Word of Mouth: Poems Featured on NPR's All Things Considered

By: Catherine Bowman

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Synopsis: 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