Poetry Slams

One of the most vital and energetic movements in poetry during the 1990s, slam has revitalized interest in poetry in performance.  This interest was reborn through the rise of poetry slams across America; while many poets in academia found fault with the movement, slam was well received among young poets and poets of diverse backgrounds as a democratizing force.  This generation of spoken word poetry is often highly politicized, drawing upon racial, economic, and gender injustices as well as current events for subject manner.

A slam itself is simply a poetry competition in which poets perform original work alone or in teams before an audience, which serves as judge.  The work is judged as much on the manner and enthusiasm of its performance as its content or style.  The structure of the traditional slam was started by construction worker and poet Marc Smith in 1986 at a reading series in a Chicago jazz club.  The competition quickly spread across the country, finding a notable home in New York City at the Nuyorican Poets Café.

As of 2010, the National Poetry Slam has grown and currently features approximately 80 certified teams each year, culminating in five days of competition.  Slams have spread all over the world, with slam scenes in Canada, Germany, Sweden, France, Austria, Israel, Switzerland, Nepal, the Netherlands, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the Czech Republic, Sarajevo, Bosnia, Denmark, South Korea, India and Greece.