Shocking statistics: The average american reads one book or less a year and 50 percent of those are romance novels and picture books of cats...

“Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can’t remember who we are or why we’re here.” (Sue Monk Kidd, author).

In this collection, you’ll find stories conveyed through poetry and song. Some of them will no doubt be familiar to you - like Francis Scott Key’s Star Spangled Banner and Julia Ward Howe’s Battle Hymn of the Republic (although many people are only familiar with the first verse). Other poems will be entirely new to you. My hope is that you’ll embrace both the familiar and the unfamiliar as pieces of the American story that deserve to be remembered.

In a digital age largely driven by images and sound bytes, we’ve become accustomed to skimming or speed-reading, focusing long enough on the bullet points and bolded text to get the gist of what’s being said. Many people are finding less time to read slowly and carefully, less motivation to digest every word of a text. And yet, this is precisely how poetry is meant to be read.

My hope is that you’ll approach this audiobook with the intention to listen slowly and carefully. I believe these works are among those Francis Bacon was referring to when he said, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested...to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention”.