[New-Poetry] Spoken Word Redux

[jforjames at aol.com]

Glancing through a recent AWP Chronicle recently I reminded again of proliferation of?the?MFA in Poetry programs out there, and then?your post got me wondering about how many of them have a concentration/track in performance poetry? I'm pretty sure that?'performance'?would be an optional?track?at Naropa and maybe some of the programs associated with Art/alternative schools, but I wonder if many of the older/traditional university-based MFA programs give performance poetry?more than cursory treatment? My?guess?is that performance poetry is?not widely accepted?as being on?equal footing with text-based practice.

Finnegan


-----Original Message-----
From: David Graham <grahamd at ripon.edu>
To: NewPoetry &amp; Views <new-poetry at wiz.cath.vt.edu>
Sent: Wed, 2 Jan 2008 1:25 pm
Subject: [New-Poetry] Spoken Word Redux



New book recommendation--



I've been looking at the anthology *The Spoken Word Revolution Redux*, which is a sequel to *The Spoken Word Revolution* of a couple years back, both edited by Mark Eleveld. ?From Sourcebooks. ?To my mind, it's an even better collection than the first one. ?



There are by now a number of anthologies and texts that cover performance/slam/spoken word poetry, some more dross-heavy than others. ?I think this is one of the better ones. ?Like the earlier book, this sequel makes an effort at bridge-building between the "academic" and the "street" scenes by including pieces by more mainstream academic figures (Ted Kooser, Billy Collins, Robert Creeley, e.g.) as well as brief essays about various issues. ?Particularly strong essays by James Fenton ("The Raised Voice of Poetry") and Henry Taylor ("Read by the Author: ?Some Notes on Poetry in Performance"). ?I like it that the editor doesn't adopt an adversarial stance toward tradition or indulge in the usual mindless professor-bashing. ?New features in the latest book include a section of international poems, a little mini-symposium/tribute to Creeley, and more attention to the music/poetry nexus. ?




Like the first book, this one also comes with a CD, including poets reading as well as commentary on the scene. ?I wish it came with 5 CDs--too many of the pieces are merely excerpted, and my relish for Marc Smith's commentary is not infinite--but it's a good start, anyway. ?All anthologies these days should come with CDs, in my opinion, particularly of poems performed live rather than in the studio. ?







========================================

David Graham

grahamd at ripon.edu




Home Page:

http://web.mac.com/drjazz/iWeb/Site/About%20Me.html




Poetry Library:

http://web.mac.com/drjazz/iWeb/Site/DGPoLibrary.html

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