[lbo-talk] Personal request - poetry recommendation needed

Joseph Catron jncatron at gmail.com
Wed Oct 9 10:23:48 PDT 2013


Some may scoff, but I happen to think that H.P. Lovecraft, while execrable at prose, was a talented poet. And if you're looking for "something spooky melodramatic and over the top," few have done more to craft that sort of thing for the modern English-speaking world, although Poe was certainly one.

Take, for example, "Despair":

"Evil wings in ether beating; Vultures at the spirit eating; Things unseen forever fleeting

Black against the leering sky. Ghastly shades of bygone gladness, Clawing fiends of future sadness, Mingle in a cloud of madness

Ever on the soul to lie ..."

Etc., etc.

http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/poetry/p168.aspx

Plus, if she goes with Lovecraft, she'll make any number of geeks very happy.

On Wed, Oct 9, 2013 at 10:48 AM, Gar Lipow <gar.lipow at gmail.com> wrote:


> My 91 year lod Mom enjoys giving readings on Halloween. She is a minor
> star at the local reader's theater on that day. Last year she read Poe's
> "the Bells" (which IMO is much spookier than the Raven - if you have the
> breath control to read it out loud.) At any rate she does not think she can
> top the "The Bells" but it would be a great present to her to prove her
> wrong - to find her something spooky melodramatic and over the top that can
> beat the Bells.
>
> The Highwayman is not bad when it comes to melodrama and over the topness,
> but as My Mom say, does not come close to "The Bells". Anyone on this list
> have any suggestions? Looking for ear candy, meant to be read out loud..
> Over the top, melodramic (or comic) with a strong supernatural element. No
> worries about delivery - if Ruth can recite "The Bells", and get the
> reaction Poe intended, she can recite anything..
>
> Oh and if you have not encountered "The Bells" lately, here is a link
> http://knowingpoe.thinkport.org/writer/thebells_fulltext.asp .
> onomatopoeic
> ear candy and over the top melodrama. No depth, but oh what a surface.
>
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