Four Ties Lit Review has posted my recording of “Rainforest Bridge.”
http://fourtieslitreview.com/2014/08/06/poet-robert-okaji-reads-rainforest/
The published version differs just a tad from my original. I don’t believe the difference affects the poem greatly, but if you’re interested in form and how it may help to shape a reading, here’s a pdf with the intended formatting:
O at the Edges 
Both versions are nice, though yours convey a sense of jagged motion lacking in other. Very nicely done!
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Thank you. Motion is imperative in this piece. So glad you like it.
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Very cool to hear your voice reading this poem. In many cases hearing a poet read his or her own work can be disappointing, or at least create a necessary transition period where you have to reconcile the poet’s actual voice with the voice you have heard inside your head for so long. (This happened to me when I first heard a recording of W.S. Merwin reading his poetry.) On the other side of things, sometimes hearing a poet read his own work expands the work–I feel this way about A.R. Ammons’s work. I love to hear the sound of Archie reading his own poetry, mostly because his voice seems to contain the wonder of discovery within the poem as if he were just having that epiphany for the first time. All that to say that I got a lot out of hearing you read this poem, which I’ve read myself a few times–your voice slowed down the vertical drop, suspended the enjambment enough but not too much, made a difference. Very nice.
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Thanks, Jeff. This piece’s form changed many times over the course of a year. I just couldn’t get it right. And then it was. Amazing how that happens!
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Writers often become tongue-tied and self-conscious reading their work (understandably). Wonderful when one pulls it off so effortlessly
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It probably doesn’t hurt that I read these aloud while writing. By the time a poem is done, I’ve performed it for myself many times. Of course this means I don’t often write in public spaces…
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Well, poetry is meant to be read aloud, of course, for only then does it offer up its fullness, beauty and deeper meaning. Hats off to you, friend! 🙂
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I’m not quite sure how to explain it, but the words must feel right in my mouth, and the only way to gauge the proper mouthfeel is to read the poems aloud. This could make me a difficult person to live with…
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Haha. Spoken like a true poet!
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“one line bisects the void” that was a great ending. The whole thing is great really, all of your poems are great! Very good morning read for me.
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Thank you, Charly.
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