Sonnet--Featuring the Music of Oberon (2000)

(As published in the Times of Acadiana ... )

Sonnet--Featuring the Music of Oberon
(Koch)

The idea is to sensitize the public to Shakespeare by segueing from one sonnet to another with the compositions of the New Age duo Oberon, but the result is more like Hooked-on-Classics for bistro-haunting English majors. Still, as New Age duos go, Oberon isn’t entirely revolting, and the actors and actresses pronounce their speeches trippingly on the tongue. Rating: Three iambs out of five.

Karen Carpenter

When she was young, she'd listen
to the radio. When she was older,
she was the radio. She'd listen
and hear herself. She told her-
self that this was as good as
listening to someone else. Her
voice became voices, each less
hers than the one before. Over-

dubbed, she thinned out. Wired,
she shorted. Older still yet still not
old, she saddened and grew tired
of turning the radio off. It
kept coming on by itself. It kept
dreaming her while she slept.