Dial-A-Poem is back!  SPIN Magazine explains that Dial-A-Poem was created in 1969 by New York City “multimedia performance poet” John Giorno as way to give people access to the poems of a “free zone of radical poets and socio-political activists,” just by calling a phone number. The poets featured on Dial-A-Poem over the years have included Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Patti Smith, John Ashbery, Amiri Bakara, and many more. SPIN further describes the project:

Dial-A-Poem became a beacon of progressive thought, a meeting space for provocation with new poems every day, and across 24 albums on his Giorno Poetry Systems label (G.P.S.). He continued to sprinkle his magic until his passing in 2019.

Now, Dial-A-Poem is back, and includes many of the old, original recordings from its first go-round, as well as new ones by, as SPIN explains, “poets, artists, musicians, and activists, along with international editions, where speakers read their work in the language native to their country.”

You can call Dial-A-Poem, which, according to SPIN, is serving up “prose, mantras, and calls to action” by artists from Brazil, France, Mexico, Italy, Thailand, Switzerland, and Hong Kong, at 1-917-994-8949, or use the online version, where you just click on the telephone headset graphic to retrieve a poem.