hear poems read by poets: 4 free, fab resources

I’ve been chatting up poetry all month long, since April is National Poetry Month.

I’ve hit you with a few ways to make poetry rock for your kids.

I’ve shared some of my favorite poetry books.

I’ve even told you why kids need to hear sounds in words..

Honestly, more than anything, I’m thrilled to share some really awesome poetry-related resources with you–resources I truly believe will help bring poetry to life for your kids.

It’s one thing to read poems, but it’s another to hear poems–especially to hear poems read by the poets themselves.  So I’ve wrangled my favorite resources for you–four free, fab resources for you to hear poems read by poets.

Here’s the skinny. . .

Hear Poems Read By Poets — 4 Free, Fab Resources:

I love this, from The Reading Teacher in 2006, in an article by Michelann Parr and Terry Campbell called ‘Poets in Practice’:

Risk taking and demonstrating that we are writers, too, is consistent with Glover’s (1999) statement that “to teach poets we must be poets” (p. 37). Just as we tell our students that they need to go beyond simply knowing and talking about poetry, so, too, do we.

It’s not only important that we, as parents ask our kids to read and celebrate poetry–we have to model that as well.

We can start by listening.

In our visual age, I always feel like Maddy, Owen, and Cora are so much more interested in things if they can see or hear them. I get it. The more senses we can activate, the better.

• The Poetry Foundation -> features -> audio and podcasts = tons and tons of poems
• The Library of Congress -> Collections > Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature > About this Collection
• Poetry Out Loud -> poems and performance -> listen to poetry = poems read by actors and poets
• Search YouTube ‘Poetry Slam’ -> Be careful here! You should definitely watch the Slam Poetry before sharing with your child. Some can be pretty edgy and racy. Maybe start with Poetry Slam, Inc channel.

When it comes to poetry, my friends, we need to just dive in.

Like I said before, we don’t have to sit down and read poetry books cover to cover. We don’t have to have classical music playing. We don’t have to read poems we don’t understand.

We just have to go for it.

I love what the authors of the above-mentioned article say here:

Before we can expect our kids to appreciate poetry. . . [w]e must first examine our own apprehensions, preconceived notions, and perceived abilities as poets in order to include more space for poetry—both our own and that of our students.

It’s true–and though we don’t have to start even by writing poems ourselves, we have to start by just reading–and enjoying!–poems ourselves.

Ready? Go!

Want to read more?
Want more? Click on the image to learn more about poetry:

Cheers, and happy reading during this incredibly exciting journey!

fyi: Thank you to Parr, M. and Campbell, T. (2006), Poets in Practice. The Reading Teacher, 60: 36–46. doi: 10.1598/RT.60.1.4 for information in this post.