In this installment, Jeffrey Thomson reads “London” by William Blake. Thomson’s third book of poems, Renovation, was part of the Carnegie Mellon University Press poetry series in 2005. His second collection of poems, The Country of Lost Sons, inaugurated a new poetry series from Parlor Press at Purdue University in February 2004 and first book, The Halo Brace, was brought out in a limited edition letterpress version from Birch Brook Press in 1998. He is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Maine, Farmington.
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William Blake’s “London”
I wander thro’ each charter’d street,
Near where the charter’d Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every Man,
In every Infant’s cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forg’d manacles I hear.
How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry
Every black’ning Church appalls;
And the hapless Soldier’s sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls.
But most thro’ midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot’s curse
Blasts the new born Infant’s tear,
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.
admin Uncategorized jeffrey thomson, london, william blake
In this installment, Ira Sadoff reads “London” by William Blake. Sadoff is the author of seven collections of poetry, most recently Grazing and Barter. (To hear him read his poem “IRAN/IRAQ,” from this collection, please click here.) He is also the author of a novel, Uncoupling, and The Ira Sadoff Reader (poems, stories, and essays). His work has been widely anthologized, appearing in both The Harper Anthology of American Literature and St. Martin’s Introduction to Literature; he has received grants from the Guggenheim Foundation and the NEA and has taught at the University of Virginia, the Iowa Writer’s Work Shop, and the M.F.A. program at Warren Wilson College. Currently, he teaches at Colby College and is a core faculty member at New England College’s low-residency M.F.A. program. For more information on his work, see here or here.
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William Blake’s “London”
I wander thro’ each charter’d street,
Near where the charter’d Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every Man,
In every Infant’s cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forg’d manacles I hear.
How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry
Every black’ning Church appalls;
And the hapless Soldier’s sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls.
But most thro’ midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot’s curse
Blasts the new born Infant’s tear,
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.
admin Uncategorized ira sadoff, london, william blake
In this installment, Ken Edwards reads “London” by William Blake. Edwards’ books include the poetry collections Intensive Care (1986), Good Science (1992), 3600 Weekends (1993), eight + six (2003), and the novel Futures (1998). He has been editor/publisher of Reality Street Editions since 1993. He is active in music as well as writing: his text for a piece by John Tilbury for piano, voice and sampled sounds, There’s something in there…, was premiered in 2003, and his music for Fanny Howe’s Spiral was first performed in Brighton and London in 2004. He is writing a new novel. He lives in Hastings on the south coast of England and works as an editor for the Royal College of Nursing in London.
download MP3
William Blake’s “London”
I wander thro’ each charter’d street,
Near where the charter’d Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every Man,
In every Infant’s cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forg’d manacles I hear.
How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry
Every black’ning Church appalls;
And the hapless Soldier’s sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls.
But most thro’ midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot’s curse
Blasts the new born Infant’s tear,
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.
admin Uncategorized ken edwards, london, william blake
