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Title: Poetry Slam: The Competitive Art of Performance Poetry by Gary Mex Glazner ISBN: 0-916397-66-1 Publisher: Manic D Press Pub. Date: 30 September, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (9 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Bells & whistles, but no bang!
Comment: OK, OK, poetry may be said to *start* on the page, but you'd never know it from this book. For the beginner, these pages will seem gobbledygook. You'll miss the point; like reading a menu instead of eating the meal. Lacking a CD, the book suffers - ergo, the poets & poetry suffers, too. These poems were meant to be *performed*, not read, & not even being read aloud helps. There's perhaps a too-subtle difference between poetry and the performance arts for most people, but it's there nonetheless. Poetry is based on the sounds it makes, and the rhythms, and yes, the shades of meaning and feeling, but that's like saying a script is a poem. Are these arguments for academics? Is this the kind of divisiveness that, for many, killed poetry in high school? You gte to decide. But if, after reading this book you're left with that achy old feeling of "Is that all there is?", then don't be surprised. It's like you asked a goose to honk like a truck; it's like you asked morning to break like glass; it's like you expected sweet romance & got the Pillsbury doughboy. You missed the (crucial) point. The book's mostly performance art, not necessarily poetry. Like describing chocolate. ("It's brown and tastes good." What else does that?) What's poetry? "If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know *that* is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know *that* is poetry." - Emily Dickinson. Very little in this book even moved me.
Rating: 4
Summary: Romanticizes While It Educates
Comment: "Poetry Slam" by Gary Mex Glazner is part-anthology, part-history, part-description of slams, slam poets, and slam poetry. It romanticizes the image and description, but excels as a history. As an anthology, it has much room for improvement, but this could be a result of the limits of performance poetry.
Kerouac's ghost must wonder at how formulaic slam poetry has become. From the aggressive, ideological depth of Ginsberg and Burroughs, we now have the regurgitated flavors of Whitman-wannabes evoked pretentiously in the pop-soliloquys now barraging modern poetry readings. Yet, the slam has introduced thousands of young poets that poetry is worth their time. Glazner demonstrates this inconsistency, but not intentionally as we see the up and down quality of the poetry samples he provides.
An excellent part of the book is the description of poetry slam rules, distinguishing local and national rules, and how this form is meant as an oral art form, not a written one. This is the challenge faced by every slam poetry book: how to present it. Some poems here make the transition, and there a few gems worth a read. Marc Smith, founder of the slam, has "My Father's Coat." An interesting poem called "Ali" by Michael R. Brown. opens with the compelling "Five inches shorter than his fighting height" shows some fine imagery and intriguing approaches to poetry meeting culture.
For a deeper look at Beat literature, see the "Beat Reader," or for poetry only, "Beat Poets" edited by Carmela Ciuraru. "Poetry Slam" is a good start, but these books will provide better examples of the style and quality slam poets esteem to reach.
Anthony Trendl
Rating: 3
Summary: Solid collection lacking a full historical perspective
Comment: 3.5 stars, really. This anthology is a solid collection representing a wide range of voices STILL involved in the National Poetry Slam scene. Unfortunately, many voices are left out precisely because they are no longer involved in the scene which weakens the collection's importance as an historical document. Nevertheless, the poetry selected, along with the mixed bag of essays, makes this an invaluable supplement to ALOUD, still the king of "poetry slam" anthologies.
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Title: The Spoken Word Revolution: Slam, Hip Hop & the Poetry of a New Generation by Marc Kelly Smith, Billy Collins, Mark Eleveld ISBN: 1402200374 Publisher: Sourcebooks Trade Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Slam by Cecily Von Ziegesar, Alloy Publishers ISBN: 0141309199 Publisher: Penguin Merchandise Pub. Date: August, 2000 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title:SLAMNATION ASIN: 0781507537 Pub. Date: 15 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $29.95 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $29.95 |
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Title: Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets' Cafe by Miguel Algarin, Bob Holman, Nicole Blackman ISBN: 0805032576 Publisher: Owlet Pub. Date: August, 1994 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam by Louis Reyes Rivera, Tony Medina ISBN: 0609808400 Publisher: Three Rivers Press Pub. Date: 23 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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