Steve Zeitlin, the founding director of the nonprofit cultural center City Lore, is the author or coauthor of several award-winning books on America's folk culture, including Giving a Voice to Sorrow: Personal Responses to Death and Mourning and Because God Loves Stories: An Anthology of Jewish Storytelling. He is the author of a volume of poetry, I Hear America Singing in the Rain, and three books for young readers. Bob Holman, a U.S. poet and poetry activist, is a leading figure in the spoken word and slam poetry movements. Winner of an American Book Award, he was a prime mover in creating The United States of Poetry and Language Matters for PBS.

For the folklorist, the book is of considerable interest because it shows us how one prominent public-sector folklorist approaches his material in a manner that is somewhat distinctive.(Journal of American Folklore) The Poetry of Everyday Life reads like a conversation Zeitlin has had with the many people he has met in fieldwork, with his friends, family, ping-pong partners, and scholars who inform his thinking. Likewise, we find ourselves in conversation with poets, scholars, community members, his family, and others, all of whom are equal participants. The book prompts me to question my own language in writing this review when really, how do I review a book that made me think differently, that brought me to tears, and that changed how I teach? I could offer a poem, but I'll end with a pitch: buy this book.(Journal of Folklore Research)

Steve Zeitlin, the founding director of the nonprofit cultural center City Lore, is the author or coauthor of several award-winning books on America's folk culture, including Giving a Voice to Sorrow: Personal Responses to Death and Mourning and Because God Loves Stories: An Anthology of Jewish Storytelling. He is the author of a volume of poetry, I Hear America Singing in the Rain, and three books for young readers. Bob Holman, a U.S. poet and poetry activist, is a leading figure in the spoken word and slam poetry movements. Winner of an American Book Award, he was a prime mover in creating The United States of Poetry and Language Matters for PBS.

For the folklorist, the book is of considerable interest because it shows us how one prominent public-sector folklorist approaches his material in a manner that is somewhat distinctive.(Journal of American Folklore) The Poetry of Everyday Life reads like a conversation Zeitlin has had with the many people he has met in fieldwork, with his friends, family, ping-pong partners, and scholars who inform his thinking. Likewise, we find ourselves in conversation with poets, scholars, community members, his family, and others, all of whom are equal participants. The book prompts me to question my own language in writing this review when really, how do I review a book that made me think differently, that brought me to tears, and that changed how I teach? I could offer a poem, but I'll end with a pitch: buy this book.(Journal of Folklore Research)

Steve Zeitlin, the founding director of the nonprofit cultural center City Lore, is the author or coauthor of several award-winning books on America's folk culture, including Giving a Voice to Sorrow: Personal Responses to Death and Mourning and Because God Loves Stories: An Anthology of Jewish Storytelling. He is the author of a volume of poetry, I Hear America Singing in the Rain, and three books for young readers. Bob Holman, a U.S. poet and poetry activist, is a leading figure in the spoken word and slam poetry movements. Winner of an American Book Award, he was a prime mover in creating The United States of Poetry and Language Matters for PBS.

For the folklorist, the book is of considerable interest because it shows us how one prominent public-sector folklorist approaches his material in a manner that is somewhat distinctive.(Journal of American Folklore) The Poetry of Everyday Life reads like a conversation Zeitlin has had with the many people he has met in fieldwork, with his friends, family, ping-pong partners, and scholars who inform his thinking. Likewise, we find ourselves in conversation with poets, scholars, community members, his family, and others, all of whom are equal participants. The book prompts me to question my own language in writing this review when really, how do I review a book that made me think differently, that brought me to tears, and that changed how I teach? I could offer a poem, but I'll end with a pitch: buy this book.(Journal of Folklore Research)