Slam Poetry
In November of 1984, Marc Smith opened the mic to Slam Poetry at a club called Get Me High Lounge in Chicago Illinois. By 1990 it had moved to another club, Green Mills Jazz Club. By 1990 the first Slam Poetry competition was held in San Francisco, California.
Since then, Slam Poetry has spread throughout the world. Competitions are held in such far away places as New Zealand, Serbia, Bosnia, China and Singapore to name a few.
Slam Poetry is a free form style of expression that involves many levels of emotion. Most Slam Poetry voices dissatisfaction with those in authority. A poet may be very vocal in his rant about anything from his family to the government. What makes you angry? So angry or upset that you can’t stand keeping silent any longer? That feeling that you are about to burst with what you have to say, and the act of finally saying that which you have waited to express, is the heart of Slam Poetry. It is the pent up energy of the disappointed; the disaffected.
Critics have been hard on Slam Poetry. They have said that it has killed art; that this form of expression is uncomfortable and not entertaining. Slam Poetry is raw and makes no excuses. There is no definite cadence, no rhyme, and it is comparable to rap.
Traditional forms of poetry are too restrictive to be used in Slam Poetry. Rhyme is used sometimes, but for the most part these are blank form renditions. Slam Poetry is exciting, innovative and I believe it to be poetry at it’s most expressive .
To experience this vibrant poetic form click this link: http://youtu.be/jOv47njeLHQ
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