Maureen Seaton, “Caprice”
From “Pride of Voice, Voice of Pride,” the 2000 Pride reading at Women & Children First Books in Chicago, archived in the E-Poets.net Book of Voices.Pride is nothing without humor, and a propos of Pride Week we can think of nothing funnier and truer to listen to than Maureen Seaton’s tale of the sexual politics between Olive Oyl, Popeye and “others.”
Lizzie Wann, “Patricia Said”
From her CD A Wing and a Prayer (Stoneground Records, 2000).Inspired by Patricia Smith, this is a lovely memory poem about “the love between girls and dads.”
Walt Whitman, “America”
From The Walt Whitman Archive.This 36-second snippet is the only surviving recording of Walt Whitman’s voice, on a wax cylinder from the 19th century.
CENTRE of equal daughters, equal sons,
All, all alike endear’d, grown, ungrown, young or old,
Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich,
Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love,
A grand, sane, towering, seated Mother,
Chair’d in the adamant of Time.
