John Green Reads Poetry

So many poems to listen to!

Hey, there’s a missing poem!

Hi! This website is an ongoing labor of love inspired by John’s self-proclaimed love of poetry ¹ and the mission of Ours Poetica

We’re working very hard combing through the vast amounts of online content John and Hank have created ³ — and continue to create! — to find every instance of John reading poetry.⁴ Most of these were short poems that used to appear as an opening segment in the Dear Hank & John pod.⁵

Check out our growing list of missing or lost poetry-related John Green media:

We have a long way to go, and are using the posts’ dates as a way to organize everything chronologically with relevant tags to make everything extra useable!

So if you have a suggestion of something we missed or would like to share a piece of poetry-related media you’ve found…

  1. This is also a recurring riff in many of the opening segments of Dear Hank & John
  2. A lovely play on the Latin phrase Ars Poetica (“The Art of Poetry”)
  3. Examples: 1 | 2
  4. And, occasionally, someone else, such as his wife, his brother, or a poem inspired by one of Hank’s rants. Admittedly, some things are qualified as ‘poems’ rather loosely — John has read lyrics, and other nontraditional items as poetry, and that’s a wonderful thing!
    Because poetry is, always, what we make it.
  5. And are still missed by Nerdfighters everywhere!

Related Resources

Dear Hank & John

Or as he likes to call it: “Dear John & Hank”

Transcripts*
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Guest John: Maureen Johnson

The related banter…

H: Do you have a poem for us?

M: I do.

H: Oh, that’s good. So you don’t have any AFC Wimbledon news but you will fulfill John’s role of a short poem.

M: I certainly will. Here is a short poem for you.

(Reads lyrics)

And that was, of course, part of Tiny Dancer written by Bernie Taupin, the man who wrote lyrics to nearly all… It’s an extraordinarily high percentage of Elton John’s songs.

H: That was beautiful. That was a beautiful, uh, poem and a some what unexpected direction to go in which I’m excited that, yes. Because who knows a bunch of short poems and is pretentious enough to talk about them on podcasts besides John Green?

M: No-one.

H: No-one. Yeah.

M: Zero people.

H: Zero people.

M: Really.

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Dear Hank & John | Ep. 005

Blue-jean baby, LA lady
Seamstress for the band
Pretty-eyed, pirate smile
You’ll marry a music man

Ballerina, you must’ve seen her
Dancing in the sand
And now she’s in me, always with me
Tiny dancer in my hand

Click to read remaining song lyrics

Jesus freaks, out in the street
Handing tickets out for God
Turning back, she just laughs
The boulevard is not that bad

Piano man, he makes his stand
In the auditorium
Looking on, she sings the songs
The words she knows, the tune she hums

But, oh, how it feels so real
Lying here, with no one near
Only you, and you can hear me
When I say softly, slowly

Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today

Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today

Blue-jean baby, LA lady
Seamstress for the band
Pretty-eyed, pirate smile
You’ll marry a music man

Ballerina, you must’ve seen her
Dancing in the sand
And now she’s in me, always with me
Tiny dancer in my hand

But, oh, how it feels so real
Lying here, with no one near
Only you, and you can hear me
When I say softly, slowly

Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today

Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today

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