-a serious problem resolved, somewhat-
I think most of my poems
are better served when
recited in the monotone.
I think the sound they make belongs
on the plane of the Earth.
no highs nor lows just flat as the planet.
poets I listen to online
reciting their work to an audience, tend to
accentuate syllables more often.
Billy Collins for example, recites from his podcast
employing a tone-scale intonation sympathetic
to the piece at hand, near pleading in some sense
at various moments of consequence
and when the reading is done, he slowly
looks up at us for a moment of silent resolution.
his face rises from the spine like a Sun
we can look at with our naked eyes.
maybe I feel this way because I listen to these poets
reading into my ear in their own voices.
but when it’s just me in the room, my poems
tumble through my head like hallucinations.
funny, though.
because I don't read my stuff out loud,
I hear them through the mind's throat springing
from the plane.–– but
occasionally a few stand at the mic
with the breathless sound of Marilyn's voice
when she sang: "Happy Birthday Mr. President" to J.F.K.
and man,..talk about poetry.
