We’ve all had the pleasure of going to open mics and finding that Poet, that Artist who does more in their voice with their poetry rather than to simply use it to read monotone straight from the page it’s printed on. I’m talking about what you might define as the style of poetry writing called Slam Poetry. When it comes to this genre of writing, the idea of Slam Poetry is lost between gesturing hands and the way poetry should be experienced to its fullest; OUT LOUD! This is the problem, the style of “Slam Poetry” has been so defined as loud, exaggerated, pertaining mostly to urban or alternative Writers, overly expressive, that critics begin to call what these Artists are doing on stage is not poetry. What these viewers call poetry seems to get lost in the Artist’s performance. Some say that Slam doesn’t belong in the pages of a book let alone a literary journal or magazine. I think this is bullshit. Although there are sources that are geared toward “Slam Poetry”, from my perspective, there aren’t many. Though there are journals out there that are open to any genre it still seems very hard to find any “Slam Poetry” on their pages. Even books of Slam all seem to be anthologies that present themselves like a ledger of all of Poetry’s unwanted children. You might say, “Slam is meant to be heard out loud rather than read from a book or journal, Sam.” This is true, but as I said before, my belief along with armies of Writers agree that poetry is best heard verbally. Does this mean that one genre of writing should be exiled from the mass amount of literary sources that circulate the world? Hell no! Doesn’t the brilliance of these Artists deserve to be printed alongside other styles of works printed even though it might not be the “traditional” style of poetry writing? So, what do you think? What is your definition of Slam Poetry? Because I don’t believe it to be one description. Do you feel that “Slam Poetry” should be printed along with all other genres accepted wholly by sources either one way or the other, or do you think like the snooty editor who chooses what you want to read by saying that Slam Poetry is for the birds.
