Searchable list of all poems: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CCjGqAU4uz0dwo7X8e3MBnGorHOT0kYeUDYxLwEKeU4/edit#gid=0

On March 18th 2020, I asked for requests on Twitter: if anyone wanted me to read a poem they liked, I'd record it for them.  

650-odd suggestions later, here we are. Several new recordings go up every day. Some lovely people are helping, and poets have been very kind and generous too. 

Hope you enjoy them. Sam x

The #PandemicPoems Poetry Jukebox I, read by Samuel West and friends. Poems 1 - 500

This Is Langston Hughes

Spoken Word Poetry ❤

Classic Poems & Poetry

in the bleak midwinter // 2023
stream / download: https://diedlonely.lnk.to/bleakmidwinter

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in the bleak midwinter

The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost - The Road Not Taken

Video: https://youtu.be/oLo4VAU9mKM
Album: https://ffm.to/zuzanabing-twentysomething

Twentysomething

Hope Is The Thing With Feathers (Emily Dickinson)

Poem as friend to Carole Moffat

'Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land'

“I discovered this poem in my late teens after visiting the Laing Gallery and seeing the pre-Raphaelite paintings. For me it’s not about death and grief but rather It’s acted as a force of resilience and survival.”

Carole brought this poem to The Poetry Exchange at Durham Book Festival. www.durhambookfestival.com 

The poem is read by Rebecca Manley and Fiona Lesley Bennett.

*****

Remember by Christina Rossetti
         
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

Hear more

Remember by Christina Rossetti

From the album "Debris" by Shane Koyczan and The Short Story Long

Vote now at http://www.shanekoyczan.com and decide which song from "Debris" gets made into a video!!
Video submissions email (details below): submissions@shanekoyczan.com

Album Available at: http://www.shanekoyczan.com/store/debris
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/shanekoyczan
YouTube: https://goo.gl/hm1qJz
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/shane-koyczan/sets/debris

Shoulders:
Words by: Shane Koyczan 
Music by: The Short Story Long 
Shane: voice
Maiya: electric guitar
Jordie: cello
Jesse: bass
Daniel Lapp: violin, flumpet
Corwin: drums, percussion
Glenna: piano

Shane Koyczan and The Short Story Long are:
Shane Koyczan: words and voice
Maiya Robbie: guitar and voice
Jesse Lee: bass and voice
Jordie Robinson: cello and voice
Glenna Garramone: piano and voice


Making a new video and you get to decide which one!!!

  Many of you already know that we put out the new album just a short while ago. Thank you all for supporting it... we've gotten some incredible reviews and wonderfully positive feedback. I really love this album. I love it so much that I couldn't decide on which video to make next. See where I'm going with this yet? We opened with a video of "For Many" and are now considering which piece should follow it up. In all likelihood this will be the last video I produce (They're an increasingly expensive commitment with no monetary return... I do them because I love doing them... just can't afford to keep doing them.) So with all of that out in the open I want to invite my fans to make this decision. Your support has meant so much over the years and I'm often asked why I haven't done a video for this piece or that piece... trust me I would do videos for all of them if I could. How it breaks down is this. We're going to release the album on YouTube and Soundcloud. Two tracks per week with just a static image of Scott Waters wonderful cover art. When all of the pieces are finally online voting will begin on www.shanekoyczan.com.

There'll be a list of the tracks and each visitor will be allowed to cast their vote for the piece they'd most like to see made into a video. Please keep in mind that we don't have access to grants and are not crowd funding this project. Our budget is a modest 8k which I pay for myself. So please don't expect Michael Jackson's Thriller. Another angle to this little tidbit is that we will be accepting submissions from creators who might be interested in making the video. Animators, graphic designers, filmmakers... Pixar... whoever you are... If this is something that interests you and you believe you can work within the budget... it's all yours. Submit some of your work to submissions@shanekoyczan.com; the band and I will go through and decide which style we'd like to see applied to the chosen track. Something you should consider before making any commitments is that the 8k is in Canadian funds, which is currently laughable outside of Canada, so I hope you're up for a challenge. If you do feel like cushioning the meager budget you can make a pledge on my Patreon page https://www.patreon.com/shanekoyczan. This will likely be the first and last project I release via this site but every penny helps. Okay... I've talked your ear off long enough. Hope you've all been making beautiful steps toward your bliss in this new year. Hope to see you all in it.

Cheers, Shane


6 - "Shoulders" by Shane Koyczan and The Short Story Long

(Original Live Performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3JCpteKTb0)

It's a full feature poem that I'm tremendously proud of, and one that I hope can instill feelings of inspiration and confidence in whatever you do in your life. 

Music: "Fly", from the Intouchables Soundtrack (2011)

LYRICS:
“They say that ignorance is bliss...thats all i want, a spotless mind. Devoid of any regrets or doubts, no barriers of space or time. Memories forgotten like wisps in the wind, appearing for just  a moment, and then never returning again. 
But thats just wishful thinking. Because honestly, most of the time we're on the brink of sinking; under the weight of all of those wasted opportunities and regretful choices, all of the things we've held back and all of the things we've voiced, all that noise and all that silence, all of those times that we should have done something, but we didn't, held back by a false sense of defiance.
You see our lives are not shaped by just one thing, or one decision. Instead, our actions are like seeds; growing and branching out into a multiplicity of inevitabilities that combine to form the matrix of our existence, and whenever we try to intervene we find that we simply get tangled up in the vines of all our limitless possibilities. We come to learn that is the seemingly inconsequential events of our lives that truly end up defining our past, and leading us to this present moment, to right now, right here...because that’s all that matters. 
So don't fear the moment, own it; don't be afraid to control it. Because If all we have is right now, then you better get going, and don't look back. Open up your palms and follow that map that you've carefully drawn out, and you'll soon find yourself breaking away from the very things you thought you'd never be able to live without. 
But don't jump out of your seat just yet. A great leader knows that every mile begins with a first step, every inspiring speech begins with a single breath, and regardless of what others say, you alone are the architect of your own success. So build high, and build fearlessly, because that foundation was there long before you realized it, and will remain long after you forget. 
“...Oh and by the way, you know when they say that good things come to those who wait? Thats not true; good things come to those who chase. Those who embrace the uncertainty of what they do, those who fight to get through the hard times, those who run across a field of landmines without blinking an eye, those who aren't afraid to cry to get through the pain, you see tears are the avenues through which our souls are cleansed, they are the feather-light droplets of purity that carry with them the weight of the world.
And What's more, is that they remind us that its ok to be afraid of what lies at the end of life’s great endeavours. 
Because even though some things never change, something's can change you forever."


<a href="https://theartistunion.com/tracks/b6c8da" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download for free on The Artist Union</a>

"Don't Look Back" - Inspirational Spoken Word Poetry

This weeks Sinfonia comes from the wonderful @tugce-kurtis . Inspired by the quote from Dylan Thomas and the feeling of eternal night that she experienced in Berlin she discoverd again the light that music can bring you and let it carry her through the german darkness.

Tuğçe on SC: http://bit.ly/2G8xjer
...         on FB: http://bit.ly/2rzRxL7

Cover by Iorie

Serafin Sinfoniae

Facebook

Serafin Sinfonia Op. 32 - Tuğçe Kurtiş - Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Rapid Change is the first complete project from Ministry of Promiss.  Awarding winning songs, "I Promise," for best female in gospel Hip Hop, appearances on Atlanta's Live and recognized for several other awards.

Poem My God/ Written by Promiss

Langston Hughes, I Too

Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day (Sonnet 18) by William Shakespeare (female)

Sabaton Discography: https://music.sabaton.net/discography

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The Great War

In Flanders Fields

Merchandise 👕

This was inspired by the book "The Story of Motown" by Peter Benjaminson.  Briefly, Motown had a label called Black Forum that released speeches by Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael, and others. The book mentions that Motown had recorded an album featuring Langston Hughes and Margaret Danner for the Black Forum label. Unfortunately, the album was never released.

Harlem
======
Written by Langston Hughes.
Track Info
ALBUM
Margaret Walker Reads Margaret Walker and Langston Hughes
YEAR RELEASED
1975
CATALOG NUMBER
FW09797_114

Stokely Carmichael
==================
(1941 - 1998)
Speech at University of California, Berkeley
October 29, 1966
http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/blackspeech/scarmichael.html

Langston Hughes photo by Jack Delano (1942).

Harlem (Version)

01 The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy

02 The Lion And Albert by Marriott Edgar

03 I Opened a Book by Julia Donaldson

04 The Good Morrow by John Donne

05 Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

50 Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost, read by Emma Fielding

A recitation of Kipling’s famous poem.

Music by bensound.com

Rudyard Kipling - If

Thursday 9th July 2020. Day 113 of Pandemic Poems

353 Mother to Son by Langston Hughes, read by Adjoa Andoh

Friday September 4th 2020. Day 169 of Pandemic Poems

520 Remember by Christina Rossetti, read by Alice Evans

Langston Hughes Reads Langston Hughes

We Are the American Heartbreak (Commentary)

The Dream Keeper and Other Poems

Lincoln Monument; Washington; Aunt Sue's Stories

In My Poetry (Commentary)

Actor and sometimes director. Searchable list of poems: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CCjGqAU4uz0dwo7X8e3MBnGorHOT0kYeUDYxLwEKeU4/htmlview#gid=0

353 Mother to Son by Langston Hughes, read by Adjoa Andoh

Samuel West #PandemicPoems