- ISBN: 9780805032574 | 0805032576
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 8/15/1994
Compiled by poets who have been at the center of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York City, Aloud! showcases the work of the most innovative and accomplished word artists from around America. Miguel Algariacute;nis a founder of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe on New York City's Lower East Side and has hosted the Cafe's live radio broadcasts on WBAI for more than 18 years. He is also a distinguished poet and critic with several books to his credit. He teaches at Rutgers University. Bob Holmanis a widely known poetand poetry activistwhose mission is "to make poetry as natural a use for language as ordering a pizza." He is the author ofThe Collect Call of the Wildand a co-editor ofThe United States of Poetry. Winner of the American Book Award Aloudis an edgy and enormous collection that gathers the varied and invariably exciting work of many poets who regularly read and/or perform at the Nuyorican Poets Cafeacute;. This cafeacute;, a longtime haven of bohemian verse and emerging artistry on New York's Lower East Side, was the birthplace of the current "Slam" movement in American poetics. One of the most popular poetry anthologies currently available,Aloudfeatures contributions by Jimmy Santiago Baca, Paul Beatty, Maggie Estep, Eileen Myles, Miguel Pintilde;ero, Ntozake Shange, and literally scores of others. As co-editor and contributor Bob Holman declares: "Poetry is a contact sport! The poem is not written until you read it!" "A fun, wild, and fascinating volume of poems . . .Aloudis significant in its openness, its verbal power, and the undeniable fact that its performers are changing things without giving a damn how many walls they tear down."Ray Gonzalez,The Nation "[This] is a fun, wild, and fascinating volume of poems from what Holman calls 'a home for the tradition that has no home but your ear' . . .Aloudis significant in its openness, its verbal power, and the undeniable fact that its performers are changing things without giving a damn how many walls they tear down."Ray Gonzalez,The Nation "Manhattan's Nuyorican Poets Cafeacute;, located in the low-rent district of Alphabet City, has become well-known over the past two decades for its poetry performances and 'slams.' Founded by Miguel Algariacute;n and the late Miguel Pintilde;ero, it is the home for New York's Puerto Rican poets and other poets of various nationalities and ethnic groups. This remarkably full collection, winner of the 1994 American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation, includes 260 poems by 145 poets of highly varied voices, a breadth that gives the anthology an urban energy that has transferred well from stage to page. Most of the works are interesting to read, some are heartrending, and others just plain fun. Nicole Breedlove's poem about growing up on welfare ('And my brother / joined the army / to get away / from the government'), Dael Orlandersmith's 'Poem for Anne Sexton' ('Her perfume is the bathwater / of faded party girls'), and Sapphire's troubled 'In My Father's House' ('my mother slipped on her sweater & disappeared') are a few of the many standouts. Bob Holman's 'Invocation' (a sort of foreword), Algariacute;n's introduction, and the sometimes witty, sometimes precious authors' biographies are not to be missed. Highly recommended."Library Journal "New York City's Nuyorican Poets Cafeacute;, a Lower East Side institution, is known for hosting poetry slams, or public recitals of poems competitively graded by the audience. This is participatory performance poetry with an urban groundswell behind itoral, multicultural, political, uninhibited . . . The vitality of [Aloud] is conspicuous even when its anarchy causes some impatience. A maximalist poetrycompo
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