Originally published October 19, 2007 at 12:00 AM | Page modified October 19, 2007 at 2:00 AM
Book Buzz
A treasure trove of poet's voices
One hundred poets, reading 464 poems, in a little over 17 hours. That's what's on offer in "The Spoken Arts Treasury: 100 Modern American...
One hundred poets, reading 464 poems, in a little over 17 hours. That's what's on offer in "The Spoken Arts Treasury: 100 Modern American Poets Reading Their Poems," first issued on LP in 1969, and now remastered and repackaged by Recorded Books in three volumes (6 CDs or cassettes per volume; $41.95 per volume on CD; $39.95 per volume on cassette; $14.50 rental per volume for both CD and cassette; 800-638-1304 or www.recordedbooks.com).
Here's Gertrude Stein, sounding oddly like Margaret Thatcher as she makes the fractured syntax of her "portraits" of Matisse and T.S. Eliot seem not just sane but eminently sensible. Carl Sandburg's delivery of a poem about a footloose Babylonian gal named Bilbea is surely the template on which Garrison Keillor has modeled his radio voice for the past three decades.
Elizabeth Bishop, as calm as if she's giving courtroom testimony, explains why "we'd rather have the iceberg than the ship." Gwendolyn Brooks brings a startling syncopation to her most famous poem ("We real cool. We / left school"). Allen Ginsberg raucously impersonates a barstool drunk in "Uptown, New York," while Sylvia Plath assumes the dry hauteur of a haberdashery clerk in "The Applicant" ("I notice you are stark naked. / How about this suit ... ?").
That's just six poets, with 94 to go. Some of them, it's true, tend to drone. But there are plenty of surprises and revelations here.
Michael Upchurch,
Seattle Times book critic
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
Kids books: A conversation with 'Strega Nona' author Tomie dePaola
Book review: 'The Lacuna' is an ambitious bridge of cultures, ideologies, decades
Authors Greg Bear and Lester R. Brown in Seattle
Sarah Palin goes public with new memoir, "Going Rogue"
Local books: Illustrated Goethe, the Battle of Seattle and Wheedle on the Needle

Opening day at Crystal Mountain
Skiers crowded the slopes at Crystal Mountain for one of the resort's earliest openings.
nwjobs

Post a comment

Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
How to tell your office you're gravely ill
Post a comment
nwautos

Choosing a new sedan? Weigh the impact of your choice on your wallet and on the planet.
Post a comment
- Homeless man, 46, arrested in Greenwood arsons
- KVI talk radio host off the air as of Thursday
- Steve Kelley | ESPN's Bill Simmons gets us: He hates Clay Bennett, too
- Police investigate videotaped arrest
- Seattle U. Men's Hoops | Big recruit goes from Huskies to Redhawks
- Mariners sign Jack Wilson to 2-year contract
- Razor found in muffin an accident, 'mortified' baker says
- Suspect's family shaken by slaying of police officer
- Mountlake Terrace woman reports razor in muffin
- Man says he will protest city's gun ban by carrying gun into community center
- OSU game thread
678 - Police investigate videotaped arrest
635 - Seattle man to pack a pistol into community center to protest mayor's ban
357 - GOP clueless as families struggle with health care
197 - NYC trial for 9/11 suspects poses risks
132 - Kent man challenges Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' gun ban
102 - Band of advocates, activists now McGinn's likely insiders
101 - Wright State game thread
97 - Licata looks at boosting traffic-ticket revenue
89 - Light rail to airport to begin Dec. 19
71
- Light rail to airport to begin Dec. 19
- Homeless man, 46, arrested in Greenwood arsons
- Ivar's undersea billboards a hoax devised as marketing ploy
- Light rail to airport to begin Dec. 19
- Steve Kelley | ESPN's Bill Simmons gets us: He hates Clay Bennett, too
- An 802.11n upgrade could make a big difference
- KVI talk radio host off the air as of Thursday
- Washington in race for federal education funds
- Police investigate videotaped arrest
- Goodwill's Glitter Sale is Nov. 14-15





