Word Warriors

October 15, 2007
As poetry-slam and spoken-word stages continue to multiply worldwide, so do anthologies of performance poets, living treasures. This collection dediciated to women poets is a welcome addition. The selections are enticing, irreverent, complex, and holy compelling. Each poet offers an essay or interview relating to performance, writing, or personal history. In Lost and Found, Daphne Gottlieb shares her need for writing poetry as her mother lays dying. My baby, my mother said, patting my face, You and I, we have art. In Marty McConnells You Say You Want A Revolution . . . a definitive definition of spoken word is offered: Performance poetry, spoken word, call it what you will, is about precise expression. About getting the words and their performance so close to the experience. . . . Thats hard work. And while the essays are encompassing, the poems are confrontational and challenging to the status quo. Editor Olson has done an impressive job corralling poet notables like Michelle Tea, Sarah Jones, Suheir Hammad, and Patricia Smith and an energetic introduction by Vagina Monologues creator Eve Ensler.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)