SLAM - Explosive Growth in Performance Poetry

In one year in the 1920's there were only 15 public poetry readings in the whole of the US and 12 of them were by Robert Frost! I would say today that they would number in the tens of thousands. In the 1920's and before that the reading of poetry meant just that - you read the written poem but performance was not expected. Frost had a strong interest in sounds and sound poetry so he was willing to do live performances of his poetry.

In the last 10 years we have seen a tremendous democratization of poetry with a move away from the universities and into the libraries, coffee houses and bars with slam poetry and well attended meetings where poetry gains its voice.

This is a welcome trend and it has liberated poetry from formalism and placed it within the public eye (where it began and belongs).

Performance poetry continues the storytelling tradition of our earliest forbears who lived and declaimed in a pre-literate society.

Long live public poetry!

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Attention Rebel Poets: George Elliot Clarke on Spoken versus Written Poetry

What the Spoken Word poet knows that the page-poet has forgotten is, POETRY is meant to be performed. In the Western tradition, it descends from Ancient Greek performances of sagas and plays. EVEN IF a Spoken Word poem LOOKS simple–TOO simple–the only way to know its real power is to read it aloud, for oneself. Eliot said, “No verse is ‘free’ for a poet who wants to do a good job.” I say, “No poem is ‘good’ UNLESS it can be read aloud.” - toronto poet laureate george elliot clarke

This quote sums up why spoken poetry is so powerful and often threatening to academic poets. There is a raw edge to performed poetry - a theatrical component that doesn't sit well with the aridity and extreme objectivity of the academically trained and lauded poet.

The interview that this quote comes from can be accessed here:

It is a thought provoking discussion, suitable reading for any outlaw poets out there...
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