Ours Poetica

I just recently found out about Ours Poetica, a video series produced by the Poetry Foundation and Complexly and hosted by the poet Paige Lewis, but it has been around a couple of years. (Complexly is Hank and John Green's company.) These are poetry videos from a reader's point of view: take a look at this one, in which the poet Jenny Xie reads Frank O'Hara's "My Heart," and you'll see what I mean. It takes about a minute and a half.

The Poetry Friday roundup is at Beyond LiteracyLink today.

Comments

[jama]

Thanks for the heads up about Ours Poetica!! Nice to hear an O'Hara poem read aloud this week. :)

[Susan Thomsen]

You're welcome, Jama. I loved it that Jenny X. is reading O'Hara.

[Laura Shovan]

Hi, Susan. Thanks for sharing this amazing resource. I'm going to go look for more videos. Frank O'Hara's "A True Account of Talking to the Sun at Fire Island" is one of my favorites.

[Susan T.]

I like that one, too! And "The Day Lady Died."

[Linda Baie]

Wow, thanks for the lovely poem, Susan, for our time I hope, & the source. All new to me.

[Susan]

Linda, it’s a neat way of presenting a poem, I think. I love Paige Lewis’s work, too; a poem or two of theirs is also at the site.

[Alan j Wright]

Thank you, Susan for alerting me to new poetry possibilities. It's always good to be stirred and shaken every now and then. I shall explore this in more detail.

[Susan]

You are welcome, Alan! I just listened to John Green reading “Mountain Dew Commercial Disguised as a Love Poem” by Matthew Olzmann, which I enjoyed, too.

[Carol Varsalona]

Susan, I am sorry that it has taken me so long to comment but I am glad that I read your post in the late hours of the night while my grandgirls sleep. I have not heard of this resource so thank you for the information and the poem. Have a wonderful thanksgiving.

[Susan Thomsen]

Carol, thank you for stopping by, and a very happy Thanksgiving to you, too! I will wave at Long Island from the other side of the Sound for you. (In the winter the Sound shore & beaches are some of my favorite places to go birding here in CT; I have a scope to spot long-tailed ducks, loons, mergansers, etc.)

[Michelle Kogan]

Beautiful poem Susan, love the ending, "But my poetry is open," it's like a breath of fresh air, and breathing in deeply. Thanks for filling us in on Ours Poetica and the link!

[Susan]

Michelle, you are so welcome. That is indeed a beautiful line!

[Ruth]

Whew, that took me down a rabbit hole! First I had to check and see if it was Ours in English or French, and then I had to listen to a bunch of the poems! Thanks for sharing this! I love John Green even more than I did before.

[Susan]

Ha ha, Ruth. That is exactly the kind of thing I do. I hear a poem, decide I need to know more about the poet & find some fascinating article online, check the library for their books, and so on.