Slam Poetry

Author: Hannah Hall, Challenge America Program Coordinator

In honor of our Military Sisterhood Initiative monthly theme of “Poetry for the Soul,” today’s post is going to talk about Slam Poetry. 

Slam Poetry is a form of spoken poetry that combines the performance and written aspects of poetry. Slam poetry often involves competition or audience participation. The term “slam” came from the energy that is brought to the performance when delivering slam poetry. Oftentimes, poets perform with much gusto, high energy and power. 

The term originated in the 1980s by a construction worker, Marc Kelly Smith, who felt that spoken poetry had lost its true passion. He started a weekly poetry slam where poets would perform  and the audience would rate them and then there was a winner each night. 

The start of Marc’s poetry night’s sparked a poetry movement not only in the United States but other countries as well. The National Poetry Slam is a five day event where slam poets from all over the United States and Canada come together and compete with their slam poetry. 

I would like to feature a slam poem that I found recently.

Please note that this poem touches on ideas of suicide, sexual assault and military trauma. Be advised when listening.