Special Episode: Poetry Share!

Some of you may remember a few years back when I uploaded a reading of "The Velveteen Rabbit."  That was a recording I had made for librivox.org, an online archive of literary works in the public domain, recorded by volunteers all over the world.  Recently I recorded a few poems for an anthology they were putting together and I thought I'd share them with you. I hope you enjoy them! I've included the text below.

1. 1. 1. The Indian Burying Ground - Philip Freneau
         In spite of all the learned have said,
             I still my old opinion keep;
         The posture, that we give the dead,
             Points out the soul's eternal sleep.
         Not so the ancients of these lands—
             The Indian, when from life released,
         Again is seated with his friends,
             And shares again the joyous feast.
         His imaged birds, and painted bowl,
             And venison, for a journey dressed,
         Bespeak the nature of the soul,
             Activity, that knows no rest.
         His bow, for action ready bent,
             And arrows, with a head of stone,
         Can only mean that life is spent,
             And not the old ideas gone.
         Thou, stranger, that shalt come this way,
             No fraud upon the dead commit—
         Observe the swelling turf, and say
             They do not lie, but here they sit.
         Here still a lofty rock remains,
             On which the curious eye may trace
         (Now wasted, half, by wearing rains)
             The fancies of a ruder race.
         Here still an aged elm aspires,
             Beneath whose far-projecting shade
         (And which the shepherd still admires)
             The children of the forest played!
         There oft a restless Indian queen
             (Pale Shebah, with her braided hair)
         And many a barbarous form is seen
             To chide the man that lingers there.
         By midnight moons, o'er moistening dews;
             In habit for the chase arrayed,
         The hunter still the deer pursues,
             The hunter and the deer, a shade!
         And long shall timorous fancy see
             The painted chief, and pointed spear,
         And Reason's self shall bow the knee

             To shadows and delusions here.
         (More about this poem)

   Miracles - Walt Whitman
   Why, who makes much of a miracle?
   As to me I know of nothing else but miracles,
   Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
       Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
       Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,
   Or stand under trees in the woods,
   Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in the bed at night with any one I love,
   Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,
   Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
   Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon,
   Or animals feeding in the fields,
   Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,
   Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet and bright,
   Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring;
   These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
   The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.

2. To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
   Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
   Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,
   Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.

   To me the sea is a continual miracle,
   The fishes that swim—the rocks—the motion of the waves—the
           ships with men in them,
   What stranger miracles are there?
   (More about this poem as well as an extended version!)

    

3. Little Orphant Annie - James Whitcomb Riley
   Little Orphant Annie’s come to our house to stay,
   An’ wash the cups an’ saucers up, an’ brush the crumbs away,
   An’ shoo the chickens off the porch, an’ dust the hearth, an’ sweep,
   An’ make the fire, an’ bake the bread, an’ earn her board-an’-keep;
   An’ all us other childern, when the supper things is done,
   We set around the kitchen fire an’ has the mostest fun
   A-list’nin’ to the witch-tales ‘at Annie tells about,
   An’ the Gobble-uns ‘at gits you
                Ef you
                   Don’t
                      Watch
                         Out!
   
   

   Onc’t they was a little boy wouldn’t say his prayers,—
   So when he went to bed at night, away up stairs,
   His Mammy heerd him holler, an’ his Daddy heerd him bawl,
   An’ when they turn’t the kivvers down, he wasn’t there at all!
   An’ they seeked him in the rafter-room, an’ cubby-hole, an’ press,
   An’ seeked him up the chimbly-flue, an’ ever’wheres, I guess;
   But all they ever found was thist his pants an' roundabout--
   An’ the Gobble-uns’ll git you
                Ef you
                   Don’t
                      Watch
                         Out!

   An’ one time a little girl ‘ud allus laugh an’ grin,
   An’ make fun of ever’one, an’ all her blood an’ kin;
   An’ onc’t, when they was “company,” an’ ole folks was there,
   She mocked ‘em an’ shocked ‘em, an’ said she didn’t care!
   An’ thist as she kicked her heels, an’ turn’t to run an’ hide,
   They was two great big Black Things a-standin’ by her side,
   An’ they snatched her through the ceilin’ ‘fore she knowed what she’s about!
   An’ the Gobble-uns’ll git you
                Ef you
                   Don’t
                      Watch
                         Out!An’ little Orphant Annie says when the blaze is blue,
   An’ the lamp-wick sputters, an’ the wind goes woo-oo!
   An’ you hear the crickets quit, an’ the moon is gray,
   An’ the lightnin’-bugs in dew is all squenched away,--
   You better mind yer parents, an’ yer teachers fond an’ dear,
   An’ churish them ‘at loves you, an’ dry the orphant’s tear,
   An’ he’p the pore an’ needy ones ‘at clusters all about,
   Er the Gobble-uns’ll git you
                Ef you
                   Don’t
                      Watch
                         Out!

   (More about this poem)

Music for this episode by Kevin MacLeod, public domain.