History of The Slam

The poetry slam movement began in the 1990s, as a way to emphasize the “spoken and preformed aspects” (poets.org) of poetry. The subject matter of the poems can be almost anything, as stated before, but the most popular of topics are “racial, economic, and gender injustices as well as current events…” (poets.org). The actual “poetry slam” is a competition where poets perform their work out loud to an audience. Most slam poems were written to be preformed in this way, and may not get the same applause if read from paper.

The first poetry slam was in 1986 by a poet named Marc Smith in Chicago . Smith “was looking for a way to breathe life into the open mike poetry format.” (slampapi.com) The city soon heard of the weekly slam competitions, and soon a majority of the country knew about it. In the Get Me High Lounge, there were not too many rules, and the poets were free to express themselves. The competition has now gotten so big that there is actually a National Poetry Slam every year, attracting competitors from both Europe and the Americas .

Slam poetry competitions attract a diversity of people, both male and female, to perform. Most slam poets are usually young aspiring poets just beginning their career. Even though certain critics found slam poetry to be “flawed” (poetry.org) it did not stop poets from following the movement.

Sources:

Poetry.org
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5672

Slampapi.com
http://www.slampapi.com/new_site/background.htm

Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry_slam