Sharon Olds reading two poems at the Dodge Poetry Festival

"Ode to a Composting Toilet" and "Ode to the Tampon"

"The Ship of Death" by D.H. Lawrence (poetry reading)

I don't know what D.H. Lawrence was thinking when he wrote this poem, but he died of tuberculosis a few months later.

Bare bodkins are less fun than you might think. Hamlet asks himself, "For who would bear the whips and scorns of time...(and a few other pesky annoyances)...when he himself might his quietus make with a bare bodkin?" Most authorities say that a bodkin was a dagger but it was more likely a big darning needle. I sometimes talk to myself too. Although I make some good points none of them are as sharp as that.

Oblivion is what happens when you die and cross Lethe, hence lethal, which actually means forgetfulness, but it is also the name of a river of Hades in which the memories of your life are washed away so your soul can be reborn. Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote a poem called Lethe, saying it takes away pain and restores beauty. Which would be nice. Anyway, you get the general idea.

There's another river called Styx (in some version Acheron) across which you are conveyed in a boat by Charon. If you don't tip him, he tips you out. That's why Greeks are buried with a coin in their mouths. The waters are poisonous so if you get chucked in you're double-dead.

When you reach the other side you meet Cerberus guarding the gates of Hades. He's a dog with three heads but, don't worry, he only eats live meat so your ass is safe if you're dead.

Remember to keep your hands inside the boat and that flash photography is not permitted.

Then they throw you up in the air, catch you on a sharp stick and barbecue you. Well, it's your own fault, you had every chance to be a nice person when you were alive.

The first picture is from a fresco by Luca Giordano (17th century). It shows Charon the ferryman, the dog Cerberus and assorted dead souls.

"Charon's Boat" is earlier, about 1520, painted by Joachim Patinir who was Flemish.

"Doctor Faustus" (excerpts) by Christopher Marlowe (poetry reading)

This is a rant and I'm at a disadvantage because I can't do rants in full-cry and blood-curdlng volume. I don't want my neighbours to think I'm crazier than they already suspect, nor frighten passers-by into calling the cops. I usually do these while my wife making the school-run. I expect I have now sacrificed some of my mystique.

Poor Kit Marlowe - he was only a boy - look at his crazy hair - what a pity that somebody knifed him in a pub. But doesn't he sound like Shakespeare though? It makes you wonder....

The Unit of Beauty was defined by Doctor Faustus to describe Helen of Troy and now known as the millihelen, abbreviated to mh, that being the wow-factor it takes to launch just one ship.

By launching a thousand ships, Helen's beauty rated 1000mh, but I wouldn't push out a small coracle for Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Helen of 1863 nor for Anthony Frederick Sandys' Helen of 1867, although I have nothing against ginger bints in general.

"O lente lente currite noctis equi" means "O, horses of night, run slowly, slowly" Latin has no specific word order, it just depends what you want to emphasise. The line's from Ovid and Marlowe did the best translations of his poems. .Loosely, it's a wish for time to pass slowly. When Ovid says it it's because he's in bed with his girlfriend. In one of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Dr. Watson sees it engraved on a sundial.

The Helen I decided on is Evelyn de Morgan's Helen of Troy. of 1898.

Doctor Faustus is a famous etching by Rembrandt of 1650

Hell is by Hans Memling 1485, but deformed even more hideously by my use of Paint Shop Pro.

The Devils are part of The Last Judgement by Michaelangelo 1537

Mephistophilis actually is me - as you probably guessed - but I was painted as one of Two Satyrs by Pieter Paul Rubens in 1618 with remarkable foresight. My wife recognised me immediately.

Donald Hall U.S. Poet Laureate Poetry Reading (29 minutes video UVA)

In this University of Virginia video, Donald Hall, U.S. Poet Laureate, reads several poems in the most colorful way. With numerous awards such as two Guggenheim Fellowships, the Marshal/Nation Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the Lily Prize for Poetry, Hall is one of the greatest poets of our time. He has published 15 books of poetry and now shares his creative wisdom in this thoughtful exploration of his work.

"The Fall of Rome" by W.H. Auden (poetry reading)

Obviously it's about how civilisations fall. The poem has a particular relevance today.

The mundane, petty matters that bring down empires have a particular poignancy right now. They are contrasted with those things that really continue to make the rockin' world go round.

The "imaginary friend" is the person the literary man writes for, his appreciative audience, like Salinger's remark "Do it for the fat lady."

Cerebrotonic refers to somatotype, contrasting with mesomorphic (muscle-bound), and it means a thin, intellectual - like Auden, perhaps.

"Unimportant clerks" gamble away our life-savings.

And always present are lifeforms that can overgrow us and outbreed us very quickly.

"The Hollow Men" by Thomas Stearns Eliot (poetry reading)

The Hollow Men was written in 1925 Eliot said the name was a mixture of "The Broken Men" of Rudyard Kipling with "The Hollow Land" of William Morris. There are strong references to Guy Fawkes.

The portrait of T.S. Eliot was by Wyndham Lewis in 1938

The picture is of a Japanese scarecrow, reworked in Paint Shop Pro.

Poetry Reading: Ted Kooser (58 minute video)

U.S. Poet Laureate (2004-2006) Ted Kooser is a major poetic voice for rural and small town America and the award-winning author of ten collections of poetry, most recently 2004's Pulitzer Prize-winning Delights and Shadows. Nebraskan Kooser often draws from his native Great Plains and his poems are acclaimed for their simple, straightforward style. Kooser reads from his poetry before a standing-room only audience in Campbell Hall at UC Santa Barbara. [8/2005] [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 9537]

"The Land of Heart's Desire" by William Buttlar Yeats (poetry reading)

This is from the Land of Heart's Desire, a play by W.B. Yeats. It's the song of a faery's child.

The most prolific of the Victorian Fairy painters was
John Anster Fitzgerald. Included are three examples painted between 1850 and 1860. These depict English fairies, not Irish faeries, but I have it on good authority that they are remarkably similar.

"Winter" by William Shakespeare [Poetry Reading]

A reading of Bill's simple poem that evokes the rigours of cold weather. A "saw" is a wise saying, "crabs" means crab-apples. Dick the shepherd blows on his fingernails. "keel" probably means stir.

"A Psalm of Life" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (poetry reading)

This poem was first published in 1838 in Knickerbocker Magazine. Knickerbockers were the short trousers than boys wore: hence "knickerbocker glory" for a confection of ice-cream, fruit, syrup etc.

Let me recount a story that Frank Muir told impromptu about 35 years ago in a radio show called "My Word" to explain a well known saying.

"There was once a young English lady who fell in love with a Chinese midget who was a legend in his own country as a professional darts player. They married and returned to England to take up married life together. Li-Fee, which was the husband's name, hoped to continue his illustrious career in his new homeland, knowing that darts was a popular game in England.

Unfortunately he discovered that English darts were not the same as Chinese darts. Chinese darts were short and puffed through a blowpipe, whereas English darts were much bigger and thrown like spear. Li-Fee was much dismayed, because his hopes of a lucrative career were dashed.

His wife returned home to finding walking about disconsolately under the table. "Darling, " she said, "whatever is wrong?".

He replied, "Li-Fee is short, and dart is long".

The aphorism comes from Hippocrates about 400BC. "Ars longa, Vita brevis" although it's usually expressed the other way around "Life is short and Art is long".

I wasn't very familiar with this poem and I felt when reading it like the old lady who was taken to see Hamlet "It was very nice but it was full of quotations".

"Art is long and Time is fleeting" is obviously a quotation from Hippocrates but I'm not so sure that the rest of the familiar sayings didn't originate in this poem.

I have a soft spot for Longfellow. He's come in for much intellectual sneering, yet his poems at still strong and lively. His love for humanity is so touching. His life was idyllic at first, then became suddenly tragic when his wife died in a fire in spite of his heroic attempt to save her which caused him permanent injury and disfigurement. That's why he grew that big flowing beard.

If you're looking for the right attitude to life - look no further. Here it is.

The picture is of "footprints in the sands of time" made by dinosaurs long before any humans walked on earth. Dinosaurs lasted 150 million years. (Humans lasted only 3 million before they all died of their erroneous beliefs, leaving behind only large carbon footprints. )

"If" by Rudyard Kipling (poetry reading)

Kipling wrote this poem for his son John then aged 12. Later he pulled strings to get John into the Great War, and John was killed in 1915. Later Kipling wrote this codicil about his son and a...
Kipling wrote this poem for his son John then aged 12. Later he pulled strings to get John into the Great War, and John was killed in 1915.

Later Kipling wrote this codicil about his son and all the other dead sons:
:
"If any question why we died, tell them, because our fathers lied".

Thus "If" does not represent Kipling's views.

WARNING. WHAT FOLLOWS IS BRITISH HUMOUR. IT IS LIKELY TO OFFEND AMERICANS. IF YOU'RE OF AN EARNEST DISPOSITION AND TAKE LIFE SERIOUSLY, DON'T READ IT. IT MIGHT CAUSE YOU TO HAVE A FIT.

Some of my tastier friends from the underworld don't understand Kipling's archaic language, so I promised them a verse by verse translation. It should be read in parallel with the original.

Keep schtum: admit nothing: the watchword is Plausible Deniability - okay that's two watchwords - they can't just say it : at the end of the day they have to prove it and produce evidence. Remember that witnesses can be bought or frightened off. Just stay cool and alert, sleep with one eye open and watch your back.

Make like there's all the time in the world: eventually they'll run out of patience and make a mistake. If they tell lies about you and you can prove it, sue the bastards. Love your enemies because that really annoys them. Don't let on how smart you are. Pretend to be nice.

Don't waste time on ideas that don't work out, be the first to recognise a lost cause. Remember, when the ship sinks the rats survive but the Captain drowns. Just bail out leaving them holding the baby. Many conmen sport fancy names and titles, don't let that fool you. If they get to you, don't get mad: get even - become the biggest mistake they ever made.

When newspapers misquote you and print embarrassing pictures act like you haven't a care in the world. Get your wife to stand by you looking like butter wouldn't melt between her buttocks: promise her anything in exchange, you have convince her you're her best bet. Be nice to her, it won't be for long and it won't kill you. She might, though. Keep your chin up and brazen it out. Admit defeat to yourself before they have the guts to publish it. Pre-empt legal action by putting everything in your wife's name and filing for bankrupcy: nobody's going to sue you if you're broke. People forget quickly, soon you can open again in a different name even with the same stock in the same premises. Capitalism's a great system: you've just have to know the rules.

Sometimes, if you have nothing left to lose and can't pay your bills you might as well raise all the cash you can and put it all on a horse. It might win - romp home and save your bacon - if it doesn't then scarper, do a moonlight flit, make yourself scarce. Be prepared to keep a low profile until people to forget your face: plastic surgery will help.
If you're forced to take desperate measures and get caught South America is a safe bet, even if you robbed a train and coshed the engine driver. They change their governments more often than you change your socks, nobody will stay in power long enough to complete the paperwork to extradite you. If you're a real hard case you'll be the local hero and get all the skirt you can handle.

Do anything rather than bottle out, become a desperado - they don't really know how dangerous you could be - just get a wild look in your eye, talk weird as though you're about to flip your lid. It makes 'em think while they're picking their kids up from school, "Do I really want to upset this crazy guy?"

When you're doing okay it's a worth nurturing the knack of speaking in public, making a good impression without actually lying, or boasting or making promises you might be asked to keep. And cultivating influential friends in high places, Westminster, the Palace even, without alienating the plebs and riff-raff that you might need to do your dirty work; all the while maintaining a Teflon shell that deflects both criticism and flattery and makes you impervious to what people think. Never forget that the guy most likely to run off with your wife and all your cash is your best friend or business partner. .

The good news is that if you keep running as fast as you can you can stay ahead of the competition, which is like owning just about goddamn everything, but the bad news is that you can't ever stop running so it's of no real use to you. However the REALLY good news is that then I'll admit that you're masculine and that I am really your father: I'll even stop calling you a sissy, admit I fixed the DNA test and marry your mother. You hit the jackpot.

How to Teach a Child to Read with Games? (Video)

How to Teach a Child to Read with Games : Using Puppets & Poems to Teach Reading



Have a puppet read the next story or poem to your child; learn more about the benefits of puppets and how they can help teach a child reading in this free child-development video. Expert: Ann Kenn...
Have a puppet read the next story or poem to your child; learn more about the benefits of puppets and how they can help teach a child reading in this free child-development video.

Expert: Ann Kennedy
Bio: Ann Marie Kennedy is a certified teacher who has successfully taught in and out of the classroom. Kennedy received a Teacher Recognition Award from The National Foundation of The Arts.
Filmmaker: Reel Media LLC

How To Read a Poem? [Billy Collins]

Listen to former Poet Laureate Billy Collins talk about reading a poem.

No doubt, most of the readers will be students with little or no experience in reading poetry out loud, especially to such a large group. And we know that a poem will live or die depending on how it is read. What follows, then, are a few pointers about the oral recitation of poetry. The readers, by the way, should not read cold; they should be given their poem a few days in advance so they will have time to practice, maybe in the presence of a teacher. In addition to exposing students to the sounds of contemporary poetry, Poetry 180 can also serve as a way to improve students' abilities to communicate publicly. Here are a few basic tips:

1.Read the poem slowly. Most adolescents speak rapidly, and a nervous reader will tend to do the same in order to get the reading over with. Reading a poem slowly is the best way to ensure that the poem will be read clearly and understood by its listeners. Learning to read a poem slowly will not just make the poem easier to hear; it will underscore the importance in poetry of each and every word. A poem cannot be read too slowly, and a good way for a reader to set an easy pace is to pause for a few seconds between the title and the poem's first line.

2.Read in a normal, relaxed tone of voice. It is not necessary to give any of these poems a dramatic reading as if from a stage. The poems selected are mostly written in a natural, colloquial style and should be read that way. Let the words of the poem do the work. Just speak clearly and slowly.

3.Obviously, poems come in lines, but pausing at the end of every line will create a choppy effect and interrupt the flow of the poem's sense. Readers should pause only where there is punctuation, just as you would when reading prose, only more slowly.

4.Use a dictionary to look up unfamiliar words and hard-to-pronounce words. To read with conviction, a reader needs to know at least the dictionary sense of every word. In some cases, a reader might want to write out a word phonetically as a reminder of how it should sound. It should be emphasized that learning to read a poem out loud is a way of coming to a full understanding of that poem, perhaps a better way than writing a paper on the subject.

Your Participation

Poetry 180 has been designed to be easily implemented by your school. Of course, the success of the program ultimately depends on the cooperation of interested teachers and administrators. A meeting of such people at the beginning of the semester would help to determine what needs to be done and who is willing to do it. The program is easy to join and carries only a few responsibilities such as printing out the poems and enlisting readers.

Thanks

Whoever contributes to the operation of this program has my deepest thanks. High school teachers are some of the most devoted, hardest working people in any field, and any help you can give this program deserves fervid appreciation. I am hoping that the rewards of Poetry 180 will be felt as immediately as possible and that those involved will find gratification in knowing that high school students across the country are being exposed to poetry in a unique and stimulating way.

Billy Collins

How to Correct Common Reading Problems in Children : Importance of Reading & Writing Connections



Teach kids the basis of writing and ask about the characters and how they relate to the story; learn more about helping kids reading problems in this free reading video on education for children. ...
Teach kids the basis of writing and ask about the characters and how they relate to the story; learn more about helping kids reading problems in this free reading video on education for children.

Expert: Ann Kennedy
Bio: Ann Marie Kennedy is a certified teacher who has successfully taught in and out of the classroom. Kennedy received a Teacher Recognition Award from The National Foundation of The Arts.
Filmmaker: Reel Media LLC