Back Talk [Paperback]

Jon Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 1998

Back Talk is a collection of graphically designed poetry from Jon Williams. In it, poems refuse to sit still on the page. They scream, dance, kick, and twitch. Pieces rage on established roles and relationships, yet the words push us beyond commonplace angst -- just as the images push beyond the margins. Poetry that literally dares to defy left-justification and tab-stops! Each beautiful cover was screenprinted individually by hand in this limited first edition. It's like no book you've ever seen.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Jon Man, BackTalk still sits out as a prime example of The New Book. I still have the same feeling -- that the production is a performance, that the poems are in the mix, not the ur. EG, "Two Months Salary": picture of diamond explodes metaphor in yr face. Yet image is also "dirtied," broken up, cheap -- shit, one could say the method of production IS the poem -- read it, mothfockker! It doesn't cross my mind to reduce Back Talk to text -- it is far too pushy a book, outflanking any argument. I not only admire it -- I LIKE it! and it goes where no book ever has.

Hats off to you,

elBo

-- Bob Holman, poet-performer-producer-publisher, and head-honcho at Mouth Almighty Records

About the Author

Jon Williams lives in Raleigh, NC where he started and runs the city's poetry slam. He earns his keep as a technical writer by day and performs spoken word by night. Williams published this, his first book, at age 22.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: SHOVE (August 31, 1998)
• ISBN-10: 0966656059
• ISBN-13: 978-0966656053
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,679,055 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars This poetry is like no other we read in school, growing up., February 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Back Talk (Paperback)

Although I didn't agree with everything in this book, the way Williams has a way of getting his opinion across is like no other poet I have come across. I love his reading his work!

4.0 out of 5 stars BackTalk takes poetry in new directions., February 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Back Talk (Paperback)

BackTalk is beautiful. It has its flaws, to be sure, but most of these come not from bad writing but rather from the experimental nature of the work. Combining the text of poetry with pop-art graphic design, Williams has transcended the bookishness of poetry and reconcilled it to our society's increasing fascination with visual/video imagery. Much in the way music videos integrate music and image, BackTalk integrates poetry and image intelligently (Talking About God), wittily (Untitled) and emotionally (I Suppose I Should Mention I Wrote This Poem For Someone Else). Williams's themes range from a Gen-X, tongue-in-cheek approach to love poetry to reverently irreverent inquiries into the nature of God and religion to poetic self-identity. His writing is characterized by the new Fusion/Slam style of poetry that is written to be read out loud. To read BackTalk quietly in a library or coffeehouse or classroom is to miss the point... This book should be read out loud, in church services, at political debates, on the 2 a.m. streets. It should be shouted, yelled, whispered, spoken, debated. This is a book that needs to make its way to the heart via the mouth, to the brain via the tongue. It is a visceral, no-holds-barred powerhouse of a book, and it hints at the beginning of what poetry can become in the 21st century. It's well worth the money.