cat & bird

I've found it easier to 'get' poetry when it is spoken rather than on a page. I could recite it to my self but there's the distraction of self-awareness to deal with, not to mention the sound of my own voice, an acquired taste, possibly, but, generally, as a method it doesn't work for me. Other people reading it is much better. Providing they don't perform it. Of course - not naturally, which most find impossible to do. Only the poets should be allowed to do this, like Michael Donaghy reading his poem, Machines, in my first poetry post.

Unfortunately, the following poets passed before technology allowed their voices to be recorded. However, Zita Frith does quite a good reading of these. Not too act'tor-ish.

The Windhover, by Gerard Manley Hopkins. I think the kestrel was the first non-garden bird I came to recognise and know. Then, a few years ago, I noticed I hadn't been noticing them as often as I once had, maybe I had become bored with sighting them, moved on to other birds, then I came across one hovering just yards above me while walking the dog and I knew you couldn't fall out of love with the things. Some time afterwards I heard on the radio that their numbers had seriously declined in the UK. The usual suspect for this is human interference in the environment, destroying the habitat of their prey; small rodents and birds. Everything is so interconnected.

For I Will Consider My Cat, Jeoffry, a title that I doubt will ever fail to put a smile on my face. No doubt Christopher Smart was serious in his gratitude to God for having Jeoffry (this piece is an excerpt from his monumental work, Jubilate Agno, or Delight in The Lamb, though he was at the time confined in an asylum by his in-laws for mania). But still it makes me curl up because I've had a few cats in my time, and how often do you get the opportunity to delight in such expressions as ''gravity and waggery''? Not to mention the idea that any grown man should call his cat Jeoffry!

The percussion accompaniment is by Brendan Murphy, an untitled piece. Although, as a general rule, poetry needs no music, this time it doesn't distract from the words.

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I'm trying out Wordpress for size. I'm not sure if it'll merely mirror some of the posts here or be a whole different set of posts. It may be more autobiographic. I don't know...

rhyme & reason

Despite the duff ear, my love of Radio 3 is waxing. I may even have to get a t-shirt made.

Recently, the Beeb have improved their iPlayer site and now users can select their favourite shows so these shows are ready and waiting as soon as you enter the site. (Unfortunately, my overseas buddies might not be able to access the shows - which is a pity - but fair, I suppose, as BBC content is funded by UK taxpayers).

I have discovered another gem of theirs, Words & Music. I've avoided it until now because it sounded dry and up itself. Basically, it's a mix of spoken word and music selected for a theme. I feel a bit short changed on the music, it's often only a clip, but the words are the thing, a reading from a novel, or a piece of poetry. It's a wonderful way for a relative illiterate like me to hear poetry and I wonder how it would work on my mp3 player, randomly selected in shuffle mode. I might acquire a few clips and find out.

I was quite taken by the poem, Machines, by Michael Donaghy. It was read on the show by an actor from the Archers (a chronic radio soap where nothing discernible happens to a community of farrrmers) but I discovered that Donaghy was happy to perform his own work in his time and so here he is performing Machines.