Selected Poems of Kenneth Patchen

American poet and novelist Kenneth Patchen (1911–1972) reads 19 poems in this Folkways recording. Throughout his career, Patchen experimented with poetic writing styles and forms including reading his poems set to jazz music. Some critics have compared his work to the poetry of Walt Whitman and William Blake. For this collection Patchen reads poems ranging in mood from gentle (“Pastoral”) to angry (“Nice Day for a Lynching”) and from subjects of childhood memories (“The Orange Bears”) to politics (“So Be It”).

Track Listing

101	And What with the Blunders	Kenneth Patchen	02:37
102	The Origin of Baseball	Kenneth Patchen	01:17
103	The Wolf of Winter	Kenneth Patchen	00:48
104	The Fox	Kenneth Patchen	00:49
105	Nice Day for a Lynching	Kenneth Patchen	00:55
106	23rd Street Runs into Heaven	Kenneth Patchen	01:19
107	The Lions of Fire Shall Have Their Hunting	Kenneth Patchen	01:11
108	Red Wine and Yellow Hair	Kenneth Patchen	06:03
201	The Orange Bears	Kenneth Patchen	01:21
202	So Be It	Kenneth Patchen	00:50
203	The Everlasting Contenders	Kenneth Patchen	00:56
204	In Order To	Kenneth Patchen	01:42
205	The Man with the Golden Adam's Apple	Kenneth Patchen	01:45
206	The Reason for Skylarks	Kenneth Patchen	02:01
207	Pastoral	Kenneth Patchen	00:55
208	The State of the Nation	Kenneth Patchen	01:17
209	Be Music, Night	Kenneth Patchen	00:31
210	Show Time (Soon It Will Be)	Kenneth Patchen	00:51
211	Where Shall We Walk	Kenneth Patchen	00:51