A vibrant cultural history ... It is in the telling that the true magic of spoken word, and Bennett’s intricate exploration of its origin stories, comes alive ... Drawing on in-depth research and a far-reaching reservoir of interviews with key players — as well as his own personal narrative — Bennett focuses most on the spaces and characters that brought it all together ... Bennett renders this lush history in lively, captivating prose, smoothly transporting us back to the city blocks, bars, cafes and stages these artists traversed and inhabited. Perhaps most endearingly, and what makes this book shine with a refreshing dynamism, is that this history is also his own ... Bennett weaves his own narrative throughout ... It’s been a rich life, and Bennett’s decision to interweave its details with the rich history of spoken word only rarely results in unwieldy pacing or chronology. This book is not only a thoroughly researched and engrossing history by an accomplished and qualified academic, but also, and perhaps more significantly, a tender and heartwarming narrative of the evolution of an art form from a passionate, charismatic participant who was on the ground, in the audience and on the stage himself.
Other than a few cursory nods to Allen Ginsberg, Bennett doesn’t contend with the legacy of the Beat poets. There’s no reference to the so-called dub poets ... These feel like missed opportunities, yet Bennett’s book still has plenty to recommend.
Bennett’s book is much more than a history: it’s a living poetic meditation on his own life as a poet and the lives of pathbreaking if largely ignored poets who did spoken word even before that moniker had been invented ... Bennett’s book provides readers with a nuanced interpretative history of the spoken word movement that, as he observes, created an 'unimpeachable beauty' between performers.
For [Bennett], spoken word isn't interesting because it won the culture war against stuffy academics and their dusty canons; the value of spoken word lies in how it reared and continues to nurture its own culture. And in his view, that heritage of autonomy and aegis should shape how people understand it. Bennett, a repeat slam champion who writes poetry and criticism, has intimate knowledge of his subject but approaches it with humility and imagination. He threads research, interviews, autobiography, and close readings of poems and related texts into a nonlinear jaunt through the spoken word archives ... He nimbly details the sights and sounds of each leg of his journey from the University of Pennsylvania to Pennsylvania Avenue ... Bennett organizes the book into meaty but digestible chapters on the Nuyorican poetry movement, the birth of slam, and spoken word’s new life on social media ... Bennett shows that across the genre’s history, writers have come to spoken word in search of community and their own voices and to realize their personal and political ideals. But he doesn’t dwell much on the audience members who jeer, cry, applaud, and now comment virtually from the sidelines ... This silence is not unique to Bennett’s account nor does it sink it.
Composed in dynamic, interlocking scenes, the story unfolds effortlessly despite the scholarly rigor and research evident in the writing ... Scans of original posters, programs, and photographs from these early days complement excerpts from the poems themselves, which pop and echo off the page.
Bennett underscores the importance of clubs, cafes, poetry slams, and open mics in providing opportunities for spoken word poets to share their work and discover a sense of community ... A well-researched, invigorating celebration of a spirited art form.
