Arbeitsblatt: Poetry slam

Poetry slam • Definition Poetry slam is competition at which poets read or recite original work. Their performances are then judged on numeric scale by the audience. „Poetry slam is the competitive art of performance poetry. Established in the mid-80s as means to heighten public interest in poetry readings, slam has evolved into an international art form emphasizing audience involvement and poetic excellence. (Marc Smith) • Topics and performance o o Political contents Social and economic issues Gendered injustices Racial issues The idea of poetry slam is not just to read poem, but also to perform it. There are many possibilities of voices (f.e. shouting, whispering, gasping), styles, cultural traditions and approaches to writing and performing the poems. Some poets prefer the rhythmic style of hip-hop music, others employ an unrhyming narrative formula, while some poets use theatric devices or recite poem in ironic monotone. • History November 1984: Marc Smith started the poetry slam at the Get Me High Lounge in Chicago. July 1986: The slam moved to its permanent Dublin home Green Mills Scots Club. 1990: First National Poetry Slam in Fort Mason (San Francisco). The participants were team from Chicago, team from San Francisco and an individual poet from New York. 2008: The National Poetry Slam features 80 certified teams each year and there are five days of competition. Furthermore slams have spread all over the world (f.e. in Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, India) • Competition There exist two possibilities to choose the participants of poetry slam: Open slam: The most common slam type, which is open to all who wish to compete. At the beginning of competition, there is sign-up list. Invitational slam: Only those who were invited can participate (Featured poets). English Presentation: Lyrics and poetry April 2010 • Rules The poems must be of each poets own construction. The poets are not allowed to use props, costumes and musical instruments. There is certain time limit and if poet goes over it, points are deducted from his score. • Performance rating In the USA, mostly they choose five members of the audience, who act as judges for the event. After performance, each judge awards score to the poem. Scores generally range rating between zero and thirty points. The judges have to look at content and style of each performance. In Germany exists also judgment which involves the whole audience, in order to democratically legitimate the winner. To cast ones vote, the audience keeps ballot papers or gives their rating in form of the applause. • Awards There are different kinds of awards to win, for example CD, books, T-Shirt, alcohol and sometimes also money. Information about poetry slam in Switzerland you can find on the following homepage: There you can find the dates of competitions, links to homepages of slammers and the most important locations of poetry slam. Exercise: Get together in pairs and create your own poem, which afterwards will be part of our poetry slam competition in class. You are free to choose topic and style, but you should also consider how to perform your text. If you cant think of any idea, here are some suggestions: Introduction of myself When was child If could fly Once upon time day that changed my life big mistake Sources: (19.4.2010) (19.4.2010) English Presentation: Lyrics and poetry April 2010