Starting in 1995, NPR’s All Things Considered began presenting poets reading their own works. Introduced by “poetry DJ” Catherine Bowman, these popular short segments allowed listeners to experience poetry as a kind of verbal music, recalling its roots as a spoken art form. Word of Mouth , edited by Bowman, brings together the poems that have been featured on NPR, providing a window onto the dynamic contemporary poetry scene. A child playing with flashes of sunlight in the aisle of an airplane; a woman describing tropical fruit to someone in a faraway country; a man building a deck with his dead father’s hammer; the musings of a Barbie doll participating in a 12-step program: these poems powerfully and lyrically transform the stuff of every day life. A celebration of the poetic voice that includes 33 acclaimed writers, this vibrant anthology proves beyond any doubt that poetry is far more than just words on paper. Quincy Troupe • Czeslaw Milosz • Campbell McGrath • C.D. Wright • Jack Gilbert • Heather McHugh • David Lehman • Wang Ping • Joseph Brodsky • Paul Beatty • Lorna Dee Cervantes • Paul Muldoon • Lucille Clifton • Naomi Shihab Nye • Richard Blanco • Albert Goldbarth • Carrie Allen McCray • Belle Waring • Russell Edson • Kevin Young • Nuali Di Dhomhnaill • Charles Harper Webb • Denise Duhamel • Yusef Komunyakaa • Hal Sirowitz • Lucia Perillo • Amy Gerstler • Maura Stanton • Marilyn Chin • Philip Booth • Jane Cooper • Diane DiPrima • Elizabeth Spires "Poet-reporter" for National Public Radio's All Things Considered , Bowman has been ushering poets and their work onto the airwaves since 1995, seeking to present "a wide range of voices showing how varied the imagination can be, how complex and full of possibility." In her thoughtful and enlightening introduction, Bowman notes that the poetry segments have been "extraordinarily popular," inspiring a stream of letters and e-mails from listeners all around the world, and since she has an infallible ear and excellent taste, these inspired selections also make for a fresh and enjoyable poetry anthology. Bowman's poets find much to praise, laugh about, lament, and, most essentially, be ardently attentive to, even mystically receptive. This embracing collection begins and ends with two journeys, Quincy Troupe's Pacific coast "Flight" and Elizabeth Spires' Atlantic-anchored "On the Island," and in between are Nobel laureates Czeslaw Milosz and Joseph Brodsky, womanly wise poets Lucille Clifton and C. D. Wright, bluesy Kevin Young, Naomi Shihab Nye, Lucia Perillo, Marilyn Chin, and many more, each concisely profiled, each a voice to savor. Donna Seaman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved 1995, NPR s All Things Considered began presenting poets reading their own works. Introduced by poetry DJ Catherine Bowman, these popular short segments allowed listeners to experience poetry as a kind of verbal music, recalling its roots as a spoken art form. Word of Mouth , edited by Bowman, brings together the poems that have been featured on NPR, providing a window onto the dynamic contemporary poetry scene. A child playing with flashes of sunlight in the aisle of an airplane; a woman describing tropical fruit to someone in a faraway country; a man building a deck with his dead father s hammer; the musings of a Barbie doll participating in a 12-step program: these poems powerfully and lyrically transform the stuff of every day life. A celebration of the poetic voice that includes 33 acclaimed writers, this vibrant anthology proves beyond any doubt that poetry is far more than just words on paper. Quincy Troupe Czeslaw Milo Starting in 1995, NPR's "All Things Considered began presenting poets reading their own works. Introduced by "poetry DJ" Catherine Bowman, these popular short segments allowed listeners to experience poetry as a kind of verbal music, recalling its roots as a spoken art form. Word of Mouth, edited by Bowman, brings together the poems that have been featured on NPR, providing a window onto the dynamic contemporary poetry scene. A child playing with flashes of sunlight in the aisle of an airplane; a woman describing tropical fruit to someone in a faraway country; a man building a deck with his dead father's hammer; the musings of a Barbie doll participating in a 12-step program: these poems powerfully and lyrically transform the stuff of every day life. A celebration of the poetic voice that includes 33 acclaimed writers, this vibrant anthology proves beyond any doubt that poetry is far more than just words on paper. Quincy Troupe - Czeslaw Milosz - Campbell McGrath - C.D. Wright - Jack Gilbert - Heather McHugh - David Lehman - Wang Ping - Joseph Brodsky - Paul Beatty - Lorna Dee Cervantes - Paul Muldoon - Lucille Clifton - Naomi Shihab Nye - Richard Blanco - Albert Goldbarth - Carrie Allen McCray - Belle Waring - Russell Edson - Kevin Young - Nuali Di Dhomhnaill - Charles Harper Webb - Denise Duhamel - Yusef Komunyakaa -