Poetry at Large

Spoken word tape of choice in the car's stereo system is Ted Hughes reading Tales From Ovid. I switched it on today on the way home and the first line out was: The hanging bulge of the land is plumped with myrtles, from Peleus and Thetis. Hughes makes hanging sound like you're on the end of a rope, only to balloon out on bulge before hitting the abundance of plumped. I'm not sure what myrtles look like but they sound great. And that was just one line. I suppose the extraordinary gravelly depth of the voice on this recording was due to Hughes's final illness. Sad but utterly splendid.

Back home I found myself listening to a bit of Ian McMillan on Poetry Archive. Another great voice and, coincidentally, they've got his poem about Ted Hughes becoming Elvis Presley, or vice versa. I was trying to find something for a spot in an upcoming English Department meeting entitled Something Inspirational for which I have to find, well, something inspirational. I'm not a Chicken Soup for the Soul kind of guy so I don't think I'll be coming up with quite what might be expected. At the moment, something from Mr McMillan is on the cards - as to how I'll pass that off as inspirational, time will tell.