‘And you read your Emily Dickinson / And I my Robert Frost…’

– Simon & Garfunkel, The Dangling Conversation

Is indie music a gateway, or a virgil or a psychopomp, to the hinterland or heartland of poetry, particularly for people who aren’t ordinarily predisposed to read it? Perhaps. Here’s a haphazard selection of poets name-dropped in contemporary indie rock and indie folk song titles that have made their way into my recent playlists. 01. Aeseaes: Rilke Song. 02. Ryan Adams: Sylvia Plath. 03. Augie March: Owen’s Lament. 04. Better Oblivion Community Center: Dylan Thomas. 05. Mal Blum: Robert Frost. 06. Billy Bragg & Wilco: Walt Whitman’s Niece. 07. Fleet Foxes: Jara. 08. Night Teacher: Emily Dickinson. 09. DCR Pollock: Ezra Pound. 10. Okkervil River: John Allyn Smith Sails. 11. Sea Wolf: Frank O’Hara. 12. Spider the Cat:Hey, Theodore…