AIRED: PBS
AIRDATE: September 26, 1999

Bill Moyers scores again!, September 2, 2003
Reviewer: basshunter (see more about me) from Albuquerque, NM USA I highly recommend this video. I have had the audio tapes and his book for some time and have been searching high and low for video to complement them. I really wanted to see and hear poets read their works. I wasn't a big poetry fan till I got the audios. I'm hooked and would like to go to this every-two-year festival. But, this may be the next best way to be there!!

Great for Teaching Poetry, February 19, 2002
Reviewer: cindy213 (see more about me) from Texas I use this video when teaching college literature and creative writing courses. For lit. students, seeing people enjoying themselves at a poetry festival assaults all their ideas about the topic. They engage with the texts (printable from the PBS website) by seeing and hearing the authors recite them. (Using closed captioning, we can also read along while the poets recite.)

The range of poetic types and styles provide examples for exercises, lectures--even research papers on some of the more established authors like Baraka, Clifton, Kunitz, etc. And the show is entertaining--when students request to hear poems over and over (those of Curtis Lamkin particularly), it is a surreal classroom situation.


The Promise of Poetry, May 10, 2000
Reviewer: Nicholas Croft (see more about me) from New York Bill Moyers is a Public Broadcasting Systems icon. His thought provoking programs are a model for documentary film makers, both in terms of content and style. 'Fooling with Words' is no exception to this tradition of excellence.

Here, he is true to the spirit of the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, on which this film is based. Each poet is shown at the podium, reading their own work to the hundreds of people in attendance, while in the setting of a large outdoor tent. The front row perspective of the camera permits us to see the range of emotions conveyed by each author while they read.

Numerous interviews with the poets help give us a sense of why they do what they do and also help to provide some background on their personal history.

If you missed this program when it was initially broadcast, these tapes will provide the setting for hours of quiet contemplation at time that is personally convenient.

From: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/foolingwithwords/main_tv.html
“The act of making a poem requires that somebody's listening," says poet Mark Doty. And listen they do. More than 12,000 people turned up to listen and laugh, to sigh and weep, to cheer and exalt in the pure pleasure of the spoken word at the 1998 Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, where Bill Moyers returned to cover the poetry beat. The two-hour special FOOLING WITH WORDS WITH BILL MOYERS, produced by Dominique Lasseur and directed by Catherine Tatge, premieres Sunday, September 26 at 9 p.m. (ET) on PBS. (Check local listings.) "Under the trees in Waterloo, New Jersey, in this picturesque corner of America, the sound and taste and texture of words tumble off the stage. It's a celebration of the spirit that I find irresistible," says Moyers.

Every two years in Waterloo, New Jersey poets gather together and perform, using their words and instruments, at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. In 1998 Catherine Tatge, director, and producer, Dominique Lasseur, documented the festival and captured the inspiration of these artists. The participating contemporary poets range in age, style and cultures from established poets to younger, emerging artists. Fooling with Words with Bill Moyers is a gentle guide among the hearts and wisdom of these poets who participated. The poet’s engaging performances and Bill Moyers probing interviews combine to nurture the intellect and spirit of the viewer.