[Michael Juster]

Inspired by the discussion here of the Millay recording, today I have posted eight videos on my Twitter account (@amjuster) of great poets reading their poems. Until today I had never heard the voices of Eliot or Plath; it moved me more than I thought it would.

Copyright owners sometimes object to links to YouTube videos, so I couldn't post the chilling Dorothy Parker reading of "Resume" and some other wonderful readings.

Enjoy!

[Eileen Cleary]

Thank you. I just purchased Poetry Speaks and now enjoy poetry readings while driving.

[Nausheen Eusuf]

I play the "Prufrock" recording for my students whenever I teach the poem. It really makes a difference to hear it in Eliot's voice. You can also find his reading of The Waste Land here.

Nausheen

[Michael Juster]

Nausheen, yes, I had it pretty much memorized as a teenager, but his cadences feel very different from mine.

If only I could have explained to him how to recite it...

[Michael Cantor]

I've had the Eliot Prufrock tape in my car forever - I'm not even sure that the metal and plastic parts haven't bonded, making it impossible to remove. The voice is so...so...perfectly Eliot. When things aren't going well, poet-wise, I play it and it inspires me (which might reveal more about me than I'd prefer, but I guess it's better than child molestation, or voting Republican.)

If you ever see Tom and Viv, the film based on Eliot's first marriage, Willem Dafoe nailed the voice. Extraordinary.

[Michael Juster]

I had a tape I used to play in my car tape deck (I'll explain that technology later for the young folks) that had a marvelous reading by Dylan Thomas in which the riffs between the poems were even more magical than the poems. The line that stuck with me was: "There are no poetry audiences, just occasional gatherings of eccentrics."

I used that line in the Collins manuscript.