A few links to my poetry readings

Poetry reading links

I have been reading and writing poetry since before my teenage years, most of it lost or purposely destroyed by me not long after writing it. But some survives, not from my pre-teen years, but from my undergraduate years, including two of my personal favorite sonnets, Ode to Innocence and Siren's Song. They, and a couple of the short stories I wrote at the same time while a freshman and sophomore in college (Eternal Quest and Sloths [renamed as Mergs in my latest short story collection] at least are in print in various places and in some of my books.

One thing I love about poetry is that it can affect us very differently when read and when heard read by others, preferably the author. (I write "author" instead of "poet" because anyone can write poetry, including me, but that does not necessarily make us poets in my view.) One of the wonderful qualities about poetry is that it can elicit powerful emotions in each of us as well as varied interpretations that may be quite different from the author's intended ones. That is, of course, also true of prose, but poetry I believe can strike far more powerful responsive chords, vivid imagery, and reach us at a deeper, almost visceral level than prose, be it for good or ill. I remember long ago close to the start of my academic career when I agreed as a favor to a colleague who chaired the English Department to teach a Composition I course when he had to make a last minute schedule change. In one of my lectures, I handed out a copy of one of my published poems (god is dead) without noting the author and asked the students to comment as a brief classroom exercise. Before I had a chance to ask for volunteers to interpret the poem, one of my students jumped up and provided his in a loud, angry voice: "The author is going straight to hell" and stormed out of the classroom, not to return. Now there was an example of missing both the forest AND the trees. And, while this was certainly not the expected reaction, it was most certainly a visceral one.

But I digress. Here, I just want to offer some links to sample readings of some of my poetry. Although I lecture for a living (law, not poetry, worry not) and am most at home in front of a class, I have difficulty at times reading my own work aloud. Most of it is very meaningful to me, if to no one else, and I don't always have full control of my emotions when I read. These are cold readings, unrehearsed and unedited, so if you don't expect much I hope you won't be too painfully disappointed. I recorded and offer them in the hope that some may connect with my spoken words in a different way than upon reading them, whether or not they also read them before. You can click on any of the links below to a direct link to my readings. Hope there may be some that you enjoy.

Unsung Heroes, Part I: Emilio (maternal grandfather)

I Write, therefore I Live . . . Again

Siren's Song (sonnet)

I Need a reset Button (sonnet)

Requiem for Love