Bukowski and Slam Poetry
- Thread starter plasteredpoet
- Start date
Black Swan
Abord the Yorikke!
There is nothing wrong with slam.Nothing new there, just a new term.
Wether, it is a poetry night, a painting night, a combination of both or a music jam session, all the same. If you create something you want feedback.
It is a social thing for artists. It is worth what it is worth, it is entertaining.I see it like a comedy night. Some very witty stuff comes out of it, a lot of shit as well but it is mainly a social gathering, a challenge for artists, like rap, a flame thrower, a go at communicating with spectators, a thrill.
I think it is great. Is it art? sure. It is not the first time that things like that take place. In the seventies, it was part of bringing art to the streets for the common people and out of museums, out of libraries. Painting the sidewalks, a happening! Even in the sixties, poetry was being read out loud in cafés , bars, on street corners. What is is worth? who cares, it is about expression, whether you are doing it in a studio, a room, or on stage. Whatever gets you through the night is alright.You do not have to bleed yourself in public, it is all about being alive and sharing it.
Wether, it is a poetry night, a painting night, a combination of both or a music jam session, all the same. If you create something you want feedback.
It is a social thing for artists. It is worth what it is worth, it is entertaining.I see it like a comedy night. Some very witty stuff comes out of it, a lot of shit as well but it is mainly a social gathering, a challenge for artists, like rap, a flame thrower, a go at communicating with spectators, a thrill.
I think it is great. Is it art? sure. It is not the first time that things like that take place. In the seventies, it was part of bringing art to the streets for the common people and out of museums, out of libraries. Painting the sidewalks, a happening! Even in the sixties, poetry was being read out loud in cafés , bars, on street corners. What is is worth? who cares, it is about expression, whether you are doing it in a studio, a room, or on stage. Whatever gets you through the night is alright.You do not have to bleed yourself in public, it is all about being alive and sharing it.
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For what its worth (which may not be much since most people on this thread seem to have made up their minds) A) Slam poetry started with an intentional justice/agenda bent. Its highly idealistic. You can watch Marc Kelly Smith (the founder of the NPS) discuss that in in Ted talk. But B) It doesn't all have to be. I am a slam poet, and my favourite piece I've ever written is a self-portrait poem I wrote when I was 22. I am a straight white female, the poem did nothing but describe me to the audience, and it was incredibly well received. No agenda. No raging against society. Just an attempt to allow the audience to know me. The guys who host the night I regularly attend perform pieces on Shakespeare and hip-hop, or cooking a meal for the women they love. Its not all angry prophets shaking fists at the sky.
I've been waiting for 8 years for someone to stand up for slam.
Do you know anybody who can fix my Betamax?
Do you know anybody who can fix my Betamax?
mjp
Founding member
I don't think that was anyone's criticism of it.
The problem with "slam" (it's seriously still a thing?) poetry is it's a tight pigeonhole. It's a rigid style that few performers deviate from. So if you don't like that style - that beaten-to-death cadence, that rushed delivery - you don't like slam poetry. There's no option. There's no variety. Take it or leave it.
When you create a take-it-or-leave-it scenario, you can't be upset that a lot of people choose to leave it.
Its definitely still a thing lol. I go once a month.
There's a ton of variety. The people who say there isn't must not have experienced much.
I'm not upset that people "choose to leave it". I'd just like to hear a good reason why. And I haven't yet. I hear a lot of "its all the same thing over and over" - and while it may have homogenized some, there are still plenty of different styles. My original post was responding to the very first post in this thread but that person was saying that if you're not a POC or LGBTQ or angry at society as a whole that there is no room for you in slam. Which isn't true. That's why I made the comment i did which, this far down, is highly out of place. I commented in the wrong spot.
There's a ton of variety. The people who say there isn't must not have experienced much.
I'm not upset that people "choose to leave it". I'd just like to hear a good reason why. And I haven't yet. I hear a lot of "its all the same thing over and over" - and while it may have homogenized some, there are still plenty of different styles. My original post was responding to the very first post in this thread but that person was saying that if you're not a POC or LGBTQ or angry at society as a whole that there is no room for you in slam. Which isn't true. That's why I made the comment i did which, this far down, is highly out of place. I commented in the wrong spot.
Pogue Mahone
Officials say drugs may have played a part
I think you summarized this very well and I commend you for it. The problem is that I disagree with you about it not being true. If slam exists today, I have to assume I would have to listen to endless Black Lives Matter poems. And I just don't want to be lectured that way -- especially because most of the poems would suck. If I could go to an event where I would hear an angry poem half as good as Howl, I might go back. That is an angry poem that truly worked -- and I am not a Ginsberg or Beat fan. The thing is, that poem is not a lecture. It's a statement.
mjp
Founding member
She says, and then immediately posts a video with a young poet using the very same delivery as a million (or two) other young poets...
Skygazer
And in the end...
If you can't be highly idealistic when you're 22, when can you be?:) I don't know that much about Slam Poetry and I'm way out of every loop. But last year I read about the work of Kate Tempest, an english playwright/poet and had a listen and a read.Her work is available in book form and Audio.The very thing I admire about her (apart from the great poetry) is her passion and fire. She has a new one this year called Let Them Eat Chaos.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...racklist-europe-is-lost-uk-tour-a7193376.html
This one, Progress is from the collection called Hold Your Own.
Getting back to the original poster in 2008: I'm of the stance that any artist that deviates from the norm needs a stern flogging. Degenerate art degrades the nation and her race.
This Kate Tempest is a bard. I'll have a lookee around for her work.
You really oughta try going to one again. Are there a decent amount of political poems? Sure. But again, there are so many other things. I laugh at slams (out of enjoyment of the pieces being performed, not derision) more than anything else.
mjp
Founding member
Kind of like when someone tells you, "Oh, I hate football," and you say, "Wait though, you have to see this football team!"