A poetry slam is a competition in which poets read or recite original work. Poetry slam began in Chicago in 1984 with its first competition designed to move poetry recitals from academia to a popular audience when American poet Marc Smith began experimenting with existing open microphone venues for poetry readings by making them competitive. The performances at a poetry slam are judged by a panel of judges, typically five, and usually selected from the audience, or sometimes judged by audience response. The judges usually give each poem a score on a scale of 0–10 (zero being the worst and ten being the best). The highest and lowest scores are dropped and the middle three are kept. The highest score one can receive is a 30 and the lowest one is a zero.
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.
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I have come across this fascinating performance video before.. It took me back to that ‘first English poet’ Caedmon – a fellow Tyke – who was a poet before ever he could read or write. ( https://rolandsragbag.wordpress.com/2017/02/09/caedmons-hymn/ ). Thanks for posting, Nigel, and for your explanation of the Slam Poetry scene.
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I have to say, though I’m of course familiar with performance poetry, ‘Slam’ is new to me Roland and I stumbled across it via the ‘Outlaw poets book’. Whether I enjoy the poem or not I’m always deeply impressed by such performances, and as you say, I also find them fascinating.
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Loved this Nigel, thanks for sharing it. Some thoughts for a Northern Slam in the future?
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Thanks for sharing this, Nige. Such talent. I enjoyed listening.
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