Wham! Bam! Slam... Poetry

Warning: major fangirling ahead. Reader discretion is advised.

I can't even count how
 many times I've watched that movie anymore.
Courtesy of austinally.wikia

 

I really love poetry. I mean I have an entire board dedicated to it on Pinterest, it's maybe a third of what I post on Tumblr, and practically everything that fills all my journals. You think I'm kidding, but I have at least eight journals that I can just pick up and start writing things in for any situation.

If you're wondering, yes that is a cowgirl riding a pony on the American flag.
My childhood was memorable. Not to mention I can't even unlock that journal.

 

Now if I'm going to be all informational and maybe a bit educational I have to throw in a definition here and there because you all probably know that...

 

po·et·ry

ˈpōətrē,ˈpōitrē :" literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm; poems collectively or as a genre of literature."

 

 

Because who doesn't know the sophisticated and wordy definitions like Google off the top of a hat! How many of you know what slam poetry is though? You may have heard of it here and there, seen a few videos like the ones below, but what is it really?

Slam poetry in my definition, which I promise doesn't compare to that of Webster or Google is a performance art of poetry in which the participants recite a work as individuals or groups for three minutes and are judged according to performance and material in rounds in the hopes of winning often a cash prize. That was wordier than I expected, but it's not as bad as the Google result so take that!

I mean look at this gargantuan of a definition:

"Slam poetry is a form of competitive performance poetry in which participants offer works no longer than three minutes and are judged by (1 )randomly picked audience members. The winners then progress to higher rounds with new pieces, and the poet with the highest score in the finals wins a cash prize."

See what I mean? Okay, now that we've got that settled onto the good stuff.

When I was little and even now, I tend to be a bit of a romantic. You can check my Netflix history and minus a few shows here and there it's mainly rom-coms. The Switch? Yep. 27 Dresses? Been there, seen that. So it's no surprise to me, nor will it be to you that more than half of my poems growing up were about love.


Add some brown hair and a pencil and paper and you got Lil' Grace in a nutshell.
Courtesy of mashable

Slam though, is a whole different world of poetry. I mean, yes there are a lot of poems about romance but this is the big leagues of "does he like me, does he not". We're talking cash prizes y'all. Just kidding, it's not all about the money.

Here's a few great examples if you have the time to watch (pleaseeee):

 

 

Yes I threw in some Watsky who if you don't know is a fantastic spoken word poet, slam poet, and performer.

 

 

Now I'm sitting with less than 48 hours to my first competition with one half finished piece, over 250 pieces to search through, and only an idea of what my second poem will be. Oh yeah, did I mention that in most slams you have to have at least two poems prepared for the second (and possibly third) round?



I'm not worried I promise.

Okay guys, I reeeeeally have procrastinated and oh you will find out if I do get on the YTU Slam Poetry Team, but for now all I have are a few (half-finished) poems that need more work than I could imagine.

 

 

*snap* *snap*

 

 

Grace out