Listen Up!

Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Compiled by poets who have been at the center of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York City, Aloud! showcases the work of the most innovative and accomplished word artists from around America.	Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam Bum Rush the Page is a groundbreaking collection, capturing the best new work from the poets who have brought fresh energy, life, and relevance to American poetry.“Here is a democratic orchestration of voices and visions, poets of all ages, ethnicities, and geographic locat...	Verses That Hurt: Pleasure and Pain from the POEMFONE Poets Besides letting you know that Allen Ginsberg, John Giorno, and Hal Sirowitz are all collected here, I could tell you that this anthology crackles with irreverent energy, defiant audacity, and sybaritic sexuality. But that would be a bit much, wouldn't it? How about this heart...	The Spoken Word Revolution (PB) with Audio CD "A dynamic and clarifying volume chock-full of fresh and informative commentary...and an exciting array of knock-out poems." -Booklist Starred Review "Accompanied by a terrific CD that showcases the great variety of styles performance poetry embraces, from the purest of recit...	The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry From the Beat poetry of the '50s to the spoken word of today, The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry brings readers the words, visions, and extravagant lives of bohemians, beatniks, hippies, punks, and slackers. Like Donald Allen's epochal New American Poetry, The Outlaw Bible will ...
She Hailed as "a dreadlocked dervish of words...the Bob Marley of American poets" (Esquire), Saul Williams is a gifted young poet who is opening up this literary art form to a new generation of readers. Like his writing -- a fearless mix of connecting rhythms and vibrant images -- S...	Poetry Slam: The Competitive Art of Performance Poetry From their humble beginnings in dimly lit bars to the 1999 international convergence with poets from 48 cities, poetry slams - the "Olympics of poetry" - have become a cultural phenomenon. This vital anthology documents ten years of these unprecedented literary events. The book i...	Said the Shotgun to the Head The greatest Americans Have not been born yet They are waiting quietly For their past to die please give blood Here is the account of a man so ravished by a kiss that it distorts his highest and lowest frequencies of understanding into an Incongruent mean of babble and brilliance...	Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway ... and More This upbeat, one-of-a-kind collection brings the Def poets -- as featured in the Tony Award-winning Broadway show and popular HBO television program -- to life on the page. Among them: Suheir Hammad, Beau Sia, Steve Colman, Stacyann Chin, Mayda del Valle, Georgia Me, Poetri, and ...	Burning Down the House : Selected Poems from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe's National Poetry Slam Champions

Easy read, some very very good poems....
I think the reader-poet connection is very personal. Some of the poets in this collection really touched me, and some were just not my thing... however, I still enjoyed the book, and for that same reason it was a great way to sample different voices and learn who rocked my boat and who didn't. Now I know who left me wanting more, and I'll go chase for more of the writing of those poets... Also, it was an interesting exposure to the urban experiences of young people from diverse backgrouds, told by the voices of the participants themselves. No filtering. I liked it.

A Good Collection for Spoken Words
When I selected Listen Up!: Spoken Word Poetry, I did so simply because it contained a couple of poems by Saul Williams. I'm a fan of Williams's work and pleased to read anything by him. In these pages, I discovered a good collection of other poets inspired by the Spoken Word.I happen to like Spoken Word poetry, when it's done well. There are posers out there, but some people understand the use of words and the sounds those words make, influencing one another. Williams is particularly adept at this, but I found other poets in this collection that moved me as well.Willie Perdomo's "Notes for a Slow Jam," Suheir Hammad's "Nother Man Dead," and Ava Chin's "Piano Concerto" are some of my favorites. But it is Williams, in his three part "Children of the Night," that really sold this book for me. Not every poem, or even every poet, in this collection captures my imagination. Even so, it is a good collection to own, and better to share.

Historical
There are some really good and some really bad actors, comedians, rappers and would be monologuists pretending to be poets in this time of spoken word mania. But this collection actually manages to pull together some young writers who should endure long literary careers of splendor. Unforttunately, I can't say ALL of those included have mastered the art of writing poetry for the page-- Jessican Care Moore is no exception-- but when Tish Benson writes "A blood spillers paradise/this place has made a mockery of spirtual revolution/souls into gravel pits/a heart's identity is no longer revealed thru eyes/or words/or deeds..." or when Carl Hancock Rux writes "At some hour these walls will faint away/when the undaunting command is not forthcoming/and his will to retrieve no longer surpasses his will to resolve/Then in the eviction of diggers, the quake of walls and the death of requests/only the stage this plot of land is heaped upon/will remain...unearthed" or Ava Chin writes "We lie in the tombs of our beds/A Greek chorus/Forecasting rain and shadow and doom/Listening to water through the hole in the drainpipe" I know I am getting a glimpse into the future through the insightful eyes of literary giants.

The rhythm of life danced in words.
If you love poetry, if you love the rhythm of life danced in words, look here. Many of the poets in this book would undoubtedly be more compelling heard live, but three outstanding writers take you inside and outside of yourself--Carl Hancock Rux, a long articulate cry; "The mountains have not known me this way/the tenements with their secret apartments/have never noticed the details of my feet/This is even more than I've ever known about myself/the sound that comes from my throat/when I am surrendering to ocean currents, rejoicing at my endurance." The wit and sensuality of Tish Benson: "I wanna go to the pit of yo soul/afix myself between it and a moon in full bloom/croonin for u like a bayou geechie woman in heat and thankin God/that the world will know what shoulda been all along:/u a bad Boogaloosa Louisiana booga". But for me it is the words of Ava Chin that take me truly away from my own puny thoughts, on trips through generations, conversations with the present and past. Her intelligence and talent make me dizzy. "If I could breathe her in and out of me/would I be able to sew the most intricate garment/with the lightest thread?"

A pleasent poetic surprise in our waste land of a culture.
I had no idea that this kind of poetry was being written! Some wise clerk, probably an artist, had put this book on display right at the front door! I picked it up and was immediately invigorated by the energy and quality of these poems. They are the complete opposite of the art squeezed out in this, our end of the 20th century; the poems are ryhtmic, honest, Romantic, and most of all hopefull. This poetry is constructive, and it is not cynical, even at its darkest. Wonderfull!