Let’s All Record Our Favorite Poems for National Poetry Month

Poetry Foundation, those nice people who let me pick a glorious poem to share with you every week or so, have started a group at SoundCloud which lets you read your favorite poem into your computer’s microphone, then upload it for others to share. There are loads of glorious ones you can listen to for inspiration. We’d love to have a strong Hairpin turnout for this worthy endeavor.

Now, the hard part: who on earth can choose their favorite poem without surrounding themselves with eighteen books and paging through them into the small hours of the night? Okay, probably lots of people. Me, my favorite poem is probably Ted Hughes’ “Rain-Charm for the Duchy”, but it’s like, nineteen pages long and is mostly just listing the names of rivers. I’d need a water break halfway through. Maybe Philip Larkin’s “Deceptions”? Jorie Graham’s “What the End Is For”? Linda Gregg’s “Looking For Each of Us”? So many choices. Too many!

Okay, how about you? And can you post a link in the comments to yours once it’s up?