Customer Reviews

Poetry Nation: North American Anthology of Fusion Poetry

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the kind of collection that will be especially fun for young and aspiring poets to peruse and pilfer. It contains such a great variety of forms and voices that there will inevitiably be much inside that readers will love, and hate. And what more could one ask for from an anthology!

This is a great book. Its exciting, challenging and unforgetable. Voices from across the continent rant, sing, whisper and cry. Themes from motherhood to gaylove remind me that the muse is still alive speaking to the new generation. This book is fresh with its vigour and difference, taking risks with unknowns and congratulating the celebrities. It is real proof that many of these poets who work so well on stage (Regie Cabico, Nicole Blackman, Taylor Mali, Heather ONeil, Alexis O Hara, DJ Renegade and on and on) fit their poetry to text so eloquently. Read Patricia Smith (the women in this book are amazing) and Allen Ginsberg for the bigger names, let them hold you like they did in cafes and theatre around the country. When is Poetry Nation 2??

A wise man (actually it was Neil Peart, drummer for Rush) once wrote, "Like a teardrop in the ocean/ A diamond in the waste / Some world views are spacious / and some are merely spaced." "Spaced" is not a bad word -- though too kind -- to describe most of this collection, which subscribes to the "identify your special interest group, then rant and swear for a couple minutes" school of poetry. But if you're willing to wade through the ocean of sludge you will find a couple diamonds (to mix Peart's metaphors). Tony Medina's "How to Become a United States Citizen" is fairly amusing. Donal Power's two pieces, "Excavations" and "Porno", are memorable and even rather lovely; unlike most of the authors, Mr. Powers writes like someone who READS poetry. (Most of the authors, I imagine, think Keats and Yeats are breakfast cereals.) And of course, Allen Ginsberg's last poem is a treat, funny as well as moving. On the whole, a rather irritating book, and a poor showing; but I'll give it two stars, out of respect for the small number of worthy pieces -- hopefully those authors will have their OWN books before long.

If you accept that ALOUD used to be considered the bible of spoken word, then Regie and Todd have collected the New Testament! An excellent assortment of the usual suspects with a healthy dose of poets you won't easily find elsewhere. Bravo!

Vehicule Press deserves a pat on the back for bringing this book to the masses. Swift and Cabico have done a bang-up job of finding the most exciting contemporary voices. This is an unprecedented document of the emerging poetry nation. Apply for citizenship now.

Please buy this anthology, 'cuz it rocks! It has all of my friends in it, and me, too (Beau Sia, author A Night Without Armor II: The Revenge)! Some folks that should've been in it, aren't, but no anthology is all-inclusive (yet). My favorite poem is the one by Ginsberg. Long Live Ginsberg!