Review: RESPECT THE MIC

 Respect the Mic is a poetry collection that celebrates 20 years of poetry from a Chicago-area high school. Peter Kahn, the English teacher who hosted the first Spoken Word Club in his school and Dan "Sully" Sullivan, a student who flourished because of the club, are the editors of the book which pulls poetry from student poets from all twenty years of the club. Kahn siad, "We wanted the club to create a place of belonging for all members, and particularly our Black students, where their experiences and voices could be heard loudly, proudly, and clearly." Sully, who was ready to drop out of high school when he turned seventeen, said, "I was looking for a place I felt like myself, was accepted for everything that I am and had witnessed. I found that in the Spoken Word Club."

The poetry is divided into five sections: Notes from Here; Coming of Age; Monsters at Home; Welcomes, Farewells, and Odes; and Survival Tactics, with around fifteen poems per section. Each of the contributors were identified by the years of involvement in the Spoken Word Club and their education/careers beyond. I, personally, was deeply affected by this. Almost all the poets have gone on to great things, many of them earning MFAs or working toward others Masters and Doctorate degrees. Did poetry have anything to do with this? I'm inclined to believe it did. 

In the introduction to the second section, Sully Sullivan, talks about "voltas" in life as well as in poetry:

In his next performance, Kane [another student] belted, 'Change ain't nothing but pain, but the only thing I'm afraid of is staying the same.' And there is was -- the volta, the point at which the poem awakens us from previous thought and turns in a new direction... Yet here we are, standing on the road's edge, staring a volta right in the face. The eager device, that lurking angle, is an Italian word meaning turn...We need to confront the volta of our immediate lives and turn, however daunting, around the bend toward the unknown (36).

As an old, white lady who lives in a suburban town in the Pacific Northwest, I couldn't relate to all the poems, but I did sense the passion, pain, frustration, love, etc. that thrummed through them. I am mostly impressed by the impact the Spoken Word club and poetry had on the lives of these poets.

I do have a criticism, though, but it is not leveled against the editors or the participants. My criticism is directed toward the publisher. The structure and layout of the book is unappealing. The paper is low quality, the font uninspiring, and there is no color, even as section dividers. Nothing about the cover screams "Teenagers pick me up!" If I were still a high school librarian I would certainly buy this book for my collection but I know it would be a tough book to get students to want to read. Sigh. Why do publishers do this? This is not the first time I've encountered what should be an excellent book which sells itself short with a poor presentation. 

If you are a purchasing librarian, you definitely want this book in your YA collection. If you are a secondary English teacher, get yourself a copy of Respect the Mic and get inspired for changing up your poetry unit. Find ways to get students involved with poetry/spoken word on a personal level.

-Anne