A type of poetry expressing a persons personal story and/or struggle usually in an intensely emotional style. Very powerful, sincere, and moving.
Katie Mkkai's poem "Pretty"
"Russell Simmons Presents Brave New Voices" has many fantastic examples of Slam Poetry
"Russell Simmons Presents Brave New Voices" has many fantastic examples of Slam Poetry
by DarkVictorian June 16, 2010
Slam Poetry:
Katie Makkai's Pretty
Mike Gerbino's Ugly Sunset
Taylor Phillips MSA 2009 Scholarship Poem Well, Thank You
Katie Makkai's Pretty
Mike Gerbino's Ugly Sunset
Taylor Phillips MSA 2009 Scholarship Poem Well, Thank You
by doodledude107 April 11, 2011
n. A style of spoken word poetry that is generally used in a competition, known as a poetry slam. Often, as with hip-hop music, the subject matter concerns urban life, crime, drugs, or other inner-city-related subjects. The difference in many cases, however, is that with slam poetry, the words/lyrics are more introspective and creative than your run-of-the-mill hit rap song. Also seems influenced by the Beat Poets, such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac.
Beau Sia wrote a book of slam poetry called "A Night Without Armor II: The Revenge," which probably really pissed off Jewel Kilcher.
by pectussian July 2, 2011
The poetry that thrives in a culture of non-readers. Very sincere, bad poetry. Delivered in front of and given encouragement from a small group of people who are also bad poets. Slam poets think that their poetry is more powerful if they just yell it. Sincerely painful to listen to. It's bad poetry. They try very hard, but they have no idea what they're doing.
by Alisha Cunningham March 30, 2008
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
by quadhome February 16, 2009
My friend forced me to go a poetry slam. I had not before then seen such a high concentration of pretentious assholes gathered for the purpose of stoking one another's egos.
by Teresa Alice April 7, 2008