Starting in 1995, NPR's All Things Considered began presenting poets reading their own works. Introduced by "poetry DJ" Catherine Bowman, these popular short segments allowed listeners to experience poetry as a kind of verbal music, recalling its roots as a spoken art form. Word of Mouth, edited by Bowman, brings together the poems that have been featured on NPR, providing a window onto the dynamic contemporary poetry scene. A child playing with flashes of sunlight in the aisle of an airplane; a woman describing tropical fruit to someone in a faraway country; a man building a deck with his dead father's hammer; the musings of a Barbie doll participating in a 12-step program: these poems powerfully and lyrically transform the stuff of every day life. A celebration of the poetic voice that includes 33 acclaimed writers, this vibrant anthology proves beyond any doubt that poetry is far more than just words on paper.Quincy Troupe - Czeslaw Milosz - Campbell McGrath - C.D. Wright - Jack Gilbert - Heather McHugh - David Lehman - Wang Ping - Joseph Brodsky - Paul Beatty - Lorna Dee Cervantes - Paul Muldoon - Lucille Clifton - Naomi Shihab Nye - Richard Blanco - Albert Goldbarth - Carrie Allen McCray - Belle Waring - Russell Edson - Kevin Young - Nuali Di Dhomhnaill - Charles Harper Webb - Denise Duhamel - Yusef Komunyakaa - Hal Sirowitz - Lucia Perillo - Amy Gerstler - Maura Stanton - Marilyn Chin - Philip Booth - Jane Cooper - Diane DiPrima - Elizabeth SpiresFrom the Trade Paperback edition.
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Not my cup of tea, personally. I've always been very “iffy” about poetry, and this collection solidified that. Just seems like a bunch of word salad to me.
