Poems and other items: Recent Episodes
Juana Diaz
A podcast in which I read poems from other people, poems I have written, and paragraphs from a book that stand out
Bought this book of poetry by Cindy Cherie, and I read it in one sitting!! The poems just draw you in, and these two that I chose stood out to me for some reason. Hopefully everyone can relate to them.
Recently I started reading “The Book of Healing” by Najwa Zebian, and a lot of the poems involve healing from certain situations. This came from the section called Overcoming Pain. I’ve been reading this book, and the poems have stood out to me! And, I admit, my voice kinda cracked while reading since I’m going through a healing process as well, physically and emotionally. And I’ll state it: Physically because I had COVID in January, and I had a dental implant procedure done this month, which is healing after a week. Emotionally, coping with the loss of my uncle at the beginning of this month, though I know he’s in a better place, and reflecting on the memories I had of him. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is going through their own healing process. https://anchor.fm/juana-diaz49/message
I’ve listened to the 10 minute version of All Too Well by Taylor Swift a few times, and it really stuck with me. Thought I would give it the dramatic reading treatment. I didn’t add any background music to it, and just read the lyrics. I did add some whispering to the end.
This is from the book “Bloom” by the poet Beau Taplin. This poem stood out to me and the message is an example of growth and going forward.
I wrote this poem back in April 2014. Got inspired by the lyrics from “Enjoy the Silence” by Depeche Mode. If you’ve never heard the song, I’d recommend to listen to it, and then this reading.
I was combing through my books, and found a book of poems by Maya Angelou that I hadn’t read in a while. One of my favorites is Phenomenal Woman, which is very well known. I first heard this poem in the movie “Poetic Justice” in which Janet Jackson recites some of Maya Angelou’s poems. If you have yet to see this movie, I highly recommend to give it a view.
Decided to give it a go with this poem. Though the poem has a type of melancholy to it, it’s a great poem. Plus, before I was about to read the poem, I had researched to see if a woman had read it before, and lo and behold there was a video of an ASMR artist reading it in a soft spoken voice and quite gentle. But yes, I wanted to read it to see how it would sound like if a woman were to read it.
I listened to Tom Hiddleston read this poem and he did an amazing job. The poem somehow stuck with me, but I somehow forgotten about it until recently. Pardon the bad British accent I may have, I did my best.
Something I wrote back on February 26, 2014. Wrote it as I looked back at a moment in college (October 2007) when I was struggling with my academics and as I walked to class, it was raining. Let’s just say it was a peaceful moment https://anchor.fm/juana-diaz49/message
Intro to my first podcast. Will be reading poems from other authors, poems that I have written, and sometimes paragraphs from a book that stand out