Poetry at 8 with Special feature Ill Chemistry

What is Poetry Slam?

 

‘Poetry Slam’ is the competitive art of performance poetry

- and a really good time -

 

Up to ten poets perform in a randomly selected order. Five judges, randomly selected from the audience, score each poem (based on writing and performance) from 0.0 to 10.0. The highest scoring poets move on to the next round/s. The 1st – 3rd place winners win cash prizes.

 

The rules are as follows:

    * Each poem must be of the poet's own construction;
    * Each poet gets three minutes (plus a ten-second grace period) to read one poem, if the poet goes over, points will be deducted from the total score;
    * The poet may not use props, costumes, or musical instruments;
    * Of the scores the poet received from the five judges, the high and low scores are dropped, and the middle three are added together, giving the poet a total score of 0-30.

Poetry Slam was started in 1986 by a Chicago construction worker named Mark Smith. Slam has grown steadily and is now a worldwide phenomenon,

with major Slams occurring in hundreds of venues on five continents.

 

Slam has been the subject of numerous documentaries and movies, spawned HBO’s ‘Def Poetry Jam’ and is responsible for starting the careers of such stars as Sage Francis, Saul Williams, Desdamona and many more.

 

Visit the official PSI website at www.poetryslam.com for more info.