Rating: 
Summary: So Worth Reading....
Review: Though I am not yet finished with this humongous book of poetry and prose, I must say it touches me. Touches as in very nearly strangles my heart on a regular basis. I open it, almost unconsiously, and read whatever peom greets me. Poems of War, of Lust, of Rape, of Death, Toilets, Hurt and Love. My God, this is quite a find. There are poems so brutally honest that you want to throw up, but of course, that is the point. Everything contained in these pages is so outrageously honest that it makes you wonder like what folks were smoking when they wrote about those damn blades of grass blowing in springtime, and the shape of snow capped mountains in December. These poems are not sappy-and- shallow-trying-to-sound-deep, if you know what i mean. If you ever get a chance to read this collection, read it. Even if you don't buy it now, read it. Chances are you wont be able to finish it in the ammount of time you are permitted by the library, and you will want to finish every piece so very very much that in the end you will buy it. This is my prediction. It happened to me... (and i do like sappy poetry occassionally....just for the record)
Rating:
Summary: Hurray for Outlaw! Talking bout' my generation!
Review: What a rad book! It's like time travel back and forth through the poetry of yesterday, today and tommorrow. Thanks!
Rating:
Summary: Cause for Celebration
Review: While there will always be disagreement concerning what characteristics mark an outlaw poet, Kaufman and company have managed to preserve and record an undercelebrated vocabulary in the language of American verse. It is a heroic effort and a staggering compendium. If only that it manages to bring to the page "spoken word" poets who have been more often heard than seen and if only because it draws attention to the overlooked, powerful work of Jack Micheline, "The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry" is cause for rejoicing. Certainly, there are omissions, as there are always omissions in such a vast endeavor, but the oversights are minor flaws in what is otherwise a very accurate history of street verse, cafe and bar poetry, basement rhythm and garret rhyme. Like it or not, America's underground is singing, and "The Outlaw Bible" demands that you listen.
Rating: 
Summary: If I didn't have an imagination this would be good
Review: While this collection does provide some insights into late twentieth-century coutner-cultural movements, the work selected is more indicative of their faults rather than their strengths. The volume amounts to very little more than page after page of narcissistic ramblings from individuals too lazy and caught up in being an "artist" to take the time to revise and hone their work. While political and/or revolutionary poetry, with a strong eye toward all the insipid isms of our culture, is needed and welcomed there is no need to shun craft and artistry, or even-gasp-tradition, for the sake of "saying something." The lines in these poems are bland, they more often tell than show, the imagination is rarely challenged. If you must read this book focus on Sapphire, Ai, Norman Mailer, and Williams and skim the rest.
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