-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.