Poetry

Part of a Brain Pickings collaboration with the 92Y Unterberg Poetry Center and artist Ohara Hale – see illustrated interpretations of the poems here: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/04/28/denise-levertov-92y-ohara-hale

Recorded live at the https://soundcloud.com/92y

Audio exclusively available courtesy of the 92Y Unterberg Poetry Center and the Denise Levertov estate. 

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Denise Levertov poetry readings at the 92Y

poems

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Jeremy Bernstein conducts the most thorough interview Stanley Kubrick has ever given. Background and context here: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/11/27/jeremy-bernstein-stanley-kubrick-interview/

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A rare interview with Stanley Kubrick (1965)

Part of a Brain Pickings collaboration with the 92Y and artist Ohara Hale – see illustrated interpretations of the poems here: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/04/28/denise-levertov-92y-ohara-hale

Recorded live at the https://soundcloud.com/92y

Audio exclusively available courtesy of the 92Y Unterberg Poetry Center and the Denise Levertov estate. 

Denise Levertov reads "The Certainty" (1991)

Denise Levertov reads "To The Muse" (1963)

Denise Levertov reads "The Ache of Marriage" (1963)

Denise Levertov reads "Love Song" (1963)

Denise Levertov reads "Open Secret" (1991)

Denise Levertov reads "City Psalm" (1965)

You can watch the full video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDtw62Ah2zY 

A Rock, A River, A Tree
Hosts to species long since departed,
Mark the mastodon.
The dinosaur, who left dry tokens
Of their sojourn here
On our planet floor,
Any broad alarm of their of their hastening doom
Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.
But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,
Come, you may stand upon my
Back and face your distant destiny,
But seek no haven in my shadow.
I will give you no hiding place down here.
You, created only a little lower than
The angels, have crouched too long in
The bruising darkness,
Have lain too long
Face down in ignorance.
Your mouths spelling words
Armed for slaughter.
The rock cries out today, you may stand on me,
But do not hide your face.
Across the wall of the world,
A river sings a beautiful song,
Come rest here by my side.
Each of you a bordered country,
Delicate and strangely made proud,
Yet thrusting perpetually under siege.
Your armed struggles for profit
Have left collars of waste upon
My shore, currents of debris upon my breast.
Yet, today I call you to my riverside,
If you will study war no more.
Come, clad in peace and I will sing the songs
The Creator gave to me when I
And the tree and stone were one.
Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your brow
And when you yet knew you still knew nothing.
The river sings and sings on.
There is a true yearning to respond to
The singing river and the wise rock.
So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew,
The African and Native American, the Sioux,
The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek,
The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheikh,
The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher,
The privileged, the homeless, the teacher.
They hear. They all hear
The speaking of the tree.
Today, the first and last of every tree
Speaks to humankind. Come to me, here beside the river.
Plant yourself beside me, here beside the river.
Each of you, descendant of some passed on
Traveller, has been paid for.
You, who gave me my first name,
You Pawnee, Apache and Seneca,
You Cherokee Nation, who rested with me,
Then forced on bloody feet,
Left me to the employment of other seekers--
Desperate for gain, starving for gold.
You, the Turk, the Swede, the German, the Scot...
You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru,
Bought, sold, stolen, arriving on a nightmare
Praying for a dream.
Here, root yourselves beside me.
I am the tree planted by the river,
Which will not be moved.
I, the rock, I the river, I the tree
I am yours--your passages have been paid.
Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need
For this bright morning dawning for you.
History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, and if faced with courage,
Need not be lived again.
Lift up your eyes upon
The day breaking for you.
Give birth again
To the dream.
Women, children, men,
Take it into the palms of your hands.
Mold it into the shape of your most
Private need. Sculpt it into
The image of your most public self.
Lift up your hearts.
Each new hour holds new chances
For new beginnings.
Do not be wedded forever
To fear, yoked eternally
To brutishness.
The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
Here, on the pulse of this fine day
You may have the courage
To look up and out upon me,
The rock, the river, the tree, your country.
No less to Midas than the mendicant.
No less to you now than the mastodon then.
Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister's eyes,
Into your brother's face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope
Good morning. 

Maya Angelou Speech
On the Pulse of Morning


Maya Angelou - "On The Pulse of Morning" at Presidents Bill Clinton's Inauguration 1993

Recorded at the Books at Noon program at The New York Public Library. Details and transcript: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/05/19/eve-ensler-nypl/

Subscribe to the Books at Noon podcast here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/new-york-public-library-podcast/id804982781?mt=2

Eve Ensler on how trauma makes us disconnect from ourselves

Seth Godin in conversation with Debbie Millman about courage, anxiety, change, creative integrity,  how to dance with the fear, and more. Background and transcribed highlights: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/05/20/seth-godin-debbie-millman-interview/

TRANSCRIPT / DETAILS

Seth Godin in conversation with Debbie Millman

Background and poem text: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/07/02/patti-smith-jack-kerouac-last-hotel/

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Patti Smith reads Jack Kerouac's "The Last Hotel"

Debbie Millman reads from Dani Shapiro's "Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life" – more here: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/06/02/dani-shapiro-design-matters-interview

Excerpted from https://soundcloud.com/designmatters

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Debbie Millman reads Dani Shapiro's advice to writers

Annotations and transcribed highlights: http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/06/16/neil-gaiman-how-stories-last

Recorded at the Long Now Foundation (http://longnow.org/) on June 9, 2015. 

Follow @https://soundcloud.com/longnow and subscribe to the podcast of their excellent seminars on long-term thinking on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/seminars-about-long-term-thinking/id186908455?mt=2

Neil Gaiman on how stories last

Full text and context: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/12/06/adrienne-rich-gabriel/

More spoken verse by Tom O'Bedlam: http://www.youtube.com/user/SpokenVerse

"Gabriel" by Adrienne Rich (read by Tom O'Bedlam)

Background and context: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/01/23/gertrude-stein-the-making-of-americans/

Gertrude Stein reads from The Making of Americans (winter 1934-1935)

Background and context: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/01/25/prince-charles-reads-robert-burns/

Prince Charles reads "My Heart's In The Highlands" by Robert Burns

Background and context: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/03/18/tolstoy-reading-rare-1909-recording/

The fascinating story of A Calendar of Wisdom, with selected highlights: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/03/15/a-calendar-of-wisdom-tolstoy/

Leo Tolstoy reads from "A Calendar of Wisdom," 1909

An exclusive recording for Brain Pickings. Background and transcript: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/04/09/ode-to-the-book-pablo-neruda-tom-obedlam/

"Ode to the Book" by Pablo Neruda, read by Tom O'Bedlam

Her wonderful 1993 children's verses, illustrated by Jean-Michel Basquiat: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/05/03/life-doesnt-frighten-me-maya-angelou-basquiat/

Maya Angelou reads "Life Doesnt Frighten Me"

Living by Denise Levertov

The fire in leaf and grass 
so green it seems 
each summer the last summer. 

The wind blowing, the leaves 
shivering in the sun, 
each day the last day. 

A red salamander 
so cold and so 
easy to catch, dreamily 

moves his delicate feet 
and long tail. I hold 
my hand open for him to go. 

Each minute the last minute.


Living by Denise Levertov

Excerpt from Orwell's fantastic 1946 essay outlining his 11 "golden" rules of tea perfection: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/05/14/george-orwell-a-nice-cup-of-tea/

George Orwell on how to make the perfect cup of tea

An inspiring commencement address delivered to the graduating class at San Jose State University. Transcript and discussion: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/05/15/debbie-millman-look-both-ways-fail-safe/

Debbie Millman: Fail Safe

Background and poem text <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/09/02/f-scott-fitzgerald-keats-ode-to-a-nightingale/">here</a>. 

Denise Levertov reads "Open Secret" (1991)

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