Listen Up!

Rating:
Summary: Nine of the most important new voices to emerge from NYC
Review: An editorially pretentious, but poetically invaluable, collection of nine of the biggest voices to come out of the current spoken word movement in NYC, including Willie Perdomo, Suheir Hammad, Tish Benson, Carl Hancock Rux, Ava Chin and others. This is a must have!

Rating:
Summary: A pleasent poetic surprise in our waste land of a culture.
Review: 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!

Rating:
Summary: Easy read, some very very good poems....
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Easy read, some very very good poems....
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: The rhythm of life danced in words.
Review: 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?"

Rating:
Summary: Historical
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Collection for Spoken Words
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Collection for Spoken Words
Review: 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.