Spoken Word: A Cultural History

In this immersive blend of cultural history and memoir, poet Bennett (The Sobbing School) traces the development of spoken-word poetry from the Black Arts Movement to the present day. He begins by recounting how he was invited—after appearing in an HBO documentary about a poetry slam competition—to read one his poems in front of a White House audience including President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. The moment launched his career as a professional writer and poet, and Bennett follows the recollection with a look back at the career origins of Miguel Algarin, founder of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, a legendary poetry venue that grew out of Algarin’s living room in New York City’s Lower East Side, and whose concept was influenced the Black Arts Repertory Theater/School, a Black Arts Movement collective founded in 1965 by Amiri Baraka. After spoken word’s emergence in the 1960s as a democratic “vehicle for liberatory politics” and a space for diverse and marginalized voices, the burgeoning slam scene in the 1990s added a competitive edge, and today groups like Button Poetry, a hybrid YouTube channel and publisher, are helping to make “the future of the genre... even brighter.” Bennett’s enthusiasm for the subject leaps off the page, highlighting the resilience and adaptability of poetry and making clear how important the collective is to its progress. It’s a spirited introduction to a vibrant art form. (Mar.)