A poetry slam is a competitive event in which poets perform their work and are judged by members of the audience. Everyone who signs up has the opportunity to read in the first round; the lineup for subsequent rounds is determined by the judges' scores. Though rules vary from slam to slam, the basic rules are:
* Each poem must be of the poet's own construction;
* Each poet gets three minutes (plus a ten-second grace period) to read one poem. If the poet goes over time, points will be deducted from the total score.
* The poet may not use props, costumes or musical instruments;
* Of the scores the poet received from the five judges, the high and low scores are dropped and the middle three are added together, giving the poet a total score of 0-30.
Slam is engineered for the audience, whereas a number of open mike readings are engineered as a support network for poets. Slam is designed for the audience to react vocally and openly to all aspects of the show, including the poet's performance, the judges' scores, and the host's banter. Audiences can boo or cheer at the conclusion of a poem, or even during a poem.
The best poetry slams include a wide variety of writing and performance styles. This, of course, depends on who shows up to compete and-- beyond the first round-- what the judges see fit to hear more of. The only requirement for judging is that the audience member not be a family member or intimate friend of any of the competitors.
The best slam poets are those who are skilled at both theatrical performance (stage presence, timing, voice modulation, body language and emoting) and pure poetic writing (metaphor, insight, brevity, sonance, wit).
* Each poem must be of the poet's own construction;
* Each poet gets three minutes (plus a ten-second grace period) to read one poem. If the poet goes over time, points will be deducted from the total score.
* The poet may not use props, costumes or musical instruments;
* Of the scores the poet received from the five judges, the high and low scores are dropped and the middle three are added together, giving the poet a total score of 0-30.
Slam is engineered for the audience, whereas a number of open mike readings are engineered as a support network for poets. Slam is designed for the audience to react vocally and openly to all aspects of the show, including the poet's performance, the judges' scores, and the host's banter. Audiences can boo or cheer at the conclusion of a poem, or even during a poem.
The best poetry slams include a wide variety of writing and performance styles. This, of course, depends on who shows up to compete and-- beyond the first round-- what the judges see fit to hear more of. The only requirement for judging is that the audience member not be a family member or intimate friend of any of the competitors.
The best slam poets are those who are skilled at both theatrical performance (stage presence, timing, voice modulation, body language and emoting) and pure poetic writing (metaphor, insight, brevity, sonance, wit).
for examples of good poetry slam performances, see: Andrea Gibson, Anis Mojgani, Rachel McKibbens, Robbie Q. Telfer, JohnMark Huscher
by idiosynthesis September 22, 2009
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poetronics (po et ron iks) NOUN. Circuitry or software that writes poetry. One example is, "Poetry CreatOR 2," an online poetry generator (created by Jeff Lewis, Erik Sincoff with help from Darin and Thad Nicholson).
An example of poetronics:
The Dancing Lady
by Anonymous
A robin travels from the alarmed Fuckmuffins,
Where the size of the revolver was all that matters
Transferring out, into the distance, the red wagon kicks.
Thrice she said with flattering hairs and horny sighs.
The day wearies, the hunting of pandas is fruitless, come to my embrace
Ecstaticness washed over she like a listless thorn,
With a youthful cluck and a magnanimous conceive we pressed onward
Cast me down from heaven for lying of dark palaces.
So deal not with this once thy glorious TV repairman.
The Dancing Lady
by Anonymous
A robin travels from the alarmed Fuckmuffins,
Where the size of the revolver was all that matters
Transferring out, into the distance, the red wagon kicks.
Thrice she said with flattering hairs and horny sighs.
The day wearies, the hunting of pandas is fruitless, come to my embrace
Ecstaticness washed over she like a listless thorn,
With a youthful cluck and a magnanimous conceive we pressed onward
Cast me down from heaven for lying of dark palaces.
So deal not with this once thy glorious TV repairman.
by Maxhole June 22, 2009
Get the poetronics mug.a form of poetry free of any actual literary rules. a cluster fuck of styles & inspirations. usually involving the darker elements of modern day society. coined by author devin pugliano
by Luicide February 23, 2009
Get the Grunge Poetry mug.The right that an artist (occasionally called artistic license) or writer has, to let him or her deviate from fact or conventional ideas. This is usually to make things more interesting, or try to introduce radical ideas.
This is commonplace from past to present, from the history of music or the history of games; companies and people have tried something crazy and new, and people liked them, like the Team-based Realism Genre that Counter-Strike introduced, or the RTS\FPS hybrid that Natural Selection and Savage have used.
This is commonplace from past to present, from the history of music or the history of games; companies and people have tried something crazy and new, and people liked them, like the Team-based Realism Genre that Counter-Strike introduced, or the RTS\FPS hybrid that Natural Selection and Savage have used.
by Kenthar February 28, 2004
Get the poetic license mug.n.) one who helps poems to be born, particularly one who assists the birthing mother to breathe through the process, knowing that this has been done before, again and again since time immemorial, and will be done again.
If it wasn't for my poetry doula, I would have had to deliver that hexameter by cesarian, and needed to resort to vintage grapes to ease the pain of dilation!
by Sara Nolan February 22, 2008
Get the poetry doula mug.Great music, great lyrics, Great Band!
LOVE THEM!
"Lie where you won’t see yourself in that way.
And we’ll ride to somewhere.
All we are is paralyzed from the face down.
We’re still alive with our fake smiles.
When the camera’s away."
LOVE THEM!
"Lie where you won’t see yourself in that way.
And we’ll ride to somewhere.
All we are is paralyzed from the face down.
We’re still alive with our fake smiles.
When the camera’s away."
by gracied October 24, 2007
Get the dead poetic mug.