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Poetry Book Store | Poetry CD Store | Indie Books & CDs
These books & recordings are worth your attention, your stamps or your phone call, even if you can’t always order them from the big online outlets.
Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm - Standing Ground Bridge Across the Blue Kenneth Carroll - So What! (for the white dude who said this ain’t poetry) Michael Franti - Live at the Baobab Bob Grumman & Crag Hill - Writing To Be Seen Tim Koberstein - Whispers and Screams d.a. levy - Random Sighting Anne MacNaughton, Peter Rabbit & Mexican Bob - Luminous Animal Taylor Mali - Poems from the Like Free Zone Mzwakhe Mbuli - Mbulism Marty McConnell - Atoms to Logic Whitman McGowan - Po Fu Laura E.J. Moran - Original Skin Alice Notley - From the Beginning reVerse1 Ed Sanders - Thirsting for Peace Sparrow & Mike Topp - Wild Wives / High Priest of California, a dos-a-dos More Sparrow: More Mike Topp: Mike Topp - I Used To Be Ashamed of My Striped Face John Trudell - Blue Indians Mike Tyler - Mike Tyler’s From Colorado to Georgia Kirmen Uribe - Zaharregia, txikiegia agian David Vanadia - Six Stories Tall Tracey Lee Williams - Hillbilly Psycho Sheri-D Wilson - Re:Zoom
(Nishin Productions, 2004) This is a collaborative production, 12 poems set to music, including performances by Te Kupu, Marcos Arcentales, Raven Kanatakta Polson-Lahache, Joy Harjo, Koru, John Thorp, Rhys B & Luis Abanto. Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm takes the local to the land in her Native turns. --bh compact disk
Order the CD directly from Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm’s Web site.
(Word&Violin, 2004) This poetry+music collection produced by Pireeni Sundaralingam & Colm Ó Riain pairs poets & musicians in an exchange of immigrant stories drawn from the rich cultural mix of old, new & becoming-Americans in the San Francisco Bay area. Some of the cuts are simply magical -- particularly Ó Riain’s blues/Celtic ballad violin solo and the a cappella interweaving of Native American & Irish chants by Lillis Ó Laoire & John-Carlos Perea. --ms compact disk
Order the anthology directly from its own Web site.
(The Bunny and the Crocodile Press, 1997) Unsung hero sings his own damn song! And it’s poetry of a different color, namely Black and American. A native Washingtonian, Coordinator of the DC WritersCorps, Carroll has the deserved rep of poet activist young elder in the mad swirl that is the unheralded but crazy lively DC poetry scene. The writing in his important first book is gorgeous and dense, direct and directed, accessible and lush. Here’s jazz and blues and all that other good stuff, redefining poetry as a bullet you can dance with. Impossible? Absolutely, which is why Kenny Carroll’s poetry pushes like a fist out of the grave, a flower for y’all, a bouquet from the true heart of the country. Get to this book now before they’re all embalmed in collectors’ vitrines. --bh paperback
Available by mail from The Bunny and the Crocodile Press, c/o 4530 Ft. Totten Drive NE #206, Washington, DC 20011. (ISBN: 0938572105)
(Boo Boo Records, 2001) Franti is the genius bridge between poetry and hiphop (as if there’s any difference!) and this book, I mean CD, is the best yet to present the naked word as rhythmic truth. His I can’t call them anything but poems (he labels them “Words”) are interspersed with musical cuts guaranteed to have you dancing and popping. The audience at this live recording sho’ nuff was. You’ll listen to this CD till it wears out - a model. --bh compact disk
If the link above doesn’t take you to the CD’s order page, find out where to get it at Spearhead Vibrations.
(Light & Dust Books, 2001) This generous helping of what the editors call “visio-textual art” is, in fact, concrete poetry in the digital age. In good old mimeo black & white, this stubborn work shades beauty and is a solid landing on the other side of the moon of your mind. --bh paperback
Order it directly from the publisher, Light & Dust.
Somewhere in Indiana dwells an ambitious young poet of Swing. 30 cuts is probably 20 too many, but what cuts is the ambitions (big, juicy) and the chops (voice is monotone, production varied, clever). He’s got a shot. --bh compact disk
Try email to Tim to order a copy.
What Alan Horvath does, see, is reprint in beatific xerox the original sightings of the hero of Cleveland, the Saint of the 60s, d.a. levy. This project exemplifies the best in US Tradition, and is The One True Source for levy’s poetry. --bh paperback
Available by mail from Kirpan Press, Box 2943, Vancouver, WA 98668.
(Luminous Animal, 1999) A Last Living Beat Jazz Poetry CD that is retro-future, porno, improv-laden, mean, charged, political. It is the opposite of nice. Their band, a deft bebop quartet that unleashes some deadly vibes (that is the instrument) and swinging sax over a potent rhythm section, backs this three-some way past Past. Luminous Animal test drives all borders, overstepping them -- sexy, open, gross, anarchic, politically incorrect, off key, crass, at one with a God whose name is Random. --bh compact disk
The only way you can get it is to write to them: Luminous Animal, 5725 NDCBU, Taos, NM 97571.
(PoetCD.com, 2000) Straightforward production & drop dead funny poems from the Slam vet, voice-over king, grade school teacher... “Listen... and you learn How to Read with your Ears.” --bh compact disk
Order it directly from PoetCD.com.
(CDCCP Records/EMI, 2004) You hear Mzwakhe Mbuli and you hear South Africa’s Linton Kwesi Johnson: basso profundo, poetry profound. His new album Mbulism is uplifting, God-filled, and poetry full. Also on our list is Mbuli’s Greatest Hits, Born Free But Always in Chains. --bh compact disk
Order it from Stern’s Music.
(2001) Fresh out, the latest rants from this sild soldier light up new terrritory. She’ll be hosting the Bar 13 series in New York -- if you’re looking for New Feminism, dive into “hubris: manifesto.” --bh paperback
Available by mail from Marty herself at martyoutloud@yahoo.com.
(Viridiana, 2000) Funnyman, Poignantman, PoFu on the Brain. Whitman’s a one-of-a-kind mimeo CD poet, and he’s in great form here. --bh compact disk
Mail order the CD & Whitman’s books from his Web site: whitmanmcgowan.com.
(CD + booklet, Photosynthesis Press, 2001) Laura Moran is that rarity: an intense stage performer whose work is imagistic, writerly, compressed and modulated. This indie-produced CD+booklet is bare-bones but pure, Laura’s voice carrying loon and hawk, Penelope, Leda, Kali & the other women of “Western Civ,” “Liberty Walking” straight into your inner ear. --ms paperback with compact disk
Get it from Laura herself at a reading (and you must not miss her gig if she’s in your town), or mail order from Photosynthesis Press, P.O. Box 36, Hortonville, NY 12745. Or get her newest CD, Live Bait from CDBaby -- it’s “Ten years of touring crystallized into forty minutes. Razor raw. Unswerving poetry over gritty blues, traditional roots, bits and pieces of found sound.”
(The Owl Press, 2004) If you are an Alice Notley fan, then you will have to have the brand-new. From the Beginning is darkness imbedded in The Book: “…this cartoon of reality, but the evil is real”… “all spaces stand for pain”… “the certitude that you are insane” … “the world’s form is untruth.” This is a devastating, hallucinogenic, bloody book. If you don’t know Alice’s work, go to The Descent of Alette. --bh limited edition chapbook
Available by mail from The Owl Press.
(reVerse, 2004) From Chicago, KC Clarke brings a labor of love CD, reVerse1, which begins with a haunting poem by Li-Young Lee with a female vocalist and ambient score and concludes with a straight, tough a capella Lou Reed doing a chunk of his “The Raven.” In between, there’s straight poetry, gospel poetry, folk poetry, and Mark Strand. Cin Salach is here, and we need lots more of her! --bh compact disk
Order the anthology directly from its own Web site.
(Olufsen Records, 2004) His newest CD is vintage Ed, which is to say, Ed at the Moment. Recorded in his studio barn in Woodstock, using his hand-cranked Microlyre, his own creation, a 32 note-to-the-octave electronic instrument. Back to “The Wild Women of East Tenth Street,” forth to his cantata, “Thirsting for Peace in a Raging Century,” he pays homage to Corso (“Final Section of Bomb”) and Ginsberg (the extraordinary “Song for Allen”). Ed’s angelic warbling has never been purer. --bh compact disk
The only place we’ve found this CD online is CDKlassisk in Denmark.
(Beet, 1997) Dos-a-dos (back-to-back) books don’t happen enough, with their upside-down front covers and two books that meet like an umbilical in the middle. This is a favorite, uniting two of NYC’s stalwarts of Downtown. Now you can slam ’em, see who’s funnier -- Topp’s pithy tights (“Untitled: I got a great job last Friday but the pay is too low and the work is humiliating”) or Sparrow’s universal gesundheit (“Overheard Poem: A woman in a black leather coat / to her boyfriend, walking out / of a Chinese takeout on First Avenue // ’. . . and one fucking duck sauce!”). Forewarning: this is a conceptual book, a collector’s item, which means their funniest greatest stuff is not here, but the weirdo stuff is, and it’s designed, too. --bh paperback
Available by mail from Beet, c/o Maynard, Box 879, New York, NY 10021-0002.
Check his Bad Poetry Class here at About Poetry. Then order his Republican Like Me: A Diary of my Presidential Campaign, including the sensational political poems “The Revolution,” “Yes, I Am Running for President Again,” “Why I Can Beat Bob Dole,” and many, many more. Following this exciting campaign story is An Anthology of Terrorist Poetry edited by the one and only name Sparrow, e.g., “I Bomb Because I Love” by El haran (The Fox). (By the way, Sparrow lost, and I disclaim that I am mentioned in the book. Still, order now and you will die laughing, as opposed to simply dying.) --bh paperback
Available by mail from Soft Skull Press, 55 Washington Street, Suite 804, Brooklyn, NY 11201.
The classic Six Short Stories & Seven Short Poems -- Folks, it’s tiny (3-1/4" x 4-1/2", 16 pp.) and costs five bucks, but it’s one of the Books of the Year. This is top Topp, tip Topp. These bites are worlds, and you should be so lucky as to have a copy. “Socially Conscious: No animals / were injured or killed / in the writing / of this poem.” --bh mini-paperback
Available by mail from Low-Tech Press, 30-73 47th Street, Long Island City, NY 11103.
(elimae books, 2001) For the connoisseur, this is the beautifully funky book-bashing book. It’s the Buddha on Candid Camera, a man and a horse stopping in the woods and watching it snow, and laughter, which, according to Reader’s Digest via Topp, is “the best medicine.” Topp is one of a kind. These are handmade gems, direct to you from the publisher, Deron Bauman of elimae books. --bh paperback
Available for $26 including postage from publisher Deron Bauman, 822 N. Clinton, Dallas, TX 75208.
(E Squared, 1999) This is John Trudell’s best ever. His band, Bad Dog, rocks the garage, John speaks the truth of rhythm unbending to melody yet complementing perfectly, and over the mountain of meaning the swoon obligato of traditional singer Quiltman. Brilliant. --bh compact disk
Order it from CD Baby.
(The Carlton Arms Hotel, 1997) Second in a projected series of ten books defining a lifetime project for this writer, the most brilliant of his generation. Like any good young poet, Mike Tyler published his first book (From Alabama to California) as a “share book,” from The Art Cannot Be Damaged Press: “if you want to keep the book, send me $20. If not, leave it somewhere.” From CO to GA was published by the hotel where he is Poet in Residence. All this talk talk about about keeps you from the work work -- don’t let it. Tyler’s rep as danger performer scares you into picking up this big, luscious book, a piece of salvation. Honey, there’s hope in the world where Mike Tyler writes “Chuck Berry is / an American artist / an American artist is a fractured skull” and “I am not a suggestion box / I am not made of wood // I do not have a slot / I do not have on me / the words / Suggestion Box.” --bh paperback
Available by mail from The Carlton Arms Hotel, 160 E. 25th Street, New York, NY 10010. (ISBN: 0-9655055-0-2)
(Paper Hotsak, 2003) This (the title translates “Too Old, Too Small, Maybe”) is a book in a CD package of the poetry of Kirmen Uribe, who in his early 30s is already thought of by many as the Basque National Poet (well, if Basque were a nation). With a brilliant 4-piece band and accompanied by readings by Kirman and the marvelous translations of Elizabeth Macklin, this poetry CD is listenable, danceable, and after you’ve read Kirman’s simple, devastating poems, unforgettable. --bh compact disk
Order the CD from Megadenda.com, the Basque Amazon.
(Vanadia Studios, 1998) Moody, evocative, mall dark fairy tales with superb bass by the poet and drums by Ross Kantor. A tad syrupy, brilliantly produced, ready to go. --bh compact disk
Order, hear a sample cut in RealAudio or download the whole CD in MP3 format at the Vanadia Studios site.
(Goddessdead Publications, 1997) Out of the white trashy wilds of LA comes this raving anti-victim victim. She can take it, but what she dishes back -- can you take that? It’s tough hard, sad as the blatant rhymes ripple the page like flesh. She be authentico Deep South (Mississippi) and her poetry moves from obvious to obviouser, mouthing language that’s dead as it hits the lips, then resurfacing like unDolby hiss of first breath. Here are some e.g.’s: “I just want to die / I just want to cry. . .” “My Vagina like Chewed Bubblegum / lipstick flavored cigarette burns dot my back, / scratch it black, baby / make me squeal but not feel / peel back the layers and watch me welp, / help me.” --bh paperback
Available by mail from Goddessdead Publications, Box 46277, Los Angeles, CA 90046.
(Frontenac House, 2005) At the Spoken Word Summit, Sheri-D Wilson did a set of political love poems that had the audience simultaneously laughing, dancing, and hitting on each other. This is her newest collection of “action poems.” --bh paperback
Order it directly from the publisher, Frontenac House.
