"Spoken Word Revolution Redux" edited by Mark Eleveld

256 pages

These poems were written for poetry slams and are meant to be read aloud. A CD comes with the book so readers can hear many of the poems as they're intended to be heard. Spoken word poetry is supposed to be inclusive (rather than exclusive as academic and literary forms tend to be), so this collection includes poets from all kinds of backgrounds, from American and British poet laureates to national slam champions to high school kids who submitted their work. I had to read the original "Spoken Word Revolution" for a literature class in college and enjoyed it, so I grabbed this from the shelves when I saw it at my library. I was sort of disappointed, though. There are too many essays and not enough poetry, in my opinion. It seems like there are more pages devoted to discussion of what postmodern poetry is than actual poetry. Also, I would have liked to have more poems included on the CD (I'd say that audio is included for about a third of them) because most of these translate much better in sound than on paper. There were many poems that I didn't like much until I heard them on the CD. That said, there is plenty of good stuff in this book. As with any collection of poetry that I read, there were plenty of times that I had no idea what the poet was trying to say, but I usually liked how it sounded. There are several pieces that make you think and many are laugh-out-loud funny, especially in the satire section. "T.S. Eliot's Lost Hip-Hop Poem" and "Sylvia Plath's Gangsta Rap Legacy" are two of my favorites. This is great poetry for people who think traditional poems are dull.