After reading Christian Wiman's indispensible "Ambition and Survival: On Becoming a Poet" I randomly googled his name and found, to my pleasant surprise, a great podcast he produces in his role as Editor of Poetry Magazine. Each podcast highlights some of the poems from that month's issue, has allowed me to become more integrated in current discussions in the field and provided a glimmer of beauty on otherwise hostile days. Given that my commute to work these days can be upwards of 40 minutes, it's been no small thing to have the poetry podcast along for the ride. Sure it serves a practical purpose of advertising the magazine, but in this case, I'm a willing sucker. It also highlights another curious thing I've found. My best poetry has grown out of hearing other poets read, rather than reading other poets. I used to feel direct reading, seeing the words on the page, reading it out loud, and letting images or phrases swirl up from that was one of the best ways of beginning a poem (pragmatist that I am), but it now seems to me that sitting at a reading is actually the best, and hearing them read on a podcast like this one is, if anything, in second place, or perhaps I should quote Wiman here, as he writes of his assessment of a poet writing in prose: "For me. For now. It helps."
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