Poetry Audiobooks | Literature

Footprints: The True Story behind the Poem That Inspired Millions

"One night I dreamed a dream. I was walking along the beach with my Lord. So begins 'Footprints,' a poem written in 1964 by a young woman named Margaret Fishback, who was searching for direction at the crossroads of her life. The poem has appeared on plaques and cards, calendars, and posters, inspiring millions of people all over the world. The creation of the poem, its subsequent loss, and astonishing rediscovery are intertwined with a life full of challenge, adversity, and joy. This deeply moving and beautiful account tells the complete story behind the poem. The result is a memorable offering of the heart and soul, providing warm spiritual and emotional renewal."

Margaret Fishback Powers (Author), Joan Winmill Brown (Narrator)

Audiobook

Becoming Light: Poems New and Selected

"Although most famous for her bestselling fiction, including Fear of Flying and Any Woman's Blues, Erica Jong started her publishing career as a poet. The celebrated author enjoys an international reputation for her verse. An essential collection of poetry, Becoming Light includes early poems previously uncollected in book form, selections from her previous books, and many new poems. Erica Jong's poetry exhibits her rare gifts for inventiveness, wit, vigor, honesty, and accessibility. Critics have generously praised Jong's unique poetic voice."

Erica Jong (Author), Erica Jong (Narrator)

Audiobook

Poems of Rumi

"Jalaluddin Rumi, known simply as Rumi, is unquestionably one of the greatest spiritual poets of the world. For more than eight centuries, Rumi has enchanted and enthralled readers from every faith and background with his universal themes of love, friendship, and spirituality, which he seamlessly wove into resplendent poetry. This audio features Robert Bly and Coleman Barks delivering readings of Rumi, with brilliant musical accompaniment."

Rumi (Author), Robert Bly (Narrator)

Audiobook

Rumi: Poet Of Divine Ecstasy

"Drunk with the Divine, Rumi wrote 20,000 poems of mystical, ineffable love of God. 'There is a ferocity in his longing that maybe we don't understand,' says Barks. Listen in and understand a little better. A wondrous, exhilarating look at the exultant poetry of Jelaluddin Rumi, the 13th century Sufi poet, with Coleman Barks.Coleman Barks taught poetry at the University of Georgia for many years, and is translator of The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Ecstatic Poems (HarperSanFrancisco 2001); The Illuminated Prayer: The Five-Times Prayer of the Sufis (Ballantine Wellspring 2000); co-translator of The Essential Rumi (HarperSanFrancisco 1997) and co-translator (with John Moyne) of two volumes of Rumi poems, Unseen Rain (Threshold Books 1986) and Open Secret (Threshold Books 1984);"

Coleman Barks (Author), Michael Toms (Narrator)

Audiobook

Two Tales: Jamali Kamali and ZundelState

"Beautifully narrated by Golden Voice narrator Vikas Adams, these two tales of outsiders, one from the distant past and the other from the far-off future, explore love and beauty in the context of fear and threats and reflect upon one another in surprising ways. Jamali Kamali is a book-length poem about two men who lived in 16th century India. For hundreds of years, the story that these men were lovers has been passed down through the generations. Jamali Kamali is a fictional account of their love, longing, separation, and death. ZundelState, a novella in verse, takes place a thousand years in the future in a repressive land where history is banned, and dreaming has vanished. Joe, a lover of history, is rebellious and secretive. Marianna is a model worker for the State where she works in the HistoryShit Apparatchik Division. They fall in love against all odds. Original ZundelState music by Galen Wade."As soon as I read these stories I knew they must come to life on audio, and that Vikas Adam must narrate them," said producer Alison Larkin. "The result is quite magical." What if your soulmate died…and then came back to help you find love again? Alison and Bhima found true, once-in-a-lifetime love for the first time in their 50’s. It was the kind of love that changes everything. Then he died. Six weeks later, Bhima appeared at Alison’s kitchen table, very much himself, with one clear purpose: to help her find love again. It's imaginary of course. Or is it? When Alison's friend Archbishop Desmond Tutu heard what happened, he wrote to Alison saying "your story needs the widest circulation possible because it will bring hope. You must do whatever you have to do to make sure this story is told to as many people as possible. And not just in an email to me!" So, Alison created a solo comedy show, Grief... A Comedy, with music by Emmy award winner Gary Schreiner, and wrote the funny, life-enhancing, completely uplifting story you are about to hear."

Karen Chase (Author), Alison Larkin (Narrator)

Audiobook

[French] - Les plus beaux poèmes de Francis Jammes

"Mais où sont les neiges d'antan... Cueillez dès aujourd'hui les roses de la vie... Madame se meurt. Madame est morte... il neigeait, il neigeait toujours... Les pages qu'il faut connaître, parce qu'elles font partie intégrante du patrimoine de la France, que les jeunes par conséquent ont à apprendre - et y a-t-il procédé plus séduisant et plus efficace que d'entendre ces pages enregistrées dans la plus pieuse fidélité au génie créateur ? Les pages qu'il faut connaître... et qu'en fait tant de Français et d'étrangers connaissent et savent par coeur ! Y aura-t-il pour ceux-ci émotion plus profonde que de réentendre ces textes essentiels, confiés à la voix de nos plus célèbres interprètes ?"

Francis Jammes (Author), Françoise Fechter, Georges Chamarat, Georges Wilson, Jean Deschamps, Pierre Larquey (Narrator)

Audiobook

[French] - Les plus beaux poèmes de Saint John Perse

"Extraits de : Eloge, La gloire des rois, Anabase, Exil, Vents, Amer. Il manquait, parmi les grands poètes de ce siècle, un personnage hautain, toujours isolé, toujours absent, qui transmît aux hommes, d'une voix voilée et d'un geste à peine entrevu, un discours ample et sibyllin, plein de terribles vigueurs et d'énigmes, de ces discours que seuls un orateur antique ou un Bossuet eussent pu prononcer et qui n'étaient faits que pour un auditoire principer. Cette poésie pour les hommes, rédigée à l'écart des hommes, cette épopée luxuriante, car elle ne se contente de rien de moins que toute la planète, et abstraite, car elle s'adresse à ceux qui furent comme à ceux qui senront, cet obélisque à la gloire de l'humanité consubstanciée dans son verbe, cette stèle commémorant des batailles de syllabes et le passage de la mer Rouge de tel suffixe superbe, ce message, enfin, de prophète, d'ermite et de suzerain qui gère, mieux que la sienne, l'immortalité même de ses gens de bien et de ses gens de peu, cette poésie-là est le propre - mais aliénée d'avance à tous les temps - de Saint-John Perse. -Alain Bosquet. Sélection de poèmes : 1. Eloges. a) Pour fêter une enfance, V. b). Eloges, V, XVIII. 2. La gloire des rois. Amitié du Prince, IV. 3. Anabase, VII. 4. Exil. a) Exil, I, III, V, VII. b) Pluies, III, VII. c) Neiges, III. 7. Vents, VI. 8. Amers, I, VI, IX."

Saint John Perse (Author), Jean Topart, Jean-Louis Jemma (Narrator)

Audiobook

Poetry Audiobooks in Literature