Dramatic Poetry Recitation

Ken Performing

These are the poems that I recite as part of the program. (The above picture is before I grew my long beard.)
I can tailor a program to your needs, lasting from a few minutes to a couple of hours.
I began memorizing poems when I was quite young and have continued learning more through the years.
Many of the poems are quite dramatic and some include different character voices.
The poems encompass a fairly broad subject range and include poems for children, humorous poems, love poems, inspirational and narrative poems, as well as a few dramatic speeches.

Robert Louis Stevenson
I have a Little Shadow

Rose Fyleman
Mice

A.A. Milne
Happiness
Hoppity
Disobedience
Buckingham Palace
The King’s Breakfast

Marriot Edgar
Albert & the Lion

A. E. Housman
When I was One and Twenty

Stephen Crane
A Man Saw a Ball of Gold in the Sky

Myra Brooks Welch
The Old Violin

Author Unknown
Guilty or Not Guilty
A Little Grey Mouse

George Robert Sims
The Road to Heaven
 
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Francis Thompson
The Hound of Heaven

William Wordsworth
Daffodils

Rudyard Kipling
If

William Henry Drummond
Little Bateese
The Wreck of the Julie Plante

Ernest Lawrence Thayer
Casey at the Bat

Robert Frost
Stopping in Woods on a Snowy Evening

John Masefield
Sea-Fever

John McCrae
In Flanders Fields

Robert W Service
The Cremation of Sam McGee

George H Miles
Said the Rose

Clement Moore
A Visit From Saint Nicholas

Rosa Hartwick Thorpe
Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight

Paramahansa Yogananda
The Noble New
God! God! God!
My India
Samadhi

Ken Drummond
Thanksgiving Poem
The Nanny Mouse
Gobbage
Betty Botter (addendum)

William Shakespeare
Friends, Romans, Countrymen
Wherefore Rejoice

Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Crossing the Bar

Robert Baden-Powell
The Chief's Last Message

A Talent All Can Enjoy

By: Dustin Kronemeyer from The Coyote Informer

High Desert resident Ken Drummond was asked by Copper Mountain College (CMC) professor Greg Gilbert to attend his Wednesday evening Composition and Literature class in September to perform a treat for students.

Drummond stood before the classroom to recite poems. He performed for 40, pausing in between pieces to tell the class when and how and why he had learned each piece, and was sometimes apologetic in advance in case he forgot the words. He did not.

What was most shocking about his performance was his ability to become characters within the poem, speaking in several accents including Yorkshire and French Canadian. He was also very animated during the recitations, evoking an almost ancient feeling of oral tradition.

Drummond has been in retirement for six years and, while he admits to being a "hermit" of sorts during this period, he wants to experiment with his nearly lifelong talent of being able to recite poems, long and short. CMC was his starting point.

Making appearances at local schools in the high desert to perform this talent to children could be greatly beneficial, not only for entertainment's sake but to inspire students to become involved in literature in some way, whether it be writing poems or simply reading them for enjoyment.

With a community such as Joshua Tree and its influence by the arts, Drummond's talent could provide a fresh look at the potential of performing arts as well as inspire residents to become involved.

Contact info: 1elwood1@gmail.com