Poetry Listening

An immersive collection of poetry to open your world, curated by the host of Poetry Unbound This inspiring collection, edited by Pádraig Ó Tuama, presents fifty poems about what it means to be alive in the world today. Each poem is paired with Pádraig’s illuminating commentary that offers personal anecdotes and generous insights into the content of the poem. Engaging, accessible and inviting, Poetry Unbound is the perfect companion for everyone who loves poetry and for anyone who wants to go deeper into poetry but doesn’t necessarily know how to do so. Poetry Unbound contains expanded reflections on poems as heard on the podcast, as well as exclusive new selections. Contributors include Hanif Abdurraqib, Patience Agbabi, Raymond Antrobus, Margaret Atwood, Ada Limón, Kei Miller, Roger Robinson, Lemn Sissay, Layli Long Soldier and more.

Each poem is a practice in feeling rapture, deeply observing the world, and then seeing otherwise.

This delightful, interactive journey through the history of the world's poetry now includes a removable poster and access to downloadable audio, allowing kids to listen and learn as they experience the magic of the spoken word. Poetry can be fun -- especially when we can read it, hear it, and discover its many delights. A Child's Introduction to Poetry joyously introduces kids (and parents) to the greatest poets in history -- from Homer and Shakespeare to Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou -- and provides excellent examples of their work and commentary on what makes it so special and everlasting. The book covers every style of poem, from epics and odes, to nonsense verse and haikus, and is filled with examples of each one. This multimedia package encourages children to listen, read, and learn, and opens the door to a lifetime of appreciation of a rich literary tradition. Also included is a removable, fold-out poster of "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll, one of history's most iconic poems.

"The Beauty of Listening" explores and honors the ever-challenging art and skill of listening. Inside these pages, you'll meet paper dolls and monsters, writers at work and words at play, and you'll find many open questions of perspective. While each poem tells its own story, the collection also tells a larger listening story. From thoughts on where listening begins to the evolution of words and communication styles, the story leads into the deep need for listening time, both inner and interpersonal. Inner listening is explored from intuition to where inner and interpersonal listening entwine, making self-awareness essential for truly listening to others. The final section, Last Words, includes an uplifting poem for paper dolls, the thoroughly unhindered perspective of a ghost, and a vision of the last printed page. "The Beauty of Listening" is a journey filled with moments of awareness, meaningful connections, humor, folly, and the gentle reminder that listening is not as simple as it seems.

"Dani Couture's latest poems are transmissions that travel across the cosmos and the spaces we live in, as well as within the more intimate distances we navigate between one another. Distances we hope to bridge with contact, often to profound or disastrous effects. With language rooted in science, sociology, memoir and aesthetics, she questions the limits of our bodies, both human and celestial. Like the subtle cues we lend one another and the hopeful messages we send into deep space, these poems broadcast our greatest aspirations and vulnerabilities."--Provided by publisher.

Close Listening brings together seventeen strikingly original essays, especially written for this volume, on the poetry reading, the sound of poetry, and the visual performance of poetry. While the performance of poetry is as old as poetry itself, critical attention to modern and postmodern poetry performance has been surprisingly slight. This volume, featuring work by critics and poets such as Marjorie Perloff, Susan Stewart, Johanna Drucker, Dennis Tedlock, and Susan Howe, is the first comprehensive introduction to the ways in which twentieth-century poetry has been practiced as a performance art. From the performance styles of individual poets and types of poetry to the relation of sound to meaning, from historical and social approaches to poetry readings to new imaginations of prosody, the entries gathered here investigate a compelling range of topics for anyone interested in poetry. Taken together, these essays encourage new forms of "close listenings"--not only to the printed text of poems but also to tapes, performances, and other expressions of the sounded and visualized word. The time is right for such a volume: with readings, spoken word events, and the Web gaining an increasing audience for poetry, Close Listening opens a number of new avenues for the critical discussion of the sound and performance of poetry.

A sad thing happens to most people somewhere between preschool and college: we unlearn our natural love of poetry, a love rooted in sound and surprise, pattern and play, discovery and delight. That loss is a tragedy that this book aims to reverse. Based on fifteen years of teaching, and dedicated to the belief that rigor and accessibility are compatible, Listening to Poetry takes nothing for granted, and builds students’ confidence and skills from the ground up. It uses innovative, student-centered, and process-based approaches, including practical how-tos and skill-focused exercises for every subject covered. Poems don’t have to be approached like riddles to be solved, codes to be cracked, or prisoners to be interrogated. There is a better way, and it starts right here. Don’t take our word for it, though. Listen to students who’ve read this book: “I need to give full appreciation to this book for my new-found love of poetry... I have found myself a new hobby.” “Before this book I was overwhelmed by poetry and felt I would never be artistic enough to create or analyze it. Now I feel very comfortable... and am excited to continue my appreciation for the art.” “I have found my love for poetry from reading this book. I have learned how to read poetry and how to understand it.”