Jackie O was not catty about poetry

Caroline Kennedy, as you might have heard, is releasing the transcribed interviews between her mother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. today. Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy contains over eight hours of conversation that took place starting only six months after JFK's assassination. You might have also heard that Jackie O could be catty or "old-fashioned." The audiotapes also have a great soundscape, "[w]ith sounds of matches striking, ice cubes clinking, and even her children playing in the background, it's a rare snapshot into the life and private recollections of Jacqueline Kennedy."

Parade asks Caroline about the book, and the fun news (for us, anyway) is more about Jackie as poetry lover:

You’ve edited three poetry anthologies; the first was The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Where did this interest come from?

After my mother died, so many people came up and asked me about her and her sense of fashion—you know, the Jackie O image. I felt like they were missing who she really was, so I did this book of poetry, and people really responded to it. Poetry used to be something that got passed down in families. My grandmother and Teddy were always reciting “Paul Revere’s Ride.”

"Paul Revere's Ride"? Really? But there's more there there in that anthology, including Jackie's own poems, work by John Clare, Rudyard Kipling, and a young Jimmy Kennedy are complemented by poems from Langston Hughes, Robert Frost and Elizabeth Bishop. Now if only we had some audiotapes of Jackie O recitations! Ubuweb where are you?