One of my favorite ways to experience poetry is to hear it read aloud. OPL has a variety of audio recordings of poets reading their works which I've shared with you below, in celebration of National Poetry Month.

Essential Langston Hughes [sound recording] / read by Langston Hughes

Leaves of grass [sound recording] / by Walt Whitman

The Nikki Giovanni poetry collection [sound recording] / written and performed by Nikki Giovanni ; [with commentary by the author]

The classic hundred poems [sound recording] / William Harmon, editor

The Iliad [sound recording] / Homer ; translated by Stephen Mitchell                                      

Celebrations [sound recording] : [rituals of peace and prayer] / Maya Angelou                                      

The Spoken Arts treasury. Volume I [sound recording] : 100 modern American poets reading their poems                                                                                

Poetry speaks : hear great poets read their work from Tennyson to Plath / editors, Elise Paschen and Rebekah Presson Mosby ; narrator, Charles Osgood                                      

Another great way to listen to poetry is through The Writer's Almanac daily podcast, featuring Garrison Keillor.  Keillor reads a poem and provides information about poets and other literary figures.  You can also hear poems read by poets and actors at The Poetry Foundation Website.

And of course you can hear poetry at the library during National Poetry Month.  The Rockridge Branch and PEN Oakland are hosting Environmental Poetry for the Soul on April 5th.  81st Avenue is also hosting an Open Mic in the Cafe on April 5th and Montclair is celebrating National Poetry Month with six local poets on April 22nd.  Several of our branches also have poetry displays.  So come check out some poetry at your library!