast of Donald Hall’s list of Essential American Poets reading their own poems. This episode contains three poems by E.E. Cummings who reads them slowly in his melodic voice. I mean, who doesn’t want to hear the genius himself say “if freedom is a breakfast food”? We at Core just love that kind of stuff.
So start your break off right with something calming and educational, and let us know if you think the poem has greater meaning after hearing it read. We think so, but we always love hearing your opinion.
