Words and Sound

 
There are few things that can make me just sit still, or instantly transport me to a different time and place: the cry of a plaintive violin, a lingering sunset too beautiful for any lens to capture, the warm nuzzle of Pacific waters, music that gives heartache such enviable beauty. And poetry—the kind that cuts right through, needing no excess of words drowning its sentiment, letting you fill the necessary spaces with your own voice.

When a poem is masterfully written, hearing it read aloud is often a hit-or-miss affair. When it misses, it’s almost painful to hear. But when it hits, oh, what new life it gives to familiar words.

Tracks like these make me think of how certain sounds can arouse the tenderest of emotions. How a slight dip in tone can lovingly caress a consonant, or embrace a vowel. And then I am easily lost, afloat in the powerful imagery the poet paints.

I am at once sad and joyful, grateful to be human, that we can be so moved by the simple chemistry of words strung together. The effect is consistent and immediate, no matter how many times I’ve listened to these same words before.

And because it’s cold and gray outside, and I’m sitting at my desk right now thinking that it must be cold and gray everywhere else in the world, I thought I’d share some of them with you.

Nothing goes better, I think, with gray.

 
[audio: http://www.ivoryhut.com/wp-content/uploads/media/tonight-i-can-write.mp3]Pablo Neruda: Tonight I Can Write (read by Andy Garcia)

 
[audio: http://www.ivoryhut.com/wp-content/uploads/media/i-like-for-you-to-be-still.mp3]Pablo Neruda: I Like For You To Be Still (read by Glenn Close)

 
[audio: http://www.ivoryhut.com/wp-content/uploads/media/dancing-light-sonnet-xxix.mp3]William Shakespeare: Sonnet XXIX (read by Ron Perlman)

 
[audio: http://www.ivoryhut.com/wp-content/uploads/media/margarets-theme-longing.mp3]Matthew Arnold: Longing (read by Ron Perlman)

 
[audio: http://www.ivoryhut.com/wp-content/uploads/media/a-single-night-love-song.mp3]Rainer Maria Rilke: Love Song (read by Ron Perlman)

 
 

5 thoughts on “Words and Sound”

  1. Absolutely perfect with gray!!! Made my morning beautiful, and so did that gorgeous photo. I’d love to have you link up with Sunday Citar (a Sunday quote link), please consider it?! This would be wonderful to add.

    Have a blessed Sunday!

    :)

  2. It is cold and gray outside here too, funny I had that same thought of it being the same way every where because it’s cold and gray here.

  3. Thank you for giving us the gift of hearing these beautiful poems read so beautifully… I am adding your blog to my list of “other nests to visit” on my own blog. Now that I have heard these poems, I am going to listen to them again…and again…beautiful! Have a wonderful day. Kim

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