Monday, December 27, 2010
Poetry
A friend at work is a poetry reader/writer(?), Seidel, Larkin, etc. I confessed to him that I am not a big reader of poetry. From reading, I do get the occasional blast of recognition or imaginative journey, but I regret I don't understand poetry like other forms of expression—I am unfamiliar with poetry's politics and traditions. Maybe I'm a lazy reader...maybe I'm trying too hard.
Yet, I do enjoy hearing it read—the cadence and emphasis of the author's voice is always engaging. (Although, I don't think this is Lowell's voice.)
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Not a writer. I am, in fact, possibly the least creative person ever.
I don't know if you checked it out, but the audio of Seidel reading a few of his poems at the Times is pretty good. I find the image of the weeping stag in "Kill Poem" to be heartbreaking, even if I have some misgivings about the tone shift to which he uses it in the final stanza (mostly it's the final line that bugs me--too pat.) And I love how it sounds like he's hawking up a loogie when he pronounces "Racine".
I think some colleagues would kill me if they knew I admired "Broadway Melody".
There are recordings of Larkin reading his poems--a cd of them came out a while back, don't have it (yet). The ones I've heard have confirmed his vocal resemblance to Eeyore.
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