To SLAM to DUNK perchance to RHYME;
National Poetry Slam, 200 poets hope to find their muse in Austin
by Shilanda L. Woolridge, 08-13-1998

The ninth annual National Poetry Slam -- staged at eight venues throughout Austin, from Wednesday through Aug. 22 -- is being touted as the nation's largest competitive gathering of poets. In all, more than 200 poets (45 teams and 15 individuals, from the United States, Canada and Sweden) will be competing for almost $4,500 in prize money, with a grand prize of $2,000 for the best team and $500 for the top individual performer. But wait . . . before you envision dozens of people wandering through downtown warbling lines from ``Leaves of Grass,'' understand that there's a big difference between a poetry slam and an open-mic reading.

The Poetry Slam originated in the mid-1980s, when a Chicago poet named Marc Smith came up with the idea of a poetry competition to entertain the Sunday regulars at a bar named the Green Mill. To push it a little further, judges were chosen at random from the audience to ``score'' the poems. Several years and evolutions later, the phenomenon has caught on nationwide. Phil West, one of the coordinators for the Austin National Poetry Slams, says, ``I think it's more exciting than a traditional poetry reading because there's the competitive aspect and you see people trying to top one another. At an open mic reading, there's no real pressure to do that; essentially, it's poetry reading for other poets."

Fellow Austin National Slams coordinator Mike Henry concurs. "What poetry is about is people,'' he says. ``The slams have put the voice back into the audience and in the hands of the people. You don't need a Ph.D to know if a poem is good to you, or if it works for you, or if it makes you cry, laugh or think. It doesn't take anything, just being there.''

A poetry slam is like a lyrical boxing match that pits poets against other poets in a bout. During a nationals bout, there will be three teams of four poets as well as an individual poet taking turns performing their work. The teams can choose to perform a group piece during a member's slot, or that person can perform alone. Poets who perform alone have the opportunity to advance to the individual finals even if their team doesn't make it as a unit. Consequently, strategy comes into play when team members decide whose slot will be sacrificed for a group performance that may earn the entire team points. Five people randomly chosen from the audience before the bout will give each poem a score from 0.0 to 10.0, with 10 being the highest. The high and the low scores are dropped, and the three remaining scores are added. Each poet has a time limit of three minutes, with a 10- second grace period. After the grace period is passed, points will be deducted from the poet's final score.

Unlike theater or music performance, the poetry slam is a pared- down event because poets aren't permitted to use props, costumes or music. Yet the slams are able to offer the audience more. ``I think the poetry slam is the cream of performance in America. It's the mainline; there's no music, no instruments, no band,'' says Henry. ``There's just one person and a microphone. It's just an expression of creativity straight to the vein."

Poetry slamming and spoken word are on the rise. As a result, new slam communities are forming from coast to coast. The 1994 Lollapalooza alternative rock tour and the South by Southwest music festival had spoken-word shows. Record labels completely devoted to spoken word, such as Mouth Almighty, have provided national exposure to these forms. Local slam artist and musician Wammo has an album titled ``Fat Headed Stranger'' on Mouth Almighty , as does spoken-word artist Michelle Serros, who visited Austin recently to perform from her collection of poems titled ``Chicana Falsa.'' Building on the momentum are two films about poetry slamming: ``Slam Nation,'' a full-length documentary about the ' 96 nationals in Portland, Ore., and ``Slam,'' a film about an incarcerated poet who finds himself through a self-expression class. Both films will be shown during the nationals.

Though there's an immense amount of excitement surrounding poetry slams, not all poets share it. Local poet and writer Rudolph Malveaux says, ``I don't think that poetry should be a competition. It's an exchange of ideas and expression. When you start competing, it's more about one-up manship. The whole idea of the poetry slam is people trying to stroke each other's egos and saying something flippantly to meter. What works in slams is patently emotional and reactionary, and (it's) based on whether or not the people you're speaking to happen to agree with you. Also, there's politics that come with poetry slam cliques. If you don't know anybody, then you're nobody when you come to their venue."

Henry, however, has a different take on the competitive nature of the slams. ``It's about everybody driving each other to see who can do the best work,'' he says. ``It makes you a better performer, a better writer.'' Adds West: ``We've grown to love and admire poets who kick the snot out of us in competitions.''

Though Austin is becoming an ever-so-popular spot for eclectic festivals, it may be awhile before it sees the National Poetry Slam again. The rising popularity of spoken word has other cities vying for the nationals well into the millennium. Next year's competition will be in Chicago, while Providence, R.I., and San Francisco are vying for 2000, and Seattle is calling dibs on 2001.

Austin is considered a friendly slam site because of it s many venues and an open appreciation for live performance. Plus Austin's own slam team made a name for itself in the ' 95 and ' 96 nationals. This year's team of Susan Somers-Willet, Genevieve Van Cleve, Karyna McGlynn and Ernie Cline will be battling on home turf to claim a spot in the Aug. 22 finals at the Paramount Theatre.