Sophia Walker

"My body is the stage and my tongue is the page" - Maakomele R. Manaka. Verbs that move mountains is a glimpse at the way poets, promoters and storytellers engage with spoken word around the world. The anthology includes histories of specific scenes, hard looks at how to make spoken word a more accessible and open space in terms of sexuality, mental health, indigenous languages and more.... Academic analysis co-exists with personal reflections. Current topics, such as the ethics of honesty in slam poetry, or the very real dangers faced by many poets around the world, are also discussed. These essays give you snapshots of scenes from Singapore to New Zealand, via Leicester and Palestine.

The poems collected here tell those stories whether that is an eye opening report from a sex education workshop in an everyday British town, or something more harrowing from Irag or Africa. Sophia points out that it is not always the journey but the landing that counts, the coming back. How it is not the specific moment of an experience that tells the full story but also what comes afterwards. How those who seek to damage and harass unwittingly leave strength and resilience in their wake. These are the less-heard stories. Some are Sophia's - told first hand, some she witnessed. All are true.