It is Poetry Month, and I figured I would read a couple of poems. Maybe just one. Actually, my favorite poem, which I know by heart, is a poem that a priest taught me when I was a kid. It has served me very well. Here it goes. I am a mixed poem, I cannot ask for more
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 0:57
One of those urban legend kind of poems that come up through people's childhoods and we don't know who wrote it. And it goes like this one bright day in the middle of the night, two dead men got up to fight. One was blind and the other couldn't see. They used a mummy as a referee. Back to back, they faced each other, drew their swords and shot one another. A deaf policeman heard the noise, came up and killed the two dead boys
souzan snores
@souzanalavi · 1:22
Out of the night that covers me black as the pit from pole to pole I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears looms but the horror of the shade. And yet the menace of the years finds and shall find me unafraid
Dustin Dwyer
@dustin · 2:34
That bird foot in the b***. Him scrambling for his wings. The green earth jumping up with all its jagged teeth. His shoulders burning as he tried the steep ladder of air. Feathers like fingers clawing at what appeared to be nothing at all like the light filling up his eyes. And him blacker than any five good nights sewn together. How could he have known what would be required? How could he know what a cat was?
souzan snores
@souzanalavi · 0:18
You. I just love this poem that you shared. It's so incredibly visual and dynamic. It actually just made me smile. And as a visual person, that makes things for people to watch. It's like a short film, but in a poem. So amazing. Thank you
nina gregory
@ninaberries · 0:09
Dustin, you're really good at reading poetry. Read some more poem. That was so great. What a great read and a great poem. Thank you for sharing that
Laura L (she/her)
@Loloflow · 1:36
Hi, Sonari. I'm so glad you're here. Excited to hear your swell cast. The first poem that ever stuck in my head. I didn't even realize I was memorizing it. I was just loving it and reading it a lot. And then suddenly I knew it got to love when that happens. Like all the good songs. Right? It's. She walks in beauty by Lord Byron
Sonari Glinton
@Sonari · 3:17
When the tongues of fire sorry. When the tongues of flames are unfolded into the crown not a fire, and the fire and the rose are one. Well, that's some TS. Elliot, for you. Please keep tell us. Sing poems. Let's keep it going. I'm having fun. I hope you are, too. Who's up next?
Laura L (she/her)
@Loloflow · 0:18
I'm obsessed with this. And your recitation of it was everything. Thank you. Thank you so much. It's always ironically timely, isn't it? Thanks
You gosh. This is incredible. Every one of you have read wonderful, wonderful, classic poetry and you have read it very, very well. I envy you that because I have lost the ability to read very well. But I wanted to tell you why. The poems that you chose are great poems and are meaningful poems, and that is because they tell a story. In other words, they're not abstract. They are telling a story in poetry
souzan snores
@souzanalavi · 0:24
If by Kipling is an amazing poem. The way you read it is epic. Truly inspiring. I wonder why you picked this as one of your favorites. I also love a poem that you read on Swell a couple weeks ago that was your own. Tell me more. What are some other things I should try to read?
His sonnets are lovely, and whether you read his plays or not, that's up to you. But he has some lovely poetry. As a matter of fact, I'm proud to say that his sister is a direct ancestor of mine, and he apparently, from what I understand, swiped one of her poems and got famous off of it. So I will say that on my side of the family that I have a poet
But I like the poem that tell a story, like Joyce Kilmer's Trees where he says, I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree. A tree who looks at God all day and lifts her leafy arms to pray. That kind of thing. I like the poems like we all read this morning because like I said, they tell a story and they are something that everybody can identify with
It's almost like you're trying to make it happen. So I write and I practice. And I write and I practice. And now we're sort of building it back up with the worn out tools, and it's good. And this platform here has been a tremendous help because prior to all this stuff, I lived in this apartment for three years before I let anybody know I was even in town. And this is my hometown
souzan snores
@souzanalavi · 0:27
You. Thank you both for coming in on this conversation. If is now my second favorite poem after Invictus, and the quote that you shared is amazing, and I'm saving that as well. I'm going to hopefully start another conversation about this because I think we have a lot more to talk about and maybe a lot more to share