Listen

I love to listen to stories. Not just read them, but listen. There is something magical and personable about listening to the voice of another read the words on a page. I love to go to poetry and prose readings to listen to the various authors bring voice to their work.

At La Bloga, Michael Sedano touches on this history and passion for oracy, which includes the act of listening as well as speaking. Within his post, I found a must-have for my library, Poetry Speaks, a book and 3-disc set of great poets reading their works. Too bad Christmas is past, maybe I'll add this to the birthday list.

While researching a paper on the works of Robert Hayden I stumbled across an animation of Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays," read by Carl Hancock Rux.  Hayden is one of my favorite poets and I searched and searched for an audio of Hayden himself reading aloud his colorful works. I have yet to read the entire list of poets for Poetry Speaks, but I'm hoping someone has captured Hayden.

This Christmas I was able to hear Rob Simon from the Wichita Griots Storytellers rendition of The Polar Express,  as well as one of his own stories, The Spirit. He is a wonderful storyteller, his voice resonating with the passion within that he has for oral tradition. His voice an instrument, moving up and down the vocal scale, deepening, then almost whispering. I am looking forward to hearing the rest of the troupe and am excited to finally be introduced to them.

Stories are a large part of who I am, not only my own works, but the stories handed down to me by my family members. The stories of my immigrant grandparents, the trials of my parents, the legends and folktales from my culture. Stories.

My hope is to become involved in a program reading to children and adults, once I have graduated and am leading a much more normal life. Okay, maybe not normal but with a less hectic schedule. I love to read aloud. I actually gave my first public reading of my own short story, Altar Society, this past September at the Wichita Public Library as part of the Hispanic Heritage Series. I hope to read again soon. Meanwhile, I will continue to attend readings so that just for an hour or so I can recapture that tradition, the tradition of not only listening, but hearing.