The Poetry of Everyday Life

This is a book of encounters. Part memoir, part essay, and partly a guide to maximizing your capacity for fulfillment and expression, The Poetry of Everyday Life taps into the artistic side of what we often take for granted: the stories we tell, the people we love, the metaphors used by scientists, even our sex lives. A folklorist, writer, and cultural activist, Steve Zeitlin explores how poems serve us in daily life and how they are used in times of personal and national crisis. In the first book to bring together the perspectives of folklore and creative writing, Zeitlin explores meaning and experience, covering topics ranging from poetry in the life cycle to the contemporary uses of ancient myths.

"This convergence of poetry and folklore," he suggests, "gives birth to something new: a new way of seeing ourselves, and a new way of being in the world." Written with humor and insight, the book introduces readers to the many eccentric and visionary characters Zeitlin has met in his career as a folklorist. Covering topics from Ping-Pong to cave paintings, from family poetry nights to delectable dishes at his favorite ethnic restaurants, The Poetry of Everyday Life will inspire readers to expand their consciousness of the beauty that resides in everyday things and to use creative expression to engage and animate that beauty toward living a more fulfilling awakened life, full of laughter. To live a creative life is the best way to engage with the beauty of the everyday.

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.

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.

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.