by T.S. Eliot

This poem has taken an important place in modern literature; I do my best with it; I mispronounce a few words, but I do not think that, in such a long work, it requires me to correct the recordings. If you read the poem while listening, you will notice that, toward the end, when the matter is the stone mountains and no water, I say curious teeth, when the text reads carious teeth. That means rotted teeth—who knew? I do not think I will correct it: correct it in your mind.

I love the work of T. S. Eliot: I have always found The Waste Land very challenging, and even in my advanced adult years, I am still getting accustomed to it—I am growing to like it. Some performers sing some of the lines. I am not a singer, so I did not do that. When the German or French or Italian language parts got long, I used AI’s help by cloning my voice with about twenty minutes of recorded material, using an online service named ElevenLabs. I asked it to say those challenging lines for me.

If you are reading this on April 12, wait until midnight; that is the release time.