Witter Bynner
I'm jumping the gun a little by posting this file here on my personal blog, since it is cued to be podcast via Rhapsodize International on April 19, our 19th offering for U.S. Poetry Month. But I was really anxious to try out the Podbean embedder from the new Rhapsodize Podbean site I started. There it is right above this paragraph. Isn't it a beauty?
I first encountered Witter Bynner when I stumbled upon a used copy of his poetic rendition of The Way of Life According to Laotzu in the Harvard University Bookstore on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston during the spring semester of my senior year. This book greatly enriched my life and I carried it with me for years afterward. I purchased copies for my most beloved friends and family, memorized portions, recited from it constantly. Years later, I heard a recording of Bynner performing his own poem, "A Thrush in the Moonlight," which I perform as the last poem in this three-poem collection. I can truly say this man made my life better than it would have been had I not encountered him.
