Poetry slams

zgodt

zgodt

Member
Have any of you guys been to, or heard of, a poetry slam?

They are pretty strange, but can be fun.
 
I competed in the Ann Arbor Poetry Slam tonight, and came in 4th or 5th place. Which sounds all right at first, except there were only 6 contestants. And the 6th was obviously cognitively impaired, and/or stoned out of his mind, which is basically the same thing.
 
zgodt said:
I competed in the Ann Arbor Poetry Slam tonight, and came in 4th or 5th place. Which sounds all right at first, except there were only 6 contestants. And the 6th was obviously cognitively impaired, and/or stoned out of his mind, which is basically the same thing.
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Hey- at least you competed. I've never even gotten the nerve to do so. They hold slams all the time in my city- I just watch :| I'm a lameass shithead and would come in last in a group of 5 million smackheads
 
But it was fun, and I did all right. I read my poem about pre-printed address labels. And how they are like DEATH!!!!!! :cross:

More important, I got to hear Taylor Mali read again. He's great. :D
 
SexyDevilGirl said:
Hey- at least you competed. I've never even gotten the nerve to do so. They hold slams all the time in my city- I just watch :| I'm a lameass shithead and would come in last in a group of 5 million smackheads
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It's the second time I did it. I've done plenty of readings though, but it's a different crowd. I'm trying to get the performance side of things down a little better, though. I have this summer workshop teaching poetry to high school kids, and they're all into slamming, so I have to try to build up some credibility. LOL
 
zgodt said:
It's the second time I did it. I've done plenty of readings though, but it's a different crowd. I'm trying to get the performance side of things down a little better, though. I have this summer workshop teaching poetry to high school kids, and they're all into slamming, so I have to try to build up some credibility. LOL
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How'd you do the first time- or should I just not ask? :err:
 
SexyDevilGirl said:
How'd you do the first time- or should I just not ask? :err:
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Ha. It wasn't pretty. The judges were kind though, out of pity I guess.

The problem that time was that I was so nervous I decided to have a nice big beer first. And then it took so long to get through the open mic and the 2 "featured" poets that I ordered one or two more. So then by the time I got up there, I was... well, it wasn't the most "together" performance.

Although, actually, I might have scored better that time, relatively speaking. LOL That's the beauty of slam, you never know what the judges will be smoking....
 
Bouville said:
Excuse my ignorance but I really would like to know what is a poetry slam.

:)
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It's a competition between poets- they read some of their work (generally within a given time limit) and are judged on their performance and their work.
 
SexyDevilGirl said:
It's a competition between poets- they read some of their work (generally within a given time limit) and are judged on their performance and their work.
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I have been in a couple of those in Lima, but I have never dared to read my own stuff. They would have destroyed me.
 
SexyDevilGirl said:
It's a competition between poets- they read some of their work (generally within a given time limit) and are judged on their performance and their work.
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Yup. I think it typically takes place at a bar, and the judges are chosen randomly from the crowd. So they aren't "expert" judges; instead it's more a "poetry for the people" kind of thing. You never know what you're going to get; there are some fine poets and spoken word artists, and also a lot of simplistic shouters. And often the shouters come out on top of the poets. Not that the prizes are anything to covet. I think the first place poet in Ann Arbor gets $10; but had to a $5 cover to get in...

The time limit is generally 3 minutes. And there are a couple of other technicalities, like no props, it has to be your own poem, etc. Wheeee.
 
zgodt said:
Yup. I think it typically takes place at a bar, and the judges are chosen randomly from the crowd. So they aren't "expert" judges; instead it's more a "poetry for the people" kind of thing. You never know what you're going to get; there are some fine poets and spoken word artists, and also a lot of simplistic shouters. And often the shouters come out on top of the poets. Not that the prizes are anything to covet. I think the first place poet in Ann Arbor gets $10; but had to a $5 cover to get in...

The time limit is generally 3 minutes. And there are a couple of other technicalities, like no props, it has to be your own poem, etc. Wheeee.
Click to expand...

...and no costumes :err:
 
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