Who invented the poetry slam, when, and why?
Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-73), the eminent poet and man of letters, once said that poetry makes nothing happen. That may have been true until 1984 when poet and construction worker Marc Smith invented the poetry slam. Smith, tired of the same old open mike recitations at Chicago's Get Me High lounge, wanted to breathe new life into performance poetry. He did that by laying the groundwork for a brand new poetry format that eventually became known as the slam.
What is a poetry slam?
A poetry slam is a performance poetry conflict drama event in which the audience participates and judges the poetry performed.
How does a poetry slam work?
Typically, the host randomly picks five members of the audience to be the judges. Each judge rates the poet's performance on a scale of 0 to 10. The high and low scores are dropped and the poet with the highest score wins. The official U.S. competition rules provide that each poem must be original, no more than three minutes long, and that the poet may not use props, costumes, or musical instruments.
How does the Bay Area Writers League slam differ?
In this evolving art form rules vary from slam to slam. At the Bay Area Writers League we have done things differently. B.A.W.L. poetry slams are based on prize fighting analogies wherein poets are paired against each other in a three round match. The five judges, selected randomly from the audience, each has two points to award. If the individual judge thinks the round was a draw, they would assign one point to each poet. If they think one poet won the round, then that poet gets the two points and the opposing poet gets none. Thus, at BAWL, the scores of all judges count and the maximum score that either poet can get in a round is (2 points X 5 judges = 10) ten points; the minimum score a poet could get would be 0. The poet with the highest score wins the round. The winner of two rounds out of three wins the match. In case of a tie, the host decides the winner. At BAWL, winners of matches are then paired against each other until an over all winner emerges. Unlike slams elsewhere, BAWL slams welcome recitations of any poem regardless of who wrote it. Props, costumes, and music are not only permitted, but encouraged. Thus, at the BAWL slams we have often heard great classical poems, some old favorite poems, as well as many poems that were the original home-grown product.
What is the fun in having a slam?
Part of the fun is that the audience, judges and non-judges included, are encouraged to voice their appraisals of the performances with finger clicks, foot stomps, catcalls, boos, etc. Certain levels of dissatisfaction will cause the host to pull the poet off the stage, showing the audience that they are in control and that they have the power.
Who can perform at the Bay Area Writers League slam?
Although some poets will be invited to take part in this year's slam, anyone
registered for the annual conference can participate. If you are interested,
just show up at the slam at the conference. If you have questions or wish to
be put on the slam program in advance, contact Bernie
Patten at 713 252 1306 or at Dadpatten@aol.com.
Slams are fun. Come, join in.
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