OK so here’s a little something new. I’ve been playing around with Speechify for audio books – just to keep the reader quality consistent, as it is often not quite right for a lot of audio books that aren’t read by their author(s).
So: I “cloned” my voice in Speechify. It’s a little weird, the experience of reading aloud to yourself, but it is very interesting to say the least. The strangest part is when I asked the AI me to read my own work. Hmmm. It has been a long time since I’ve been to any poetry slams. In the interim, I’ve heard recordings from Jack Keroauc, William Burroughs, WB Yeats, TS Eliot, and a lot of folks reading Shakespeare.
Ultimately I decided that the cloned voice wasn’t good enough. Especially since I was able to create two or three using different dialects that made me sound like three different people!
And here’s the end result of all that seemingly pointless rumination. I would use my own voice. I decided to try recording the last piece I wrote, A Poem is a Sermon, to see what it would sound like to perhaps start if not a podcast, then at least a semi-regular release of spoken word pieces. Some just voice, like this initial sample, but perhaps some in the future with background music and effects. After all, I do have a sleeping 32-track Korg DAW and every instrument I could possibly need except a mellotron, baritone guitar, and Celtic harp. LOL.
Here it is. If it interests you, if you think it’s OK, if you like it, let me know. Feel free to share it. It’s got my name and copyright information spoken aloud at the end. Just simple attribution to me is fine, or not. Whatever you decide.
In any case, I’d love to hear from anyone who’s interested in hearing more. Thanks!!!
radicaldruid.com/mp3s/A Poem is a Sermon.m4a
© 2026, John Litzenberg. All rights reserved.
