Unleash the Poems

Dylan Thomas would have been 97 today. He’s been gone for more than half a century and still his voice sticks around, death-defying. But that’s poetry’s best point, isn’t it? Or the point of poetry at its best: going out on a wire, crashing through windows, skipping over the Grand Canyon. Not with the delusional costuming of a superhero, just a stunt man’s balls. Death-defying. Listen now (click the little downward facing arrow at the end of each track listing to download.)

Starting today with Dylan Thomas, the LARB blog begins offering poems for free download, courtesy of our buddies at GPR Records. Performed by GPR’s stellar roster of voices, the poems — some set to original music, some simply read — will appear on more or less a regular basis and around a particular poet’s birthday, give or take a day or two.

Be sure to note that today’s poems are featured in GPR’s Dylan Thomas: In My Craft or Sullen Art, which the label is offering at a discount through November 3rd.