poetry slams (events, not curses)

[lickmyboot]

Just curious to know if any of you have braved the mike and gone to a local poetry slam?

I found a long standing event in my area and dragged a friend in to check it out. We were late, so I wasn't able to read, but I enjoyed the scene. There was actually quite a crowd, with people sitting on the floor to take it all in. Myfriend was visiting from out of town, and kept making me promise i'd come back and read at the next slam. Well, I did just that. A small entourage in tow, I was disappointed when I discovered I was one of three poets to read and compete. My most recent poems (clenched in tight fists), happen to be of a, ahem, sexual nature. You'd think we were in Sunday High Mass by the scores I recieved. Granted, the judges were friends of the other poets. I was a little out-numbered. To my humiliation, eventhough my score was low, I was pushed into the next round by the fact there were only three of us competing. I think I actually heard crickets after my second reading.

Not discourged though. I will most likely go back or find another place to read. I basically did this to overcome my fear of public speaking. I don't think I'm cured yet, but definately humbled to the fact that I'm not everyone's cup of tea. It's all a learning experience.

Lick

 

[karmadog]

The only live poetry near me (other than NOLA) is made up of 16 to 20 yr olds dressed in black. Not my bag.

I've heard that at some of these things they rate on delivery, too. Did you have somebody tape you? A recording could be valuable in honing your public delivery.

I once had to read a short story in front of thirty or forty english teachers and a few students. I read at about 70 words a minute until somebody laughed in the right spot. Then I got my shit together. And the story had already been judged. You're brave, lick.

 

[lickmyboot]

Yeah well, I try to challenge myself. I was a broadcaster for seven years so you think I'd be comfortable in front of the mike. I just had the wrong poems.

It seems to me that the slams are all about the sing-song delivery. Which works well with rhyme, but not other forms. I guess I ain't got that swing.



Do you have any new poems up k-dawg?

 

[karmadog]

Diane Sawyer? Is that you?

With poetry you're putting yourself out there a lot more. That's probably part of the reason you were nervous.

That poetry slam delivery is good and bad. Sometimes I think it just distracts from what might be a good work.

Years ago I saw the J Geils Band live. They had virtually no stage show. No fireworks, no inflatable devils, no half naked girls (other than a couple of girls who ran on stage), no nuttin'. But it was one of the best rock concerts I ever saw. What's wrong with just letting a poem speak for itself?

Me? New poems? No, I've been sparing the world from my ramblings. Been writing a lot more prose.

 

[Violette]

Fellow poets, I salute you!

Haven't done any slams yet, but I have enjoyed and participated in quite a few open mic nights (some with more erotic venues!) I'm guessing a poetry slam would have greater demands than that of an open mic. I'd like to be able to do thay myself; right now, I'm still feeling my way around certain stages to fine-tune my stage presence.

And Boot? Congratulations on having survived your slam!

 

[Angeline]

You Go Girl

and I've meaning meaning to tell you that from the day I saw this thread. (Not to mention that I really like your poems and your Tink AV.)

I have not been to a slam, so I may be speaking out of my hat, but my sense is that these things are less about poetry and more about performance. And hip-hop type perfrmance at that. I am not that generation, nor am I trying to do performance art. I'm just writing poems darnit. You sound the same (well, the just writing poems part), so I think it was very brave of you. I live close enough to NYC that I can almost always find a poetry reading (as opposed to a slam or open mic) to attend. I've wondered how alive they are outside the largest cities in the USA.

 

[Dirt Man]

Slamming in Baltimore, DC area

I took a fourth place at a live slam in DC once, and considered myself lucky as the judges are mostly comprised of illiterate members of the audience anyway, who may, or may not have their own priorities, but are nevertheless human at best. Not a true performer, I refuse to memorize my own verse, and thus I read from my own note books, and as this is also a visual thing I can hardly dance around the mic spouting inane platitudes for the banally impaired.

As Always
I Am the
Dirt Man