Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0805032576 ISBN 13: 9780805032574

Publisher: Holt Paperbacks, 1994

Synopsis

“A fun, wild, and fascinating volume of poems from what Holman calls 'a home for the tradition that has no home but your ear' . . . Aloud is 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.”
―The Nation

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.

About this title

About the Authors

Miguel Algarín (1941-2020) was a founder of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe on New York City's Lower East Side and hosted the Cafe's live radio broadcasts on WBAI for more than 18 years. He was also a distinguished poet and critic with several books to his credit. He taught at Rutgers University.

Bob Holman is a widely known poet and poetry activist whose mission is "to make poetry as natural a use for language as ordering a pizza." He is the author of The Collect Call of the Wild and a co-editor of The United States of Poetry.

Reviews

Manhattan's Nuyorican Poets Cafe, 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 Algarin and the late Miguel Pinero, it is the home for New York 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. Holman's "Invocation" (a sort of foreword), Algarin's introduction, and the sometimes witty, sometimes precious authors' biographies are not to be missed. Highly recommended.
Harold Augenbraum, Mercantile Lib., New York
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0805032576
• ISBN 13: 9780805032574
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 514
• Editor: Miguel Algarin, Bob Holman