Poetry slam

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Nuyorican Poets Cafe, New York City

A poetry slam is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges.

Contents

Poetry slams began in Chicago in the 1980s, [1] with the first slam competition designed to move poetry recitals from academia to a popular audience. American poet Marc Smith, believing the poetry scene at the time was "too structured and stuffy", began experimenting by attending open-microphone poetry readings, and then turning them into slams by introducing the element of competition. [2]

The performances at a poetry slam are judged as much on performance as content, and poets may compete as individuals or in teams. The judging is often handled by a panel of judges, typically five, who are usually selected from the audience. Sometimes the poets are judged by audience response. [3]

[4] ==History==

Marc Smith Marc Smith - Slam a La Zone de Liege - 19 mars 2009.jpg
Marc Smith

American poet Marc Smith is credited with starting the poetry slam movement at the Get Me High Lounge in Chicago in November 1984. In July 1986, the original slam moved to its permanent home, the Green Mill Jazz Club. [5] [6] In 1987, the Ann Arbor Poetry Slam was founded by Vince Keuter. In August 1988, the first poetry slam held in New York City was hosted by Bob Holman at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. [7]

In 1990, the first American National Poetry Slam took place at Fort Mason, San Francisco.

Today, there are regular poetry slam competitions all around the globe.

While slam poetry has often been ignored in traditional higher learning institutions, it slowly is finding its way into courses and programs of study. For example, at Berklee College of Music, in Boston, slam poetry is now available as a minor course of study. [8]

Format

Different formats of poetry slams exist throughout the world. Generally, however, in a poetry slam, members of the audience are chosen by a master of ceremonies (MC) to act as judges for the event, though scoring can also be done by the audience. After each poet performs, a score is awarded to the performance. Scores generally range between zero and ten.

Before the competition begins, the host will often bring up a "sacrificial" poet, whom the judges will score in order to calibrate their judging.

A single round at a standard slam consists of performances by all eligible poets. Most slams last multiple rounds, and many involve the elimination of lower-scoring poets in successive rounds. An elimination format might run 8–4–2; eight poets in the first round, four in the second, and two in the last. At the end of the slam, the poet with the highest number of points earned is the winner.

Props, costumes, and music are typically forbidden in slams, [9] which differs greatly from its immediate predecessor, performance poetry.

Other rules for slams include enforcing a time limit, after which a poet's score may be docked based on how long the poem exceeded the limit for. The time limit is usually around three to four minutes.

In an "Open Slam", the most common slam type, competition is open to all who wish to compete, given the number of slots available. In an "Invitational Slam", only those invited to do so may compete.

[10] ==Theme slams==

Poetry slam in Paide, Estonia Digiluule Slam Arvamusfestivali kohvikualal 04.jpg
Poetry slam in Paide, Estonia

In 1998, spoken word poet Emanuel Xavier created the House of Xavier and the Glam Slam, an annual downtown arts event staged at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. The fusion of ball culture and poetry slam competitions featured four open categories such as Best Erotic Poem in Sexy Underwear or Lingerie, Best Verbal Vogue and Best Love Poem in Fire Engine Red (alternately Best Bitter Break Up Poem in Blue). Winners of each category received a trophy and went on to compete for the Grand Prize title of Glam Slam Champion. The annual competition was first held in New York City and then London until 2010.

Similar to the House of Xavier's Glam Slam, a "Theme Slam" was one in which all performances must conform to a specified theme, genre, or formal constraint. Themes may include Nerd, [11] Erotica, Queer, Improv, or other conceptual limitations. In theme slams, poets can sometimes be allowed to break "traditional" slam rules. For instance, they sometimes allow performance of work by another poet (e.g. the "Dead Poet Slam", in which all work must be by a deceased poet). They can also allow changes on the restrictions on costumes or props (e.g. the Swedish "Triathlon" slams that allow for a poet, musician, and dancer to all take the stage at the same time), changing the judging structure (e.g. having a specific guest judge), or changing the time limits (e.g. a "1-2-3" slam with three rounds of one minute, two minutes, and three minutes, respectively).

Theme slams are frequently used to advocate participation by particular and perhaps underrepresented demographics (which vary from slam to slam), like younger poets and women.

Performative aspects

Poetry slams can feature a broad range of voices, styles, cultural traditions, and approaches to writing and performance. The originator of performance poetry, Hedwig Gorski, credits slam poetry for carrying on the poetics of ancient oral poetry designed to grab attention in barrooms and public squares. [12]

Some poets are closely associated with the vocal delivery style found in hip-hop music and draw heavily on the tradition of dub poetry, a rhythmic and politicized genre belonging to black and particularly West Indian culture. Others employ an unrhyming narrative formula. Some use traditional theatrical devices including shifting voices and tones, while others may recite an entire poem in ironic monotone. Some poets use nothing but their words to deliver a poem, while others stretch the boundaries of the format, tap-dancing or beatboxing or using highly choreographed movements.

What is a dominant/successful style one year may not be passed to the next. Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, slam poet and author of Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam, was quoted in an interview on the Best American Poetry blog as saying:

One of the more interesting end products (to me, at least) of this constant shifting is that poets in the slam always worry that something—a style, a project, a poet—will become so dominant that it will kill the scene, but it never does. Ranting hipsters, freestyle rappers, bohemian drifters, proto-comedians, mystical shamans and gothy punks have all had their time at the top of the slam food chain, but in the end, something different always comes along and challenges the poets to try something new. [13]

Bob Holman, a poetry activist and former MC of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, once called the movement "the democratization of verse". [14] In 2005, Holman was also quoted as saying: "The spoken word revolution is led a lot by women and by poets of color. It gives a depth to the nation's dialogue that you don't hear on the floor of Congress. I want a floor of Congress to look more like a National Poetry Slam. That would make me happy." [15]

Bob Holman BobHolmanNewYorkCity2006.JPG
Bob Holman

Criticism

At the 1993 National Poetry Slam in San Francisco, a participating team from Canada (Kedrick James, Alex Ferguson and John Sobol) wrote, printed and circulated an instant broadside titled Like Lambs to the Slammer, that criticized what they perceived as the complacency, conformity, and calculated tear-jerking endemic to the poetry slam scene. Over time, slam poetry has been criticized for lacking depth and for its features, e.g., "slam voice," which may limit the range of emotion it can express. [16] [17]

In an interview in the Paris Review , literary critic Harold Bloom wrote

I can't bear these accounts I read in the Times and elsewhere of these poetry slams, in which various young men and women in various late-spots are declaiming rant and nonsense at each other. The whole thing is judged by an applause meter which is actually not there, but might as well be. This isn't even silly; it is the death of art. [18]

Poet and lead singer of King Missile, John S. Hall, has also long been a vocal opponent, taking issue with such factors as its inherently competitive nature [19] and what he considers its lack of stylistic diversity. [20] He recalls seeing his first slam, at the Nuyorican Poets Café: "I hated it. And it made me really uncomfortable and ... it was very much like a sport, and I was interested in poetry in large part because it was like the antithesis of sports. ... [I]t seemed to me like a very macho, masculine form of poetry and not at all what I was interested in." [21]

The poet Tim Clare offers a "for and against" account of the phenomenon in Slam: A Poetic Dialogue. [22]

Ironically, slam poetry movement founder Marc Smith has been critical of the commercially successful Def Poetry television and Broadway live stage shows produced by Russell Simmons, decrying it as "an exploitive entertainment [program that] diminished the value and aesthetic of performance poetry". [23]

Slam poetry as a youth movement

Slam poetry has found popularity as a form of self-expression among many teenagers. Young Chicago Authors (YCA) provides workshops, mentoring, and competition opportunities to youth in the Chicago area. Every year YCA presents The Rooted & Radical Youth Poetry Festival (previously titled Louder Than a Bomb), the world's largest team-based youth slam. San Francisco based non-profit organization Youth Speaks Inc. has also been running the Brave New Voices poetry festival since 1998. [24] The youth poetry slam movement was the focus of a documentary film series produced by HBO and released in 2009. [25] It featured poets from Youth Speaks, Urban Word, Louder than a Bomb and other related youth poetry slam organizations.

In a 2005 interview, one of slam's best known poets Saul Williams praised the youth poetry slam movement, explaining:

Hip-hop filled a tremendous void for me and my friends growing up ... The only thing that prevented all the young boys in the black community from turning into Michael Jackson, from all of us bleaching our skin, from all of us losing it, just losing it, was hip-hop. That was the only counter-existence in the mainstream media. That was essential, and in that same way I think poetry fills a very huge void today [among] youth. And I guess I count myself among the youth. [26]

In 2012, more than 12,000 young people took part in an England-wide youth slam Shake the Dust, organized by Apples and Snakes as part of the London 2012 Festival. [27] An Open Letter to Honey Singh, a rap video featuring Rene Sharanya Verma performing at Delhi Poetry Slam, [28] went viral on YouTube receiving over 1.5 million hits. [29]

International events

At the European level, the European Poetry Slam Championship takes place every year. [30]

European Poetry Slam Championship
YearPlaceWinner
2012Antwerp, BelgiumDani Orviz (Spain)
2014Malmö, SwedenZygimantas Mesijus Kudirka (Lithuania)
2015Tartu, EstoniaNuno Piteira (Portugal)
2016Leuven, BelgiumCarmien Michels (Belgium)
2021Brussel, BelgiumMarie Darah (Belgium)
2022Rome, ItalyPablowsky (Spain)
2023Antwerp, BelgiumJoonas Veelmaa (Estonia)
2024Košice, SlovakiaTheresa Sperling (Germany)
2025Berlin, GermanyValerio Moser (Switzerland)

The Poetry Slam World Cup (Coupe du Monde de Slam, organised in France) also takes place every year. [31]

Poetry Slam World Cup –Coupe du Monde de SlamPoetry Slam World Cup –World Poetry Slam Organisation
YearEditionWinnerDateEditionWinnerDate
2007IAnis Mojgani (US)29.06.2007//////
2008IIDanny Sherrard (US)30.05.2008//////
2009IIIJoaquin Zihuatanejo (US)20.06.2009//////
2010IVIan Keteku (Canada)12.06.2010//////
2011VDavid Goudreau (Québec)04.06.2011//////
2012VIHarry Baker (England)09.06.2012//////
2013VIISimon Roberts (Québec)08.06.2013//////
2014VIIIkenna Onyegbula (Canada)07.06.2014//////
2015IXClotilde de Brito (France)06.06.2015//////
2016XAmélie Prévost (Québec)28.05.2016//////
2017XIEvelyn Rasmussen Osazuwa (Norway)27.05.2017//////
2018XIISam Small (Scotland)12.05.2018//////
2019XIIIJérome Pinel (France)01.06.2019//////
2020XIVDani Orviz (Spain)23.05.2020//////
2021XVGiuliano Logos (Italy)15.06.2021//////
2022XVILorenzo Maragoni (Italy)30.05.2022IXabiso Vili (South Africa)29.09.2022
2023XVIIFilippo Capobianco (Italy)20.05.2023IILady Laprofeta (Colombia)15.10.2023
2024XVIIINoferina (Ivory Coast)12.05.2024

In Africa

In 2017 poet Malika Outtara estimated that there were only fifteen African women slam poets in total. [32]

Burkina Faso

One of the most notable figures in the slam scene in Burkina Faso is Malika Outtara. In 2019 she set up the Slamazone Foundation of which she is President, in order to fund raise for social issues in her country. [33]

Egypt

Slam Poetry has been in Egypt since the twentieth century and was introduced by Hussain Shafiq al-Misry. According to al-Misry, having a variety of jobs gave him the experience to understand the struggles of the Egyptian people in different classes of life. He had good knowledge of Arabic literature, grammar and some commonly used foreign words as well as slang; which he used to form Halamantishi poetry. Muhammad Ragab Bayyoumi in 1986 wrote an article entitled Hussein Shafiq al-Misry: Ustaz la Tilmeeth lah" (Hussein Shafiq al-Misry: A Teacher with No Student of His) in which he introduced al-Misry's poems and explained al-Misry's literary poetry techniques. [34] In Egypt Performance Poetry is new in popularity, the term "Ash-Shi'r al-Mu'adda" was recently introduced as the term for performance poetry. [34] Poets such as  Bayram At-Tunisi, Ahmad Rami, and Kamel Ash-Shennawy paved the way after al-Misry with lyrical slam poems that use a melodic rhythm to attract the audience.[ citation needed ]

In the Americas

United States

In 1990, the first American National Poetry Slam took place at Fort Mason, San Francisco. This slam included teams from Chicago and San Francisco, and an individual poet from New York. [35] Soon afterward, poetry slams increased in popularity, which allowed some poets to make full-time careers in performance and competition, touring the United States and eventually the world. [7]

In 1999, the American National Poetry Slam, held in major cities each year, was in Chicago. The event was covered nationally by The New York Times and 60 Minutes (CBS). 60 Minutes taped a 20 segment on slam poetry with live poetry scenes at Chopin Theatre. [36]

As of 2011, four poets who have competed at the American National Poetry Slam have won National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) Fellowships for Literature:

As of 2017, one poet who has competed at American National Poetry Slam has won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Tyehimba Jess, [40] who competed as a part of Chicago's Green Mill team twice. [41]

Poetry Slam, Inc. used to hold several national and international competitions, including the Individual World Poetry Slam, the National Poetry Slam and The Women of the World Poetry Slam.

As of 2017, the Americana National Poetry Slam featured 72 certified teams, culminating in five days of competition. [42]

Poetry Slam, Inc. used to sanction three major annual poetry competitions (for poets 18+) on a national and international scale: the National Poetry Slam (NPS), the individual World Poetry Slam (iWPS), and the Women of the World Poetry Slam (WoWPS). The last National Poetry Slam took place in Chicago 2018, after which PSi's voting body elected to cease its three major 2019 poetry slams. [43] The WoWPS has been held since 2020 through a new website. [44]

Notable American slam poets

A number of American poets belong to both academia and slam:

  • Jeffrey McDaniel slammed on several poetry slam teams, and has since published several books and currently teaches at Sarah Lawrence College.
  • Patricia Smith, a four-time national slam champion, went on to win several prestigious literary awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and an NEA Fellowship, and being inducted into the International Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent in 2006.
  • Bob Holman founded the Nuyorican Poetry Slam has taught for years at the New School, Bard, Columbia and NYU. Craig Arnold won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition and has competed at slams.
  • Kip Fulbeck, a professor of art at the University of California, Santa Barbara competed in slam in the early-1990s and initiated the first spoken word course to be taught as part of a college art program's core curriculum. [45]
  • Javon Johnson was national slam poetry champion in 2003 and 2004, wrote his dissertation on slam poetry and published an article in text and performance quarterly about black masculinity and sexism in the slam community. [46]
  • Susan Somers-Willett wrote the book The Cultural Politics of Slam Poetry, exploring the relationships between slam, identity, and politics. [47]
  • Karyna McGlynn has devoted much attention to the merging of the poetry slam community and the academic community in her works.

Henry S. Taylor, winner of the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, competed in the 1997 National Poetry Slam as an individual and placed 75th out of 150.

In Europe

Austria

From 10 to 11 December 2016 Salzburg, Austria, held a world-record poetry slam competition (28 hours of classic slam poetry) and broke the so-far-record of Nuremberg, Germany (25 hours), by Michl Jakob. The winner of the competition (Friedrich Herrmann) scored one point better in the finals than the second ranked (Darryl Kiermeier). The event was organized by Lukas Wagner (Slamlabor) and took place in the SN-Saal of the Salzburger Nachrichten. [48] [49]

In Japan

In Japan, Katsunori Kusunoki, a professor of communications at Toyo University, found a way to incorporate slam poetry into his students' lives; allowing them to showcase their competitiveness and love of poetry by putting together "poetry boxing" matches. Kusunoki created annual "poetry boxing" tournaments in order to provide a medium for expression and social interaction . [50] The rules are "16 boxers face off in pairs in competitions of stand-up verse that last for three minutes. Winners compete in series of challenges such as timed presentation and a round of improvised jousting." A master of ceremonies adds to the event by providing nicknames for the competitors. [50] Kusunoki's goal was to try to get his students to open up by breaking language barriers and expressing themselves. [50]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Alonso Castro, Laura María (2019). Slam Poetry vs. Racism: Awakening Awareness and Social Change in FreeQuency's "Dear White People" and "The Gospel of Colonization" (BA thesis). University of Zaragoza. p. 1.
  2. ↑ "History of Slam Poetry – Spoken Word Poetry | Power Poetry". www.powerpoetry.org. Retrieved 2017-06-19.
  3. ↑ aapone (2014-02-04). "A Brief Guide to Slam Poetry". A Brief Guide to Slam Poetry. Retrieved 2017-07-17.
  4. ↑ "Marc Kelly Smith". Poetry Foundation.
  5. ↑ "Sex Dating Sites". Kelly Sex Apps. Archived from the original on February 16, 2009.
  6. ↑ Baig, Mehroz (2014-03-12). "Slam Poetry: A History". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2017-07-17.
  7. 1 2 Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe (2008). Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam. New York: Soft Skull Press.
  8. ↑ "English Minor | Berklee". college.berklee.edu.
  9. ↑ "The Rules of the National Poetry Slam". my.poetryslam.com [beta]. Poetry Slam, Inc. 2008-02-17. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
  10. ↑ "A Simple Poem". Fox The Poet. Rebel Satori Press.
  11. ↑ J. Bradley. "There Will Be Nerds (History of the Nerd Slam". Archived from the original on December 8, 2008. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
  12. ↑ Gorski, Hedwig & Cole, Joy. (2006). Intoxication: Heathcliff on Powell Street Slough Press. ISBN   978-1427604750.
  13. ↑ Janice Erlbaum (April 3, 2008). "The Life Story of the Death of Art". Best American Poetry Blog.
  14. ↑ Algarín, Miguel & Holman, Bob. (1994) Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Holt. ISBN   0-8050-3257-6.
  15. ↑ Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe. (2008). Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam. Chapter 26: What the Heck Is Going On Here; The Bowery Poetry Club Opens (Kinda) for Business. Soft Skull Press, 288. ISBN   1-933368-82-9.
  16. ↑ "Is slam an accepted form of poetry?". The Perspective. 4 April 2022.
  17. ↑ Donaldson, Jesse (2017-02-04). "This Is Why You Probably Hate Slam Poetry, According to a Linguistic Scholar". VICE. Retrieved 2025-11-06.
  18. ↑ Bloom, Harold (2009) quoted in Somers-Willett, Susan B.A., The Cultural Politics of Slam Poetry. University of Michigan Press. p. 21.
  19. ↑ Aptowicz (2008), p. 290.
  20. ↑ Aptowicz (2008), p. 297.
  21. ↑ Aptowicz (2008)
  22. ↑ Chivers, Tom, ed. (2010). "Slam: A Poetic Dialogue". Stress Fractures: Essays on Poetry. London: Penned in the Margins Press. ISBN   978-0-9565-4671-5. OCLC   680282058.
  23. ↑ "The Fall of Slam". Vocalo. June 3, 2008. Archived from the original on October 11, 2008. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
  24. ↑ Speaks, Youth. "Youth Speaks". Youth Speaks. Retrieved 2021-03-07.
  25. ↑ "Press Release Announcing Youth Poetry Slam Documentary". Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2009-02-18.
  26. ↑ Aptowicz (2008), p. 233.
  27. ↑ "30 years of spoken word with Apples and Snakes". Apples and Snakes. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  28. ↑ Lakhani, Somya (2015-02-04). "Don't Mess with Her". The Indian Express . Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  29. ↑ Yadav, Shalu (2015-02-02). "Yo Yo Honey Singh: The Indian student who took on 'misogynist' rapper". British Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  30. ↑ "European Slampionship | Poetry Slam".
  31. ↑ "Histoire du Grand Poetry Slam". Grand Poetry Slam (in French). Retrieved 2025-11-10.
  32. ↑ "Naissance des " slamazones " pour libérer la parole des femmes – Jeune Afrique". JeuneAfrique.com (in French). 2017-12-15. Retrieved 2021-02-23.
  33. ↑ Reid, Caroline (2020-08-12). "International Youth Day 2020". Oxfam Ireland. Retrieved 2021-02-23.
  34. 1 2 Muhammad, Muhammad Agami Hassan (Spring 2017). "Arabic Performance Poetry: A New Mode of Resistance". Arab Studies Quarterly. 39 (2): 815–841. doi: 10.13169/arabstudquar.39.2.0815 .
  35. ↑ "PSI FAQ: National Poetry Slam". Archived from the original on 2013-10-29.
  36. ↑ Sid Smith (August 16, 1999). "National Poetry Slam Guild Complex". Chicago Tribune.
  37. ↑ Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe. (2008). Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam. New York City: Soft Skull Press. "Chapter 14: First and Always; Graduates from the NYC Poetry Slam's First Wave" p. 122. ISBN   1-933368-82-9.
  38. 1 2 "National Endowment of the Arts List of Literature Fellows: 1967–2007" (PDF). March 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 11, 2006.
  39. ↑ "National Endowment of the Arts 2011 Poetry Fellows". Archived from the original on 2010-11-27.
  40. ↑ "Olio, by Tyehimba Jess (Wave Books)". www.pulitzer.org.
  41. ↑ "Tyehimba Jess". Poetry Foundation. 12 November 2017.
  42. ↑ Sadie Dingfelder (August 15, 2014). "D.C.'s Beltway Poetry Slam triumphs at the National Poetry Slam". Washington Post. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
  43. ↑ Johnson, Javon; Blacksher, Anthony (2021). "Give Me Poems and Give Me Death: On the End of Slam(?)". In Yu, Timothy (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Twenty-First-Century American Poetry. Cambridge University Press. p. 177. ISBN   978-1-108-48209-7.
  44. ↑ "Womxn of the World Poetry Slam (WOWPS)" . Retrieved September 24, 2023.
  45. ↑ Gripenstraw, Kelsey (August 30, 2012). "Up Close with Kip Fulbeck". The Independent. Archived from the original on September 2, 2012. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
  46. ↑ Johnson, Javon (2010). "Manning Up: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Los Angeles' Slam and Spoken Word Poetry Communities". Text and Performance Quarterly. 30 (4): 396–419. doi:10.1080/10462937.2010.511252. S2CID   192233974.
  47. ↑ Somers-Willett, Susan B.A. (2009). The Cultural Politics of Slam Poetry: Race, Identity, and the Performance of Popular Verse in America. Ann Arbor: U of MI P.
  48. ↑ "Poetry Slam Weltrekord – Salzburgwiki". www.sn.at.
  49. ↑ "Austria holds new record". 2016-12-11.
  50. 1 2 3 McNeill, David (July 18, 2008). "Japan's Poetry Boxers Get Ready to Grumble". The Chronicle of Higher Education. 54 (45): A1, A6.

Bibliography

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