“You will not find poetry anywhere unless you bring some of it with you.” — Joseph Joubert, 1754-1824
Come join one of my favorite independent book stores, Books and Crannies on July 10th from 6-8pm for a Poetry Slam. And you say what is a poetry slam? It is the competitive art of performance poetry, oh yes performance poetry! You will need to bring your original poetry to the slam, but you will also be expected to perform these poems in front of the audience and judges. The folks at Books and Crannies believe that everyone has a poet inside him or her, and it is just waiting for the chance to be heard. This is your chance. Poetry slams are very different from poetry readings. In a slam, poets are not just reading their work while the audience listens politely, they are performing that work with the intent of entertaining, involving and sometimes even infuriating the audience, this could be really good!
Participation is open to everyone and there is no fee to participate. The poets are put into categories: ages 8-12, 13-18, 19 and older. All the Poets will have an opportunity to read in the first round, the lineup for later rounds will be determined by the judges’ scores. You should have at least three poems, so that you have material to carry you into later rounds. Participants are encouraged to practice, practice, and practice before coming to the slam the better the performer, the more fun for everyone.
There are some basic rules:
* Each poem must be of the poet’s own construction;
* Each poet gets three minutes (plus a 10-second grace period) to read one poem. If the poet goes over the allotted time, the judges must deduct points from the total score;
* The poet may not use props, costumes or musical instruments;
* Depending on how many judges we have, the high and low scores are dropped and the middle scores are added together, giving the poet a single, total score. The scoring basis is 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest score a judge can give. Our judges are volunteers from among our many wonderful and talented local authors.
Call or email to register for the slam genie@booksandcrannies.com, or Laura at 540-687-6677
Support your local independent book stores and join in some of these events, just come to watch, or perform. Our independent bookstores are special and we need to support them in every way possible.
For some tips on Poetry Slams or if you want to see how the best of the best poetry slammers do it, check out some videos on YouTube.com, search for Maya del Valle at the White House Poetry Jam.