Slam poetry

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Nuyorican Poets Cafe, New York City

Slam poetry is a postmodern performance poetry, a form of spoken word performed at a competitive poetry event, called a "slam", at which poets perform their own poems (or, in rare cases, those of others) that are "judged" on a numeric scale by randomly picked members of the audience.


Big Poppa E

Slam poetry encompasses a very broad range of voices, styles, cultural traditions and approaches to writing and performance.

Beginning in the mid-90s, it became more and more closely associated with the vocal delivery style found in hip-hop music and drew heavily on the tradition of dub poetry, a rhythmic and politicized genre belonging to black and particularly West Indian culture. Formerly, there was a greater emphasis on "hip-hop style" that in recent years has decreased. The 2005 Individual World Slam Champion, Buddy Wakefield, is not considered a "hip-hop poet"; and the 2005 American National Poetry Slam individual championship was shared by Anis Mojgani, another poet who doesn't generally use the "hip-hop style". At the 2006 Individual World Poetry Slam, three of the top four finalists (Andrea Gibson, Joaquin Zihuatanejo, and Mighty Mike McGee) do not use the hip-hop style. The fourth finalist, Jared Paul is known as a hip-hop poet, but does have a number of poems that are not in the hip-hop style. Poets who excel with a hip-hop style may succeed in a slam; however, slam poetry continues to draw from a much wider range of influences.

Bob Holman

One of the goals of slam poetry is to challenge the authority of anyone who claims to know absolutely what literary quality is. Slam poets wish to give audience members the power to become part of each poem's presence, thus breaking down the barriers between poet/performer, critic and audience. Bob Holman, a poetry activist and former slammaster of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, once called the movement "the democratization of verse." Since only the poets with the best cumulative scores advance to the final round of the night, the structure assures that the audience gets to choose whom they want to hear more from.

Several slam poets have gone on to publish popular books, including Patricia Smith (four-time American National Poetry Slam champion), Paul Beatty, Saul Williams, Regie Gibson, Justin Chin, Jeffrey McDaniel, Daphne Gottlieb, Shane Koyczan, Beau Sia, Ragan Fox, Buddy Wakefield, Big Poppa E, and Taylor Mali.

Slam poetry has found popularity as a form of self-expression among teenagers. Youth Speaks, a non-profit literary organization founded in 1996 by James Kass, serves as one of the largest youth poetry organizations in America offering many opportunities for youth ages 13-19 to express their ideas from the paper to stage. Based in San Francisco, Seattle, and Ann Arbor, Youth Speaks has greatly changed the face of poetry slam in the USA.

Another group offering opportunites in education and performance to teens is Urban Word NYC out of New York City, formerly known as Youth Speaks New York. Young Chicago Authors provides workshops, mentoring, and competition opportunites to youth in the Chicago area.

Contents

[edit] Slam and academia

Slam poetry has at times been attacked by the academic poetry community. In an interview published in a recent Paris Review, literary critic and long-time slam detractor Harold Bloom called the movement "the death of art." In response, some have leveled serious challenges to Bloom's criticism. In an essay in OC Weekly, poet and critic Victor D. Infante said, "[The death of art] is a big onus to place on anybody, but Bloom has always had a propensity for (reactionary) generalizations and burying his bigotries beneath 'aesthetics,' insisting — as he did in his prologue to the anthology Best of the Best of American Poetry — that the 'art' of poetry is being debased by politics."

The relationship between the two seemingly clean circles is muddied by those who straddle the fences of both communities. The academic community has seen a number of slam poets enter its ranks, and with much success. Likewise, the slam community has seen quite a number of academics enter its midst. Both realms have certainly influenced each other's thinking, as slam poetry is peppered with the thought and theories distributed by the academy, and fields such as performance studies have devoted much critical attention to the competition of spoken word. Moreover, a number of poets are paid by college campuses across the nation to perform. Slam, then, has followed an honorable cultural tradition of the "avant-garde" or urban becoming part of a more mainstream culture.

There have been a handful of "crossover poets" whose work is accepted by both the slam and academic communities. Jeffrey McDaniel started as a slammer and wound up publishing several books wih major presses. Craig Arnold, winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition, took his poems off the page onto the stage. A less successful attempt at crossover was that of Henry Taylor, an academic poet and winner of the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, who competed in the 1997 National Slam as an individual and placed 75th out of 150. Poets such as Michael Salinger, Felice Bell, Javon Johnson, Susan B. Anthony Somers-Willett, Robbie Q. Telfer, Phil West, Karyna McGlynn and Scott Dillard have devoted much attention to the merger in their respective scholarly works. However, many slam poets would say that their work exists as a live oral performance only, and would not claim that it works particularly well on the page.

[edit] History

Some people trace slam poetry and other modern spoken word peformance art to the beat poets of the 1950's. However, the oral tradition of poetry stretches back much farther than that, and is believed by many scholars to predate written poetry, as spoken language predates the written word. Slam poets can be said, then, to be participating in a modern continuation of an ancient art.

The modern slam competition is widely believed to have been started by Marc Smith, at the Get Me High Lounge in Chicago in November 1984. In July 1986, the slam moved to its permanent Chicago home, the Green Mill Jazz Club, where it began to grow. In 1990, the first National Slam took place in Fort Mason, San Francisco. Now, the US National Slam boasts approximately 75 certified teams from all parts of the United States, Canada, and other countries. Although American in origin, slams have spread all over the world. Today there are strong slam scenes in Germany, Austria, Nepal, the Netherlands, UK, New Zealand, and Singapore, and in Sarajevo, Bosnia, where it is usually hosted by the editor-in-chief of a Sarajevo-based "hard-core literary magazine" called "Album".

ISPT, also known as the International SpokenWord and Poetry Tournament, is another Worldwide Poetry Slam that was created to inspire positive Spoken Word and Hip Hop, by the Hip Hop Feminist Nation. ISPT is designed differtly than most poetry slams in that it's primary focus is postive Spoken Word and Hip Hop, and it eliminates the systematic biases and weaknesses of PSI (poetry slam, inc) and IWPS (individual world poety slam) through a specialized format of head to head poetry

A counter-slam movement called the Anti-Slam began at Collective:Unconscious more than a decade ago, also on the Lower East Side. At an Anti-Slam, all forms of expression are given a six-minute set and all participants are given a perfect ten by the judges. The Anti-Slam is part of the greater Art Star movement that exists on the Lower East Side.

[edit] Competition

1. Elimination over the course of two to four rounds is traditionally practiced so that a number of poets can enter the competition, but those who score well get most time to perform. A standard design for elimination is 8-4-2, with eight poets in the first round, four in the second, and two in the last. In invitational slams, elimination is usually not used, so as to give the competing poets a better chance to show off. These may be formatted as 5-5-5, with five poets reading three poems each.

2. Time Penalties are often enforced. The standard time limit for a poem is three minutes (including a grace period of around ten seconds), after which a poet's score may be docked according to how long the poem exceeded the limit.

3. Props and Costumes, except during a special competition (see below), may be forbidden in some slams, to ensure that a poet will not win a slam simply by wearing clothes appropriate to his piece or having brought with him a monkey and an accordion. When this rule is rigorously enforced, even wearing sunglasses can be seen as a costume, and, if taken off or put on during the performance, can be seen as a prop.

4. Scoring is done by members of the audience chosen at random. Scoring systems vary across the world but an element of audience response is usually sought.

[edit] Competition types

In an Open Slam, also known as an Open Mic, the most common slam type, competition is open to all who wish to compete. If there are more slammers than available time slots, competitors will often be chosen at random from the signup list. In an Invitational Slam, by contrast, only those invited to do so may compete.

A Theme Slam is one in which all performances must conform to a specified theme or genre. Thematic slams have included the Goth Slam, the Erotica Slam, the Queer Slam and the Cute Boy Slam.

A Dead Poet Slam allows competitors to read or recite the works of deceased poets. The slam is not restricted to any particular time period. [1]

The "1-2-3" Slam enforces time penalties and begins with a round of one-minute poems, followed by a round of two-minute poems and concluding with a round of three-minute poems, with the number of poets in each subsequent round reduced by elimination. The theory here is that the poet earns the right to do a longer poem by first proving that he can do a shorter one well.

The Team Slam (aka "Grudge Slam") involves two or more slam teams, usually (though not always) from different cities, each usually consisting of four or five poets. The two teams then take turns sending poets to battle it out for the prize, which is usually boasting rights.

The Props Slam allows competing poets to use props and costumes, which are --under ordinary circumstances--against the rules of slam. Google cache


The Individual World Poetry Slam is another week long event held in a different US city each year, where individual poets compete for the Individual World Poetry Slam Championship.

High School Slams in the US are sponsored by teachers, and held much in the fashion of an Open Slam. Schools come together at either a public venue or a hosting school, and usually perform individually (unless the slam is specified by the hosting school as a Team Slam). Commonly, two rounds and a final round are held. Depending on the school, slams may be conducted as field trips for a specific class, or as an official "team."

"British Slams", for want of a better name, tend to be more more relaxed for not having highly sought 'winner takes all' prizes such as big money. American events tend to be more ruthless and unforgiving, with audiences behaving as aggressively as at football games. It makes actually listening to the poems difficult for many. The British Slam will offer winners a modest medal or even toys, or a few pints of beer. The Manchester Creatures Of The Night Slams hosted by Rosie Lugosi up to 2003 offered the monthly winners a vampire stake on a plinth. It makes the events less competitive and more relaxed. Also, in UK slams, judges may be visiting guest poets or just the compere of the event rather than selected audience members.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Bibliography

  • Algarin & Holman, ALOUD: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets' Cafe
  • Beau Sia, A Night Without Armor II: The Revenge
  • Daphne Gottlieb, Final Girl, Pelt, and Why Things Burn
  • Gary Glazner, Poetry Slam
  • Jeffrey McDaniel, Alibi School, The Forgiveness Parade, and The Splinter Factory
  • Justin Chin, Bite Hard
  • Michael Salinger, Neon and Outspoken
  • Patricia Smith, Big Towns, Big Talk : Poems, Close to Death : Poems, and Life According to Motown
  • Ragan Fox, Heterophobia
  • Regie Gibson, Storms Beneath the Skin
  • Big Poppa E, The Wussy Boy Manifesto

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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