David Novak Reads Poetry
I opened this channel because I wanted to tweet a poem about Anthony Huber killed in Kenosha. Then I decided to post readings of poems, to give my mind some other focus besides the election campaign then in full swing between Biden and Trump. After the election was settled — and after the coup attempt — I suspended posting.
About that time, I discovered “BookTube” — that region of YouTube populated by people who talk about books — in my own quest to improve my reading skills. Having been a writer, I was never much of a reader. Then, in 2022 I began to focus on reading as my primary hobby, and later to post videos in which I discuss what I’ve been reading, or other topics, both book-related and not.
In 2023 I wrote what I expect to be my last book of poetry. In spite of this channel’s birth name, poetry has moved to the sidelines, aside from the occasional reading of something that piques my fancy.
President Lincoln’s Address at Gettysburg | Gearing up for No Kings Day
Recent Reads: Dashiell Hammett, Ernest Hemingway, Tayeb Salih
Where You Can Buy My Books (and Why Only There)
Mail Haul: Something New (Old) by Ellen Schrecker
Mail Haul: My First Copy of the New Book | Against Fascism
A Paragraph from Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih
Michael Ventura Talks about Nelson Algren and “Mediocrity’s Vengeance”
A Poetry Reading from My Book Small Poems
Finishing Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon (with a Big Spoiler)
Poetry Reading of Two Poems for Andry Hernández Romero
Michael Ventura on “The Situation” in 2004 (How Are We Doing? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )
Book Haul from Amaranth Books in Evanston, Illinois
Reflections on Finishing a Project
Against Fascism final poem
Just a Latest Progress Report on the Book which I Am Trying to See Through to the (POD) Press
Michael Ventura’s Commencement Speaker
Michael Ventura on Hemingway, Followed by Some Chatter
Just Another Typing Update: “Into the Stretch”
The Litmus Test | A Poem Preceded by Some Talk
Poetry Reading from the New Book (2)
Michael Ventura’s “Report from El Dorado”: The Opening Paragraphs
The Call for Accountancy
Thought on Nearing the Finish to a Book of Poems
Claude McKay and Wilfred Owen: Poetry Reading
MAGA Hatred Gross and Great
A Congresswoman Charged
His Buddhist Calm
Headline: Brain-Dead Georgia Woman Kept on Life Support
Further Typing Updates Regarding the New Book
Their Crude Erasures