Poets You Like, Reading Their Work in The AnswerBank: Arts & Literature

doctordb

Charles bukowski. completely changed my view of what poetry was really about.

AB Editor

Question Author

With you on that. Same here!

Slapshot

Robert Burns....the true Bard

MarkRae

http://www.sorleymacl...org/english/media.htm

rowanwitch

Robert Graves, Khalil Gibran(although I don't believe in god)
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Report Poem A Tear And A Smile
I would not exchange the sorrows of my heart
For the joys of the multitude.
And I would not have the tears that sadness makes
To flow from my every part turn into laughter.

I would that my life remain a tear and a smile.

A tear to purify my heart and give me understanding
Of life's secrets and hidden things.
A smile to draw me nigh to the sons of my kind and
To be a symbol of my glorification of the gods.

A tear to unite me with those of broken heart;
A smile to be a sign of my joy in existence.

I would rather that I died in yearning and longing than that I live Weary and despairing.

I want the hunger for love and beauty to be in the
Depths of my spirit,for I have seen those who are
Satisfied the most wretched of people.
I have heard the sigh of those in yearning and Longing, and it is sweeter than the sweetest melody.

With evening's coming the flower folds her petals
And sleeps, embracingher longing.
At morning's approach she opens her lips to meet
The sun's kiss.

The life of a flower is longing and fulfilment.
A tear and a smile.

The waters of the sea become vapor and rise and come
Together and area cloud.

And the cloud floats above the hills and valleys
Until it meets the gentle breeze, then falls weeping
To the fields and joins with brooks and rivers to Return to the sea, its home.

The life of clouds is a parting and a meeting.
A tear and a smile.

And so does the spirit become separated from
The greater spirit to move in the world of matter
And pass as a cloud over the mountain of sorrow
And the plains of joy to meet the breeze of death
And return whence it came.

To the ocean of Love and Beauty----to God.

Khalil Gibran

rowanwitch

Forgot to delete the poemhunter rubbish at the start

MarkRae

Alternatively, how some poems have achieved their fame is beyond me. This is a case in point: http://www.poeticexpr...0full%20of%20care.htm

rowanwitch

aaaagh had to learn it in junior school...
The next day we had to learn a poem of out choice and recite it... my mum was called up to the school...

Vicasso

Try Professor Maya Angelou reading her own stuff.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqOqo50LSZ0

woofgang

some people enjoy bubblegum, some Hotel Chocolat......

not read by the poet

rowanwitch

Quite like DT Crossword fans efforts...

heathfield

I guess it's a case of "Chacun à son goût", Ed. I went to hear a reading by Ginsberg in Glasgow. Couldn't take more than about seven before leaving him to it.

heathfield

Ooops. Seven minutes, that is.

bigbadmarty

I like this ..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK4HDCIr_E8

Donquixote

The five poems that turned me from a phobic to a bona fide poetry lover:

The Day Lady Died - Frank O'Hara

The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock - T. S. Eliot

V - Tony Harrison

Treacle - Paul Farley

Song of Myself - Walt Whitman

AB Editor

Question Author

Forgot about Tony Harrison. V is very good. Also like him ready Uz.

"I guess it's a case of "Chacun à son goût", Ed. I went to hear a reading by Ginsberg in Glasgow. Couldn't take more than about seven before leaving him to it."

lol. It all depends if you get taken with it. America is always worth a giggle (really like this version):

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