Poetry - Spoken Word

[Beltane]

SWIM is already a huge fan of spoken word poetry, but certain substances bring on a powerful craving to be drawn in and led down a meandering path of knoledge, wisdom, beauty, folly or just down-right confusion. Nitrous in particular has SWIM reaching for the spoken word section. Sometimes Ketamine, though often silence reigns supreme on those journeys.

So SWIM is curious. Does spoken word poetry hold any special draw for anyone else? And if so, which artist(s) and pieces or work? And is the choice of artist and choice of album have anything to do with the substance working on one's consciousness?

As stated, SWIM is most into spoken word when bingeing on Nitrous. Some of his favorites, which can be taken as recommendations if one wishes, are in no particular order:

--> Dead City Radio- William S. Burroughs (Actually, this is probably SWIM's personal, all-time favorite.)
--> Spare Ass Annie & Other Tales- William S. Burroughs
--> Call Me Burroughs- William S. Burroughs
--> Breakthrough In Grey Room- William S. Burroughs
--> His Finest Hour: The Speeches of Winston Churchill- Winston Churchill
--> King Of Poets- Charles Bukowski
--> Poems And Insults- Charles Bukowski
--> Reads On The Road- Jack Kerouac (another personal favorite)
--> Think Tank- Henry Rollins
--> Howl and Other Poems - Alan Ginsberg
--> Everyday Immortality- Deepak Chopra
--> People's History Project- Howard Zinn

That's off the top of SWIM's head. There's also some cool readings of some Shakespear plays the BBC put out and some Noam Chomsky stuff SWIM can't remember the titles of.

Oh Yeah, there are one or two Leary CD's which are pretty cool too.

- Beltane

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[bewilderment]

An American Prayer by the Doors is Jim's spoken word and is a really nice listen. Also, Saul Williams is first and foremost a spoken word poet (he also has some books out), but unfortunately I do not own any of his spoken poems. However, he has two music CDs: Amethyst Rock Star and self-entitled. Amethyst Rock Star is mostly him rapping his spoken word poetry over beats and his poetry is simply breathtaking. The self-entitled is a little less poetry-focused, but is still a really good album.