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Dead poets' society
Three great gay poets live again on spoken-word CDs that let
you read along By Michael Giltz
The Voice of the Poet series:
Allen Ginsbergj W.H. Audenj and
Frank O'Hara. CDs with companion
books containing text offeatured poems and
commentaries by J.D. McClatchy. Random
House Audio. $19.95 each
,oetry is the least necessary of
the arts-until you start read
ing it. Then it becomes only
as necessary as blood and
oxygen. This is true even if
you sit quietly in a corner and read to
yourself, but poetry is meant to be
heard, which is why "The Voice of the
Poet" is such a welcome series, pairing
CDs-each containing about an hour of archival recordings of the author
declaiming his work-with slim pa
perbacks presenting the text along G 1
with tidy scholarly essays, by cele
brated poet J.D. McClatchy, about ,,,._:-::.:, .. ,H.:~
the respective authors. -.
The latest batch features three gay
poets: Frank O'Hara, Allen Ginsberg,
and W. H. Auden. McClatchy is direct
about the sexuality of the first two but
almost as circumspect about the third as
Auden was himself. The only tip-offs to
his gay leanings are references to
Auden's living in Berlin with Christopher
Isherwood, plunging into the "homosex
ual underworld," and lifelong roommate
Chester Kallman, the American poet.
THE ADVOCATE 1901 MAY 11, 2004
the sound of his own voice and didn't
enjoy public readings. No wonder, then,
that his style is rather flat and affect
less, fighting against the humor and
vital drama of pieces like "Poem (Lana
Turner Has Collapsed!)" and "The Day
Lady Died."
Auden is as patrician as any British
poet should be. He may have written
about cornflakes or, in "The Common
Life," talked about "our roll-call of
persons we would least like to go to
bed with," but his is the voice of the
old man of letters, not the young
rebel. (And, no, the poem from Four
Weddings and a Funeral is not heard
in this series.)
Ginsberg is the best reader of the
three. He loved to entertain, loved large
crowds, and loved the sound of his own
voice. All of "Howl" is here, and that
landmark alone, far more arresting out
loud than on the page, proves that the
voice of the poet, whenever possible,
should be heard .•
1911 The world of poets is small-even
smaller if you focus on the gay ones.
O'Hara showed one of his early pieces
to Auden and in 1964 dedicated his
witty, movie-soaked poem "Fantasy" to
"the health of Allen Ginsberg." It was
only fair: In 1958 Ginsberg had dedicat
ed "My Sad Self" to O'Hara, whose
health was presumably not in question
at the time.
Acc()rding to McClatchy, O'Hara hated
Dead poets' society
Three great gay poets live again on spoken-word CDs that let
you read along By Michael Giltz
The Voice of the Poet series:
Allen Ginsbergj W.H. Audenj and
Frank O'Hara. CDs with companion
books containing text offeatured poems and
commentaries by J.D. McClatchy. Random
House Audio. $19.95 each
,oetry is the least necessary of
the arts-until you start read
ing it. Then it becomes only
as necessary as blood and
oxygen. This is true even if
you sit quietly in a corner and read to
yourself, but poetry is meant to be
heard, which is why "The Voice of the
Poet" is such a welcome series, pairing
CDs-each containing about an hour of archival recordings of the author
declaiming his work-with slim pa
perbacks presenting the text along G 1
with tidy scholarly essays, by cele
brated poet J.D. McClatchy, about ,,,._:-::.:, .. ,H.:~
the respective authors. -.
The latest batch features three gay
poets: Frank O'Hara, Allen Ginsberg,
and W. H. Auden. McClatchy is direct
about the sexuality of the first two but
almost as circumspect about the third as
Auden was himself. The only tip-offs to
his gay leanings are references to
Auden's living in Berlin with Christopher
Isherwood, plunging into the "homosex
ual underworld," and lifelong roommate
Chester Kallman, the American poet.
THE ADVOCATE 1901 MAY 11, 2004
the sound of his own voice and didn't
enjoy public readings. No wonder, then,
that his style is rather flat and affect
less, fighting against the humor and
vital drama of pieces like "Poem (Lana
Turner Has Collapsed!)" and "The Day
Lady Died."
Auden is as patrician as any British
poet should be. He may have written
about cornflakes or, in "The Common
Life," talked about "our roll-call of
persons we would least like to go to
bed with," but his is the voice of the
old man of letters, not the young
rebel. (And, no, the poem from Four
Weddings and a Funeral is not heard
in this series.)
Ginsberg is the best reader of the
three. He loved to entertain, loved large
crowds, and loved the sound of his own
voice. All of "Howl" is here, and that
landmark alone, far more arresting out
loud than on the page, proves that the
voice of the poet, whenever possible,
should be heard .•
1911 The world of poets is small-even
smaller if you focus on the gay ones.
O'Hara showed one of his early pieces
to Auden and in 1964 dedicated his
witty, movie-soaked poem "Fantasy" to
"the health of Allen Ginsberg." It was
only fair: In 1958 Ginsberg had dedicat
ed "My Sad Self" to O'Hara, whose
health was presumably not in question
at the time.
Acc()rding to McClatchy, O'Hara hated