Poetry Everywhere

March 8, 2014 2:58 AM

Poetry Everywhere, produced by WGBH, in cooperation with the Poetry Foundation, presents videos of poetry being read, often by the author. And, if you want to introduce a child to poetry, don't miss the animated films made by students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. (there even seems to be one written and animated especially for MetaFilter, Spacebar)
posted by HuronBob (2 comments total)

While I was ruining myself back down to the deep,
Someone appeared—one who seemed nearly to fade
As though from long silence. I cried to his human shape

In that great wasteland: "Living man or shade,
Have pity and help me, whichever you may be!"
No living man, though once I was," he replied.

My parents both were Mantuans from Lombardy,
And I was born sub Julio, the latter end.
I lived in good Augustus's Rome, in that day

Of the false gods who lied. A poet, I hymned
Anchises' noble son, who came from Troy
When superb Ilium in its pride was burned.

But you—who go back down to such misery?
Why not ascend the delightful mountain, source
And principle that causes every joy?"

(From Pinsky's translation of Dante's Inferno)
posted by ersatz at 3:19 AM on March 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

Today's poem was "Stone" read by Charles Simic, and led me on a meandering mental path making connections with other things such as a game show in which a contestant upended the rules, a radio show about a rinky-dink airline, and an unsettling piece of fiction by Mary Gaitskill written from the point of view of a man who fantasizes about violence towards women. No particular point to that except that good poetry, in its density and multiple meanings, often seems to connect everything and, just for a moment, to illuminate the "strange writings, the star-charts/On the inner walls" of other people's minds.

I highly recommend reading one poem a day and to write a few lines about it. I try to do that, with mixed success, but when I do, my life seems richer.
posted by Peach at 7:51 AM on March 8, 2014 [3 favorites]