Customer Reviews

The Spoken Word Revolution Redux

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This anthology of poetry intended primarily for the stage, is the follow up to The Spoken Word Revolution (2003), which quickly became the top-selling and most influential book on the spoken word poetry scene.

Eleveld outdoes only himself in this anthology, which honors many of the men and women who have helped to return poetry to its roots in the oral tradition. In his section Slammers and Laureates, Eleveld highlights Ted Kooser and Mark Strand and Billy Collins alongside powerful performance poet Regie Gibson. In his section, Women Take the Slam, Eleveld honors the National Poetry Slam Individual Champions from 1990 through 1996, all of whom were women.

And for you poetry purists out there who are rolling your eyes in your head at the spine-chilling thought of an entire book honoring performance poetry, you can even read a great essay in support of the slam, by Henry Taylor, winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.

For anyone who likes slam poetry or even if you just want to "hear" the emotion" the way the poet actually meant it, this is a great choice.
This one is right next to to the first book on my shelf of favorites. The ones I never loan out! AWESOME!