Poetry Slams With Adults or Children in Writing Workshop

Poetry Slams in the Writing Workshop make the writing come to life. It is a great way to get people moving and engaged whether they are 10 or 50 years old.

History of Poetry Slams

Marc Smith is credited with starting the poetry slam 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.^[1] In 1990, the first National Poetry Slam took place in Fort Mason, San Francisco, involving a team from Chicago, a team from San Francisco, and an individual poet from New York ^[2]. As of 2008, the National Poetry Slam has grown and currently features approximately 80 certified teams each year, culminating in five days of competition.^[3].

Although American in origin, slams have spread all over the world, with slam scenes in Canada, Germany, Sweden, France, Austria, Ireland, Switzerland, Nepal, the Netherlands, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the Czech Republic, Sarajevo, Bosnia, Denmark, South Korea, India and Macedonia.

Format

In a poetry slam, members of the audience are chosen by an M.C. or host to act as judges for the event. After each poet performs, each judge awards a score to that poem. Scores generally range between zero and ten. The highest and lowest score are dropped, giving each performance a rating between zero and thirty points. In the standard slam, there are five judges.

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

A single round at a 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. A standard elimination rubric might run 8-4-2, with eight poets in the first round, four in the second, and two in the last. Some slams do not eliminate poets at all.

Props, costumes, and music are generally forbidden in slams. Additionally, most slams enforce a time limit of three minutes (and a grace period of ten seconds), after which a poet’s score may be docked according to how long the poem exceeded the limit.

Competition types

In an “Open Slam,” 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 sign-up list.

In an “Invitational Slam,” by contrast, only those invited to do so may compete.

In 1998, slam poet Emanuel Xavierfounded The House of Xavier in New York City and introduced what would become a popular annual event called “The Glam Slam” with the ‘g’ and the ‘l’ presumably for ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’. Much like a gay ballroom event, this was a poetry slam event with several theme categories such as Best Erotic Poem In Sexy Underwear or Lingerie and Best Love Poem in Fire Engine Red. The winners would receive trophies and go on to compete for a Grand Prize. These were stylized slam poetry events featuring celebrity judges, fashion shows, and impromptu voguing. The event was held once a year first at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and later at the Bowery Poetry Clubbefore it was passed on in 2008 to the London stage at the Vauxhall Tavern.

A “Theme Slam” is one in which all performances must conform to a specified theme, genre, or formal constraint. Themes may include Nerd^[4], 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 at the Manchester Creatures of the Night slam), or changing the time limits (e.g. a “1-2-3″ slam with three rounds of one minute, two minutes, and three minutes, respectively). In an “Island Style” slam (named after Whidbey Island) the poetry is written on the spot. Each participant is given three words to use in a poem and a short amount of time (20-25 minutes) to write it. The poems are performed and judged as in other competitions.

Although theme slams may seem restricting in nature, slam venues frequently use them to advocate participation by particular and perhaps underrepresented demographics. For example High School age poets only, or Women poets only may be allowed to participate in a particular slam, and thus it might encourage poets from those demographics to feel more confident in participating in a poetry slam for the first time.

Poetry Slam, Inc. holds several National and World Poetry Slams, including the Individual World Poetry Slam, The National Poetry Team Slam and The Women of the World Poetry Slam. The current IWPS champion is Amy Everhart. The current National Poetry Slam Team champions are St. Paul, MN. The current Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion is Rachel McKibbens.