Overview

More than 20 contemporary North American poets recite, sing, and perform their work. Early in the film, Charles Bukowski talks about the energy of poets and of a poem. These poets are the children of Walt Whitman and of Charles Olson, incantatory and oratorical, radical, sometimes incorporating contemporary political imagery. Black Mountain poets, the Beats, minimalists like John Cage, the wordless Four Horsemen, Tom Waits, and others capture aspects of poets as troubadours.

Genres

Cast

Charles Bukowski

Self

William S. Burroughs

Self

John Cage

Self

Jim Carroll

Self

Allen Ginsberg

Self

Tom Waits

Self

Gary Snyder

Self

Amiri Baraka

Self

Anne Waldman

Self

Michael Ondaatje

Self

John Giorno

Self

Ntozake Shange

Self