Poetry Speaks Who I Am - (Poetry Speaks Experience) by Elise Paschen (Mixed Media Product)

About the Book

"Poetry Speaks Who I Am" is filled with more than 100 remarkable selections for ages 12 to 14 from a wide variety of poets. Includes an audio CD.

Book Synopsis

From the creators of the New York Times bestseller Poetry Speaks to Children, comes this inspirational anthology book of poems for middle grade readers.

Poetry Speaks Who I Am is filled with more than 100 remarkable poems for teen boys and girls, making it the perfect addition to any classroom. With poems about who teens are and who they are becoming, they'll find poems that make them laugh, that make them angry, or poems that speak directly to them.

Poetry can be life altering. It can be gritty and difficult. It can be hilarious or heart-breaking. And it's meant to be experienced, so we've included a CD on which you'll hear 44 poems, 39 of which are original recordings--you'll only find them here. You'll hear poets both classic and contemporary, well-known and refreshingly new, including:

• Dana Gioia expresses the hunger of a "Vampire's Serenade"
• Elizabeth Alexander waits for that second kiss in "Zodiac"
• Langston Hughes flings his arms wide in "Dream Variations"
• Marilyn Nelson reads to her class in "How I Discovered Poetry"
• Paul Muldoon's poem "Sideman," brought loudly to life by the band Rackett
• And 39 more!

Poetry Speaks Who I Am is dynamic, accessible, challenging, classic, edgy, and ultimately...not quite perfect. Just like you.

Review Quotes

"Teen readers will find much to enjoy in "Poetry Speaks: Who I am"(Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky, $19.99). Editor Elise Paschen asked poets to send poems either that were important to them as teenagers, or poems they had written themselves about being teenagers. The result is a highly eclectic collection of 100 poems about everything from valentines to being black to mowing the lawn." -- The Seattle Times

"Poetry Speaks Who I Am is the perfect book to introduce tweens & teens to Poetry... [Poetry Speaks Who I Am] also features blank pages in the back, where teens can write their own poetry. The book's design also speaks to younger readers -- with the pages created to look like they belong in a teenager's notebook, with scribbles and doodles around the edges...This adds yet another dimension to the experience of poetry, which is sometimes considered a performance art more than anything else." -- Portland Examiner

"A sound and rewarding introduction to the joys of poetry." -- Publishers Weekly

"An added bonus to Poetry Speaks Who I Am is that is comes with a CD of 47 poems being read by their authors or others. There's something hypnotic about listening to poems being read, especially by the author, who knows where she intended emphasis and can add tone." -- Reading Local: Portland

"Elise Paschen: poetry for teens caters to the rebel in each of us... So what if that happens to be written by some fancy-sounding napoetryme such as Percy Shelley or Paul Muldoon? So much the better." -- Chicago Tribune

"Humorous, biting, tender, angry, confused--the range of moods and voices reflect those of young people themselves as they make and lose friends, fall in love, worry about school, hug (and hurt) parents and try to figure out their place in the world." -- Washington Parent

"Poet Elise Paschen is turning her attention to yet another most universal of human experiences: awkward adolescence...[Paschen] can turn this subject into something that we can laugh about now." " -- NPR

"The greatest contemporary poets speak to our youth and to us all. This marvelous anthology contains over 100 poems that matter, by such luminaries as Langston Hughes, Robert Frost and Edgar Allan Poe, to the greatest of our own lifetime: Nikki Grimes, Joy Harjo, Richard Wilbur, Jason Shinder, Nancy Willard, N. Scott Momaday and scores more. A rich experiential collection is featured on the included CD with 47 new, recent and archived recordings of the poets and editors reading their work! The look, feel and design of this volume is cool and relevant - just like the poetry. This gem is a gift of a lifetime." -- National Parenting Publications Awards" -- NAPPA

"The power of spoken poetry is at the heart of Poetry Speaks. Poetry is a vocal art, an art meant to be read aloud. Listening to a poem read aloud can be a transforming experience. Poetry Speaks not only introduces the finest work from some of the greatest poets who ever lived, it reintroduces the oral tradition of poetry, of poetry performed." -- Powells Books

"These clear and powerful readings add a welcome dimension and will no doubt enhance readers' enjoyment of the collection. The design of the volume, with its funky typefaces and brightly colored cover, will also appeal to young teens. The final pages provide space for readers to add their own poems--a good idea, because after paging through this eclectic and powerful anthology many will indeed be inspired to take up the pen." -- Kirkus Reviews

"This volume of verse is aimed at teenagers and is, not surprisingly, full of strong emotion... It's a standout collection, packaged with a CD of the poems read aloud, many by the poets themselves." -- The New York Times

About the Author

Elise Paschen is the editor of Poetry Speaks to Children and co-editor of Poetry Speaks, both New York Times bestsellers. She is the author of several acclaimed poetry collections of her own, including Bestiary and Infidelities, winner of the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize. Former Executive Director of the Poetry Society of America, she is the co-founder of Poetry in Motion, a nationwide program that places poetry in subways and buses, and co-editor of Poetry in Motion and Poetry in Motion from Coast to Coast.

Series Editor Dominique Raccah is founder, president, and publisher of Sourcebooks, a leading independent publisher outside of Chicago. Today Sourcebooks is the world's leading publisher of poetry in book-and-audio form, and also publishes nonfiction and fiction. Raccah was the initial visionary of the books Poetry Speaks, Poetry Speaks to Children and Hip Hop Speaks to Children, seeing them as interactive, engaging ways to experience spoken and written poetry. Advisory Editor Elizabeth Alexander is a poet, essayist, playwright, and teacher. Most recently, she composed and delivered "Praise Song for the Day" for the inauguration of President Barack Obama, also published as a book. She has published five books of poems, including The Venus Hottentot, Body of Life, and American Sublime, which was one of three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize and was one of the American Library Association's "Notable Books of the Year." Advisory Editor Brad Leithauser is the author of five novels, a novel in verse, five volumes of poetry, a collection of light verse, and a book of essays. His poetry collections include Curves and Angles, The Odd Last Thing She Did, The Mail from Anywhere, Cats of the Temple, and Hundreds of Fireflies. Among his many awards and honors are a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Ingram Merrill Grant, and a MacArthur Fellowship. Advisory Editor Joy Harjo's seven books of poetry include She Had Some Horses, The Woman Who Fell from the Sky, and How We Became Human. Her poetry has garnered many awards including a Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas, and the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America.