Spreading the Word Poetry and the Survival of Community in America

Ross Talarico

ISBN 10: 0822315890 / ISBN 13: 9780822315896

Published by Duke University Press, 1995

About this Item

The author inscribed this volume on the title page. There is also an autographed sticker affixed to the front cover, The spine of this 154 page volume is not creased, and the pages internally are clean bright and without underlining, highlighting or marginalia. There are, however, creases to both the front and back panels of the covers. The top right edges of the covers are also lightly splayed. Seller Inventory # SpSi679

Bibliographic Details

Title: Spreading the Word Poetry and the Survival ...

Publisher: Duke University Press

Publication Date: 1995

Binding: Soft cover

Condition: Very Good

Signed: Inscribed by Author(s)

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

In 1985 poet Ross Talarico began a grassroots program in creative expression in Rochester, New York. As the program came together, so did the community-young and old, poor and privileged, even those who could not read or write but wanted to tell their stories. This book is a testimony to the poetry that experience produced. An exhilarating account of a successful experiment in promoting community self-expression, Spreading the Word interweaves the participants' stories with Talarico's own life, his struggle as a poet, and the drama of his workshops. The book will be both a resource and an inspiration for teachers of writing, writers, and those who simply wish to learn to write. Drawing on his workshops in Rochester, Talarico describes a unique approach for eliciting poetry from people of many ages and backgrounds-particularly underpriviledged urban kids and the elderly. The process-from dialogue to self-expression to publication to public event-illuminates the urgency and meaning of releasing the spirit captured in each man and woman and child's experience. "Some people say that Ross Talarico has done the impossible," the Today Show remarked of his success in Rochester; and with this book Talarico offers the same opportunity to others. Teachers, community leaders, parents, and children will be able to follow his practical, hands-on approach to encouraging self-expression in diverse, even unlikely, settings. They will see here how poetry is indeed relevant, ever more crucial to our identity as the culture evolves-how it is, finally, the place where the inarticulate can come to speak for themselves.

Review:

"Ross Talarico's work is beautiful and moving."--Candice Bergen

"Ross Talarico has a rare talent: he captures the inner thoughts of 'ordinary' people and reveals their extraordinary visions."--Studs Terkel

"Talarico's book has a big heart. Its great driving force is the urgency of personal experience. And its message is an important one: that we in America are losing touch with each other as individuals, as social classes, and as races partly because of our gradual loss of ownership of our language."--Ron Padgett, Teachers & Writers Collaborative

"There are too few books in which the mysterious power of poetry in the lives of everyday people becomes apparent. Talarico's is a little American classic."--David Shapiro, author of After a Lost Original