Smart Mouth Book Review
October 1st, 2007 by Admin
Speaking of poetry slams, for poetry that shouts loudly from the pages, this is the book to check out. From the simple and immediate worldview of a seven-year-old to complex, insightful reflections on teaching poetry to incarcerated teenagers, Smart Mouth is a beautifully produced volume of pure, unadulterated young people’s writings. Poetry by the under-10 crowd is refreshingly unpretentious and direct, as in Issielle Johnson’s poem about hating tomatoes, while the teenage poetry quickly moves into a roiling emotional storm, as in Marcus O.’s “Have You Ever?,” about experiencing personal tragedy, or the longing present in the poems written by the young Chinese immigrants who attend Newcomer High School. This is truly a wonderful collection of well-written poetry.
Smart Mouth: Poetry and Prose
By WritersCorps Youth
Introduction by Justin Chin
156 pages. $12.95
Published by:
WritersCorp Books, San Francisco Art Commission
