Listen to the world’s best poetry read out loud.

In terror they will drink water grudgingly
Ezekiel 4

Before the poem comes like a word from a brazen sky
the poet must lie on his side for a year
eating only dry bread and measured bowls of water.

The poet must pour sand over grass and build
the walls of his city. The poet must surround
the walls with the offence of guns; and for days
upon days starve the city of all its music.

The poet’s tongue will grow heavy and his
limbs will be bound with cords so he cannot
move. He will quarrel with God about
the meaning of poetry. The poet will beg for mercy,
lying on his other side for a hundred and ninety days,
his body scarred with the wounds he inflicts on his family.

All this a poet does before a poem so that
when he walks out in midwinter, his face
will be smooth, his eyes will have the quiet resignation
we call peace, and his satchel will be full
of whimsical lyrics about the colour green
and the sounds a whore makes in her dreams.