Just for the record, I don’t consider this one of my best poems. It has its flaws. But I wrote it as an exercise in a workshop. The assignment was to write a poem in which coffee and potato chips were mentioned within the two minute time limit. Most people, in these kinds of exercises, meet the requirements of the exercise in the first couple of lines. I just started writing to see where I might go and sought the best place to slip potato chips and coffee in without making it look like that’s what I was doing. I managed to pull it off right at the two minute mark.

At any rate, here it is. “Potato Chips And Coffee”:

I remember watching Barfly back in the late 1980s. It gave me a whole new dimension to Bukowski that simply reading his poems couldn’t do. In the same manner, watching a video of Bukowski reading his poems brings something new to his voice. Even hearing him talk about his life. The interviews. All of it pulls so much in that a single poem or collection can’t do on its own. I’m beginning to like him again.

One thing that strikes me about Charles Bukowksi is that he doesn’t fit in anywhere. He’s been called a Beat, but that doesn’t fit. He has some things in common with the New York poets, but he lived in L.A.

Over the years there have been a spate of imitations and none of them are ever as good as the original. That may have something to do with my feelings about him. I like originals. I hate imitations. Even good ones, though I’ve never seen or heard a good imitation of Bukowksi.

I loved reading his fiction as much as I did his poetry, maybe even more. Post Office was a good read and it gave me a new perspective on Buk the poet as well as the man. But the following video is perhaps one of the best presentations I’ve seen of Bukowski in a long while. It is diverse. I can’t speak to the quality of the footage, but the production is well done. And the inclusion of Bono reading one of his poems makes it even better.

I hope you’ll enjoy this nearly 10-minute video on Bukowski, his life, and his poems:

I don’t have any Bukowkski videos up yet, but you can catch more poetry videos at World Class Poetry.

If you were around in the late 1970s then you’ll probably remember the progressive rock group Alan Parsons Project. “Tales of Mystery and Imagination” was an imaginative take on the works of Edgar Allan Poe and still sells considerably well. You’ll love the video of the same title featuring the title track.

Other poetry videos included in the Poe collection include:

• The Raven (of course)
• Ulalume
• Annabel Lee

These are all amateur productions, but I consider them done well enough to share. I particularly like the high school production of “Annabel Lee”. But I’d encourage you to check them all out for yourself. You can do that by visiting the World Class Poetry video library, courtesy of YouTube.

If you’re a fan of former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins then you’ll like these videos. I’ve seen hundreds of poetry videos online and none come close to the quality and originality of Billy Collins’ animated poetry videos. And I’m not a huge fan of Billy Collins poetry.

I like his videos because they are high quality productions that are more than just a man standing at a microphone reading from a book. There may be a place for that, but in my mind a quality poetry video must have some element of visual aesthetic that adds to the poetic experience beyond the written and oral delivery of the poem. Billy Collins provides that in just about all of his videos, but particularly in his animated poetry videos.

The four poems represented by Billy Collins at World Class Poetry are:

• Forgetfulness
• The Dead
• The Country
• Sweet Talk

I hope you’ll take some time to enjoy these videos from former poet laureate Billy Collins.

• Divinull (very prolific video uploader)
• Living Passion
• Janet Kuypers (many of you are likely familiar with her)

I’ve also got a place set aside for Billy Collins. In the next few days I’ll be adding some videos by Billy Collins and you can watch them on the WCP website.

All the videos are courtesy of YouTube. More videos are sure to come. You’ll likely see videos soon that depict the poems of Edgar Allan Poe and a couple from film artist Tim Burton as well. Be on the lookout for more great poetry videos in the future as I intend to update these pages as often as I can. If you have produced any poetry videos of your own and you’d like to be included then leave me a comment on this post or contact me through World Class Poetry.

To stay current on poetry videos as they are developed for World Class Poetry, download the World Class Poetry Toolbar.

Some of the poets represented on video include:

• Lucille Clifton
• Charles Simic
• Sharon Olds
• Billy Collins
• Adrienne Rich
• Yusef Komunyakaa
• Stanley Kunitz
• Coleman Barks
• Marie Howe
• and Robert Hass

Special appearances have also been arranged by Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, and W.B. Yeats.

I strongly encourage you to take a look at these videos, produced by WGBH Boston and David Grubin Productions for PBS. You can find them at the PBS website. Take your time. Enjoy.