Hundreds of poets to slam Seattle: Sonnets and rhymes will fly at 12th national contest
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Heads bopped, feet tapped and hollers of "Oh yeah" and "You go" echoed throughout the rehearsal.
Slam poetry.
It's not the kind of poetry you read over a cup of tea — rather it's relayed through gestures, actions and, most importantly, rhythm.
More than 500 slam poets from 56 cities will converge on Seattle on Tuesday for the National Poetry Slam 2001 — the 12th annual World Series of slam poetry. Poets will be riffing sonnets and rhymes at a smattering of Seattle's bars and cafes during the week, vying to make it into one of the four team and six individual slots at the finals Aug. 4 at the Paramount Theatre.
"It definitely differs from a standard academic reading. You'll typically find more rhythm, more expressive delivery, more creative delivery," said Paula Friedrich of Seattle, co-director of the National Poetry Slam 2001.
"There's a different intention in mind. It's how alive that poem can be."
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While the competition is the focus of the slam, workshops titled "Erotic Poetry Showcase," "Finding Your Muse" and "Hip-hop Showcase" are also scheduled, as is a 24-hour, four-day poetry marathon running throughout the slam.
Friedrich, who was on Seattle's first slam team in 1993, now coaches the four-member Team Seattle, which was selected during the Seattle Poetry Festival in May.
"What's kept me in it is the huge community that's developed around this activity, called the Slam Family," said Friedrich, noting the organizations, Internet chat rooms and a national network that have rallied around the art form.
Born out of Chicago construction worker Marc Smith's frustration with the white-collar poetry of academia more than 15 years ago, slam poetry is the grass-roots poetry of the people, said the members of this year's Seattle team.
"Pause. Bam, bam, bam," Friedrich coached them during a rehearsal this week.
"Poetry has been closed off to a small group of people in the academic world," said Jason Carney, 31, a member of Team Seattle along with Laura "Piece" Kelley, Mikael Moore and Shawn Vines. "Now, anybody that wants to get up can come together and learn."
It's poetry for the masses — a place where anyone can walk in, stand up and speak their mind, they say.
The rules are only that slam poets present original works for three minutes or less without music or props.
To win a slam, they must engage the audience so well that five audience members, chosen at random, score them ahead of the competition.
"It's making your reality tangible to people," said Kelley, 24, a local hip-hop artist who teaches creative writing to teenagers and has been slamming poetry since she was 16. "But I'm not going there just to be heard; I'm being touched, too."
Inspired by the political and social issues he's witnessed on the street and in the community, Moore began slamming a year ago and has been a regular at the Wednesday-night Seattle Poetry Slam at Sit & Spin ever since. The weekly slam draws an average of 100 people each week.
"It's the forum. I have three minutes to say everything I want to say about everything that's going on in the city, the country," said Moore, 23, a junior at Morehouse College in Atlanta.
"It's a way of processing the things going on in the world."
For the normally shy and withdrawn Vines, slamming has brought an outlet of expression.
"The stuff I say on stage, I can't say in conversation, in real life," said the 30-year-old, who is a service-learning coordinator at Franklin High School for the nonprofit Alliance for Education. "The writing part hurts, the performing part heals. It brings people out of their shells."
But it isn't anything new. Slam poetry is going back to the roots of storytelling.
"It was spoken before it was written," Vines said.
And the members of Team Seattle consider themselves first and foremost writers.
"It's been really about writing," said Moore. "Slamming is just another way to get what you have to say out there."
Gina Kim can be reached at 206-464-2761 or gkim@seattletimes.com.