Speak These Words: A Guerilla Poets Anthology

My brain split like a fresh apple the first time I read this book. This book, a grenade; a bird soaring westward over the graves of dead poet laureates, its wings' flapping roar like the sound of communication breaking down. A must for your musty shelf. Get your hands on it. I swear.

Really, what's already been said suffices....if anything could ever suffice for describing what is contained within these pages. Find a copy. Read it. Be enlightened.

I am an immigrant from South America, where everyone from cab drivers to politicians has a flavor for poetry. When I saw the "guerilla" title of this book, I was intrigued, and so I bought it. However, what I found inside was quite amazing. Instead of the militant rantings I expected, I discovered some of the most gut-wrenching, raw, and beautiful poetry I have come accross in contemporary American writing. I did not think that this element of spirit existed in poetry today. I would recommend this book to anyone who "thinks" they like poetry, and even more to everyone who "thinks" they don't.

This anthology of poetry is an unexpected grenade--of beautiful poetry that definitely comes from these poets' hearts. Don't let the "guerilla" fool you. These are artists, and they have changed my concept of contemporary literature forever.

I just vomitted my last two meals because I read Speak These Words. It's the most offensive and target-->bullseye collection of poems I've read since leaving the Eastern Bloc and declaring my American citizenship. Who knows what monster or monsters inspired these baker's dozen Boston poetesses and poets to unleash their worrisome wordiage upon our unsuspecting populace? Like a frightful dream from which you wake up only to find a tornado dancing outside your window, it matters not who or what made these poems: they are here, ready for us. I only doubt we're ready for them.<p>Please, someone, anyone, if you've read these verses as I have, scream at the sun when the sun sets. Only then will any sense materialize from the dirty air. And you thought our lives were growing banal...