I’ve seen some impressive spoken word poets over the last 12 years. When you are a part of a weekly poetry open mic, it’s not surprising when powerful performances happen but such occurrences tend to be by chance. Yet, I’ve found that poets that slam are usually remarkable in their work because they tend to be in tuned with the audience. Being able to recite or spit from memory is good but having it resonate with the audience is better. Given that there is no shortage of slam venues in the city, why aren’t more St. Louis based poets slamming?
There are many reasons why slam has yet to take hold in St. Louis as in other cities, which I’ll explore at a later time. So that will have to remain an open question for now. This Friday at Legacy Books and Café Urb Poetry will host its first slam of the year. The will receive $100. Also featured this Friday is the art of Billy Williams. Doors open at 8:30 and its free until 9:30. Hopefully, we’ll see some poets perform in a game that requires multiple skill sets. Perhaps it will be the start of something. For now, check out the short video I found on the rules for slamming.
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