Read Samantha’s interview in Philadelphia Weekly’s “Women on
the Verge” column:
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/view.php?id=4996
"Among the many poets and spoken word performers that I've met at W.E. Fests past (including Boston's anti-corporate poet laureate Rich Mackin, and Jersey Beat's own D. Michael McNamara), Samantha Barrow will always stand out as one of the gutsiest and most provocative performers I've seen. This gal rides a motorcycle around the country, performing at open mics, poetry slams, and more often than not, punk rock shows, regaling the crowd with hip-hop flavored poems and gritty short stories of her life on the road. She's the kind of poet you'd want to meet if you think you don't like poetry. Believe me, she'll win you over, with her feisty feminism and sexual politics (she describes herself as 'half-lesbian,') self-deprecating wit, infectious rhythms, and a totally winning, almost self-contradicting combination of in-your-face aggression and innocent vulnerability. (Patti Smith, it should be noted, had a very similar appeal.)"
— Jim Testa, Jersey Beat
"Barrow doesn't have much trouble reaching unconventional audiences because — unlike the beatnik and hippie stereotypes of road-weary, hallucinatory freakouts and epiphanies — her poems are bold, lucid narratives that move forward with solid rhythm, rooted determination and a firm handle on sexual politics."
Read the entire article here: http://www.houstonpress.com/issues/2002-08-22/calendar/calendar.html
— Troy Schulze, Houston Press
"As far as poetry goes it's been a life-long passion. ‘My mind has always organized itself linguistically,' explains Barrow, who said she'd started keeping a journal in junior high school. ‘My poems tend to fall into a bunch of different categories,' she says. ‘I can't really break free of how I see things. It does come from a very personal standpoint.' She describes the works as philosophical, deeply rooted on a sexual plane, dealing with issues of abuse, women's sexuality and anger. The works are often social and political, as one struggles to find the voice within. While Barrow says that her works don't feel political, she is aware that many are."
— Jenny Southlynn, City View (Champaign/Urbana, IL)
"Samantha Barrow is a fearless poet. Her courage comes through her words and performances, exemplified in her solo cross country motorcycle poetry tour during the summer of 2002. Barrow covers an amazing array of subjects, from her ode to her own butt, to her soliloquy on the open road....she embraces each piece as though it were the most precious poem she ever wrote. Her energy is contagious. Her abilities are grand. Her act is to be seen, by all means."
—Stevenallenmay, Founder of Bardfest, Author of Spontaneous Chili,
Plastic Sunrise, Sleeping Alone with Someone Else
"The poetry of Samantha Barrow, with its provocative use of voice and perspective directly addresses the audience and brings them into the dynamic of the poem, challenging them to become more than listeners. The subjects that Samantha chooses to touch upon...are sexually political issues which demand that every individual take a closer look at how they act within relationships and suggests that moral character is based on our specific interactions with others in the world. The experience of listening to Samantha's poetry is akin to a self-reflective experience as the poet's unique perspective reaches deep into hardly traveled areas of the soul, taking many risks in questioning the behavior of the ego and demanding that the self, especially in conjunction with the female identity, be given the attention and respect that it deserves."
—Laura Goldstein, Temple University Young Scholars Program
"Billing and booking herself as a motorcycle touring poet, Samantha Barrow gave herself a tough image to fulfill, particularly for the mainly lesbian audience who heard her blow through Atlanta. She exceeded the expectations she set herself as a strong woman, traveling alone with raw, gritty, road-hewn words of wisdom. This is the image we anticipated as listeners and peer poets. What delighted us in listening and watching her perform was how she managed to map the curvaceous, open road and translate it into a very visceral, corpo-real poetry. Her work merges exterior landscapes with interpersonal ones and makes both tangible with her linguistic dexterity. Her terrain is physical, tender, gritty, soft, quiet, and affirming. Samantha performs her pieces in a way that resonates off her chapbook pages later and echoes out as we make our own travels in our own interior and exterior landscapes."
— Karen Garrabrant & Amanda Kail,
Cliterati Series, Atlanta Georgia
"Tonight belonged to Samantha Barrow of Philadelphia. Definitely. If you were one of the lucky ones to be at the slam tonight, you already know what I'm talking about. The lady stole our hearts with her humility and her poetry...and after her second set, the girl had a line of patient, dollar-bill-laden chapbook-buyers forming behind her table! I don't know if it was Samantha's raw and gutsy road-warrior poetry that helped fuel the high-level energy in the room tonight, or if it was just that always-pulsating hillcrest vibe. But it was another fabulous slam..."
— Robert O'Sullivan, San Diego Poetry Slam