Music I Once Could Dance To - Poems

I read two poems that deal with harvest, Kelly W. Johnston's "Reaping," and my poem, "Picking," both of which appeared 42 years ago, on facing pages of Gazebo: A Poetry Journal, in the Spring 1977 issue. 

Walt Whitman was born 200 years ago this month. To celebrate, in this installment of my podcast Music I Once Could Dance To,  I read an excerpt from one of my favorite poems from Whitman's Leaves of Grass, "I Sing the Body Electric." I then follow up with a poem of mine that was inspired by Whitman's work. Titled "With Apologies to Walt," it opens with the line "I sing the body hydraulic."

Three baseball poems, "Opening the Hall Closet in February," about anticipation baseball fans feel as winter's end approaches, "Baseball," an ode to the ball itself, and "Grandma's Front Porch, 1950," about listening to ball games on the radio in mid-summer as a child. All three poems by Roy Beckemeyer. "Baseball" appeared in Stage Whispers (Roy Beckemeyer, 2018, Meadowlark Books).

Let's mellow the sweet tea of April with a bit of lemony twist. Here are two epistolary poems of love dwindling, love lost. Amy Lowell's "The Letter," and my own "love's last letter."

April - springtime, blossoms, young love - here are two poems about youth and spring romance: "April's Amazing Meaning," by George Dillon (1906-1968) and "Spring, Bittersweet as Separation," by Roy Beckemeyer.

This is the inaugural episode of Music I Once Could Dance To - Poems. Host Roy Beckemeyer reads two of his music-related poems to kick off April, which is Poetry Month and Jazz Appreciation Month.