Before it reinvented itself in slam, poetry was tired and increasingly out of touch. For as long as I can remember, poetry has been a stigmatized form of art, as it is too often bruised and wounded by critics who believe it to be more cryptic than liberating. For many people, the messages hidden within pieces of poetry are buried far too deeply beneath abstract images, which are communicated through even more abstract language; sometimes, the meaning even comes across as dated, to the point where its purpose dies when the context surrounding it is lost.
As a result, young people are increasingly unlikely to read the works of famous poets, such as Walt Whitman, Pablo Neruda or Sylvia Plath, because, as time proceeds, their ability to relate to the pieces wanes. Integral to this new approach is a greater acknowledgement of the performative element of poetry. Similar to the way the placement of words in a poem is important, in spoken word the way that the sentences are grammatically and visually structured, capitalized and punctuated are reflected in the way the poem is recited.
On the other hand, YouTube has made slam poetry more widely accessible and increased its popularity amongst those who are unable to or do not want to participate actively in the scene. Slam poetry oftentimes serves as a vessel by which which members of marginalized groups are able to celebrate their identities.
Many slam poets will write poems that specifically focus on their experiences as members of marginalized groups, whether those are groups of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, mental illness, etc.
Slam poetry is a space in which poets are able to celebrate the parts of themselves that hegemonic power structures seek to silence, repress, or discriminate against. Consequently, the majority of slam poetry is performed by people who fall outside the hegemony in one way or another. There is a widespread perception that slam poetry originated from hip-hop culture.
S lam poetry and hip-hop draw upon similar performance strategies and expressions of identity. Furthermore, in both scenes black voices are oftentimes expected to represent their entire communities. The commercialization of slam poetry is oftentimes claimed to directly follow from the success of commercialized hip-hop Somers-Willett Slam poetry started specifically for working class people.
Over time, that demographic, both of participants and audiences, has shifted to include a much wider range of class backgrounds. This is partially due to the commercialization of slam poetry, which entails the scene being marketed to a more affluent crowd. It is also due to the geographic proliferation of the scene, through which more people in general have gotten involved in the scene. Finally, the gentrification of many urban areas, especially in Chicago, has made the areas that foster slam poetry scenes more affluent.
Now, however, because slam poetry exists in gentrified areas, working class people are oftentimes excluded from a scene that was created for them.
This documentary focuses on eight poets, who speak about their experiences with poetry and the role it serves in politically tumultuous times. This piece is a response to the lack of intersectionality in queer spaces, and the experience of being a queer person of color. In this piece, Ronald Vinson responds to police brutality, and the lack of racial justice in the United States. Solli Raphael won his first poetry slam at age twelve in Australia, and this is his TEDx performance the following year, serving as one of many examples of slam poetry existing outside its typical demographic of young adults in the United States.
In this piece George Watsky, who is now a hugely successful rapper, reclaims the narrative about his lisp. In this piece, Sabrina Benaim speaks about her experiences with mental illness. The narrative is structured as an address to her mother.
Hoffman, Tyler. University of Michigan Press, Somers-Willett is a decade-long veteran of slam and teaches creative writing and poetics as an Assistant Professor of English at Montclair State University. She is the author of two books of poetry, Quiver and Roam. The book is scholarly, but its interdisciplinary approach makes it appropriate for non-specialists and undergraduate students alike. I will definitely be assigning portions of this work the next time I teach slam poetry If Somers-Willett is right about the important cultural stakes of this poetry—and I wholeheartedly believe that she is—then literary scholars need to begin addressing these and other difficult questions.
We need to bring slam poetry into our classrooms, our critical studies, and, ultimately, our canons. In this way, the book represents a significant contribution to work on the politics of reception and performance. Somers-Willett offers both insight into slam poetry method and culture and a respectful yet critical analysis of the functions of slam poetry in the performance, commercial, and sociopolitical arenas.
Read: Article on Rattle. In we introduced the first ever performance poetry module in the UK. One of my students, Kate Jeanes, credits performance poetry for helping her cope with her extreme anxiety disorder. There are other great examples of this. The spoken word educators — a group of established performance poets — have been running the programme across six London schools for three years.
Increased confidence has been noted as one of the key changes among participants.
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