After all, a fundamental pillar of the culture is the idea that everyone has a story, and every story matters. People approach spoken word from all walks of life, from all identities, and from a myriad of approaches to the form. I would say that the culture is largely driven by young people, and young people of color especially, but it is by no means dominated by a singular voice.
This leads into the next point:. Another fundamental pillar of spoken word culture is the idea that poetry is for everyone. Anyone can be a poet. Anyone can serve as a judge at a slam.
What this means in practice is that no matter who you are, or how much experience or training you have, you can sign up at an open mic or poetry slam and share something. A lot of spoken word is pretty bad.
The spoken word community, however, is intentionally set up in such a way where the great and not-so-great exist in the same spaces. The spoken word community includes icons like Andrea Gibson and Saul Williams, right alongside some year-old kid performing at their very first open mic. A poetry slam is a poetry reading staged as an Olympic-style competition. Five judges are picked randomly from the crowd, poets perform, and the judges give those poets scores based on content, form, delivery, originality, or whatever they want.
Although the competitive element turns a lot of people off, I like poetry slams. I like the symbolism of them: write for the people.
Write something that connects. Have fun. I like that the judges are random weirdos and not creative writing professors or literary critics. Everything in points 4 and 5 comes alive at the poetry slam. That being said, it is important to note here that spoken word happens in other spaces too, and that a lot of the value of slam is that it is one outlet among many.
You can find spoken word at open mics, themed readings, political rallies, classrooms, social justice education programs, churches, punk shows, prisons, and many other spaces too. I would say that there is truth in both statements, but also that both statements make it easy to oversimplify the relationship. I think that hip hop and spoken word—as both art forms and cultures—have been in dialogue with one another for the past few decades, but also that neither one is wholly indebted to the other.
They overlap—in terms of audience, artists, roots, styles, and approaches—but they are also distinct cultures and communities. This comes up in conversations about form. Rapping rhymes. It is performed at a set tempo and rhythm. It is performed over music. Ask them what is clear and what is not. Choose themes and subjects that many people can relate to, like relationships, politics, religion, insecurity, family-social issues, etc.
Your poem should be clear and convey a message. Perform with rhythm and passion. Your poem should have a rhythm that shows through your passionate performance. A slam poem moves the audience through different moods. How the poem is performed is at least as important as the content if not more no pressure!
If performance isn't your strong suit, try out some of our tips for reading your poems out loud and get advice on stage fright from other slam poets. Practice with Power Poetry. Submit your Slam Poem in a multimedia form to Power Poetry.
You can also compete in any of the open online poetry slams on Power Poetry's site. A mic is also helpful but not necessary. Choose someone to be your MC and introduce each speaker. Have the MC use a sheet of paper as a sign-up sheet for people to write their names down on. If you are hosting the slam in a public venue, ask for some sign-ups in advance from people you know to get the slam started.
You may also want to preview poems before people start slamming. How do you choose what poems to read? Make sure the poems you pick feel good to say. Practice reading them aloud to smooth out any wrinkles. Also, choose a poem that you think really matters. If you had one message to share with the world, what would you want to say?
Find a poem that says that or write one yourself! As an audience member, make sure you show your appreciation for each speaker by clapping or snapping after their performance. Let your MC introduce the next speaker and have the MC wrap up the poetry slam at the end of the event.
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