Poetry is a form of expression that allows us to explore our own feelings and thoughts while being transported by the poet’s vision. It can be put to music, it can be written on walls. It inspires all ages and has endured through the ages.
We support poets and poetry. On Wednesday, February 15, Columbia Public Library will host a Poetry Out Loud Competition on behalf of local organizers, the City of Columbia Office of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the Missouri Arts Council. Watch as local high school students perform poems, competing to represent Missouri at the national Poetry Out Loud competition. You are welcome to attend and enjoy these performances. Click here to learn more about Poetry Out Loud.
The students select poems from an official anthology but DBRL has many great examples of poetry that could be performed to entertain or inspire. But perhaps you seek poetry to softly read to one special person. Let’s remember that Valentine’s Day is February 14! “Love Poetry Out Loud,” edited by Robert Alden Rubin, is a curated list of love poetry cheerfully organized by situations, such as the chapter “Will You Miss Me When I’m gone?” and the chapter “Second Time Around.” Rubin’s humor also comes through to us in his introduction with such statements as “What you say can become an action just as much as a kiss, a hug or a slap in the face, even though you are only making noise with air from your lungs and vibration of your vocal cords. After all, babies don’t cry just to hear their heads go off — they do it because they want to make things happen.” This book doesn’t have poetry to put your baby to sleep, however, but may inspire your partner to laugh if you choose to read any of this poetry out loud. (Geeky fact from this Trekkie: Klingons perform love poetry as a way to lure in a potential mate, who may respond by throwing heavy objects or roaring.)
Sophia Thakur is a performance poet who has appeared on stages around the world including at the Glastonbury stage, the Ted Talks stage, and countless mainstream TV and radio segments, as well as at over 70 universities. You can see her work on Instagram and YouTube. Her debut book was “Somebody Give This Heart a Pen,” an intimate journey that gives voice to her coming-of-age experiences through love, loss and self-discovery. Initially reluctant to know that people were reading her poetry, she became a performer in order to share her work from the stage. Read her poetry out loud, if you wish, to get the right ear feel for it.
“Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass” is a poetry & musical performance released to accompany the book of the same name. An American singer/songwriter who has been writing and performing since 2007, Lana Del Rey has nine musical albums out and DBRL has all of them. If you have seen Baz Luhrmann’s film “The Great Gatsby,” Tim Burton’s “Big Eyes” or Robert Stromberg’s “Maleficent,” you have enjoyed her music. “Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass” includes 14 poems written and performed by Lana Del Rey, accompanied by music from Grammy Award-winning songwriter/producer Jack Antonoff.
This book is technically in our children’s collections but is also a pretty cool book for adults to use to learn more about poetry. Michael Driscoll’s “A Child Introduction to Poetry” includes a web-based download of 65 audio tracks of the book’s poetry. A prompt in the text tells you when to pause your reading to listen. Driscoll includes a history of the poet and poem. For example, Higglety, Pigglety, Pop was written as a bit of sarcasm. Part one teaches about the types of poetry, such as narrative verse versus lyric verse, and part two shares “rulers of rhyme, legends of the lyric and superstars of the spoken word.” Enjoy reading and listening to the fine poems that Driscoll selected to include in this useful, entertaining volume.
This is a small sampling of the poetry waiting for you at your public library. Come explore our shelves whenever you wish! And please consider joining us on February 15 when you can enjoy excellent Poetry Out Loud.
