Poetry Slam: The Competitive Art of Performance Poetry

Rating:
Summary: Romanticizes While It Educates
Review: "Poetry Slam" by Gary Mex Glazner is part-anthology, part-history, part-description of slams, slam poets, and slam poetry. It romanticizes the image and description, but excels as a history. As an anthology, it has much room for improvement, but this could be a result of the limits of performance poetry.

Kerouac's ghost must wonder at how formulaic slam poetry has become. From the aggressive, ideological depth of Ginsberg and Burroughs, we now have the regurgitated flavors of Whitman-wannabes evoked pretentiously in the pop-soliloquys now barraging modern poetry readings. Yet, the slam has introduced thousands of young poets that poetry is worth their time. Glazner demonstrates this inconsistency, but not intentionally as we see the up and down quality of the poetry samples he provides.

An excellent part of the book is the description of poetry slam rules, distinguishing local and national rules, and how this form is meant as an oral art form, not a written one. This is the challenge faced by every slam poetry book: how to present it. Some poems here make the transition, and there a few gems worth a read. Marc Smith, founder of the slam, has "My Father's Coat." An interesting poem called "Ali" by Michael R. Brown. opens with the compelling "Five inches shorter than his fighting height" shows some fine imagery and intriguing approaches to poetry meeting culture.

For a deeper look at Beat literature, see the "Beat Reader," or for poetry only, "Beat Poets" edited by Carmela Ciuraru. "Poetry Slam" is a good start, but these books will provide better examples of the style and quality slam poets esteem to reach.

Anthony Trendl

Rating:
Summary: Solid collection lacking a full historical perspective
Review: 3.5 stars, really. This anthology is a solid collection representing a wide range of voices STILL involved in the National Poetry Slam scene. Unfortunately, many voices are left out precisely because they are no longer involved in the scene which weakens the collection's importance as an historical document. Nevertheless, the poetry selected, along with the mixed bag of essays, makes this an invaluable supplement to ALOUD, still the king of "poetry slam" anthologies.

Rating:
Summary: Solid collection lacking a full historical perspective
Review: 3.5 stars, really. This anthology is a solid collection representing a wide range of voices STILL involved in the National Poetry Slam scene. Unfortunately, many voices are left out precisely because they are no longer involved in the scene which weakens the collection's importance as an historical document. Nevertheless, the poetry selected, along with the mixed bag of essays, makes this an invaluable supplement to ALOUD, still the king of "poetry slam" anthologies.

Rating:
Summary: Better than Good
Review: Gary Glazner has accomplished something unprecedented with this collection -- he has produced the first national-level anthology archiving the Poetry Slam as its own form, in a book by, for, and about the participants. As such, it has many of the aspects of Slam itself. The voices in both the poetry and the accompanying essays are diverse and passionate, representing all ages, races, genders and geography that this Poetry Nation has to offer. For anyone interested in learning more or starting their own Poetry Slam, this is a terrific jumpstart, as well as a great collection of favorites for poets and audience members.

Rating:
Summary: JIGGA WHAT?! GIMME SOME MO'
Review: i like totally hated this book. it was so wack to the mostest. really, just lame-o spazmodica. and furthermore, i know 98 percent of the people in this book personally. they're real square wizzies. a big bunch if icky-poo momo's. their work is so fake. it's not even them. half of the people writing female poetry are men. half of the men writing female poetry are fat. half of the young people writing old poetry are dead. half of the dead people writing new poetry are zombies. like, real zombies. don't buy this. but i did love beau sia's stuff for some random reason. like love as in marriage. so do buy this. he gets tons of profits from it. but don't tell the other poets. cuz they don't. it's all top secret. like spies.

Rating:
Summary: A Poetry Slam At Home!
Review: If you've never been to a poetry slam and wonder what all the fuss is about then check out this book! The poetry is great and really strong, the reader can almost hear the voices coming off the page - and the book has essays too which explain the rules and the history and how to start a slam, and travel stories and weird esoteric strategies. This book has a lot in it, not just poems. If you're a poetry slam expert, well then you should write your own book, but if you're like me (just an average poetry-lovin', book-readin' kinda gal) there's stuff in here that's great. Highly recommended!!! PS - I love the cover, too!

Rating:
Summary: Bells & whistles, but no bang!
Review: OK, OK, poetry may be said to *start* on the page, but you'd never know it from this book. For the beginner, these pages will seem gobbledygook. You'll miss the point; like reading a menu instead of eating the meal. Lacking a CD, the book suffers - ergo, the poets & poetry suffers, too. These poems were meant to be *performed*, not read, & not even being read aloud helps. There's perhaps a too-subtle difference between poetry and the performance arts for most people, but it's there nonetheless. Poetry is based on the sounds it makes, and the rhythms, and yes, the shades of meaning and feeling, but that's like saying a script is a poem. Are these arguments for academics? Is this the kind of divisiveness that, for many, killed poetry in high school? You gte to decide. But if, after reading this book you're left with that achy old feeling of "Is that all there is?", then don't be surprised. It's like you asked a goose to honk like a truck; it's like you asked morning to break like glass; it's like you expected sweet romance & got the Pillsbury doughboy. You missed the (crucial) point. The book's mostly performance art, not necessarily poetry. Like describing chocolate. ("It's brown and tastes good." What else does that?) What's poetry? "If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know *that* is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know *that* is poetry." - Emily Dickinson. Very little in this book even moved me.

Rating:
Summary: A good breaking-in for first time readers
Review: One of the most accesible books around for anyone even remotely interested in poetry. If you've never been to an open mic or a slam, give this one a whirl...it'll make you want to go (and maybe even slip a poem in your pocket before you lock the door). If you've been to an open mic and wondered what else was out there that was like what you just saw, this book captures a great many of those elements for you.

Not just a book of poems, throughout the work are placed a great many essays written by long-time, well-known National slam poets (Taylor Mali, Danny Solis, etc.) about nearly every aspect of reading and performing one's work...a long-overdue codification of information for performing poets at ANY level.

Some of the poems contained within are national favorites, a few legend, but they ALL contain a lesson about performance poetry: that it starts on the page.

A MUST have for any poet who is (or is considering) performing their poetry before audiences in any capacity. A necessary bit of packing for any poet with national aspirations of slamming, touring or just reading.

Rating:
Summary: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the Slam
Review: Poetry Slam: The Competitive Art of Performance Poetry Edited by Gary Mex Glazner Maniac D Press

Poetry Slam is a collage of poems and essays from the contemporary poets of the Slam scene. This book fills a void in the Slam, the print edition of several top-rate performance poems. Among the best poems this anthology has to offer are Reggie Gibson (Chicago) Eulogy of Jimi Christ, Roger-Bonair-Agard (New York/Trinidad) ...Naming and Other Christian Things, and Lisa Buscani (Boston) Barefoot in the City. All three poems make the transformation from stage to page successfully. Likewise, funnier pieces by Beau Sia and Big Poppa E are very entertaining. And a rare treasure can be found in Dan Ferri's Head to Head Haiku. What was disappointing, however, was an area that should have been a strength, the essays. Editor Glazner has done a decent job collecting pieces (although the oversight of a Slam memoir by founder Marc Smith is glaringly absent) but his overall editing and his own written piece is lacking. His introduction essay discounts the true upbringings of the poetry Slam, it doesn't answer why the Slam was started. Instead, it offers a sophomoric attempt to create lineage with "accepted" literary devices of the Western literary cannon, the very thing that the Slam rebelled against to begin. And the connections to "Howl" poet Allen Ginsberg, a now dead member of the 1950's Beat Generation? Get over it! Ginsberg is not Slam, Slam is not Beat, and Beat is not Slam! The attempts to connect Jack Kerouac's Beat Generation and Marc Smith's Slam Poetry world are little more than media fodder. So please, stop with the Ginsberg name-dropping! Also, essays by Beth Lisick and Genevieve Cleve play more to the sensibilities of rock-n-roll roadies than poets interested with the written word and audience participation. "Look at me, I'm a wannbe rock star," doesn't translate well to a Slam audience that is supposed to be more interested in community than self-interest. And Jeffery McDaniel's essay reads as an attempt to have academia believe that the Slam writers are valid; name dropping Pulitzer Prize poets, Yale anthologies, and other non-Slam conventions. It is true that the Slam is not isolated, but there is currently so much going on in the Slam that that should be the focus, not second rate proposals toward accreditation. The best non-poetry piece in the anthology comes from former West Side Chicago student, writer and poet Patricia Smith. Her essay on Persona Poems can easily make it into any high school/university writing class as both an exercise and a writing point of departure. This along with the round-table discussion on group poetry pieces make up some ground for the other essays. Despite some very obvious weaknesses (and an incredibly ugly cover) the anthology is a must buy for anyone interested in the Slam world. It is incomplete, and in some places anti-Slam, but that in-itself is a glimpse into the grass-roots phenomenon of the Slam Poetry world created by Chicago's Marc Smith. Overall, this collection allows the reader to view the good, the bad and the ugly of the Slam, and in that, it is complete.

Rating:
Summary: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Poetry Slam..part two
Review: Sour grapes are nothing new to the National Poetry Slam. Take Mark Eleveld's review, for example. He doesn't identify himself as one of the organizers of the 1999 National Poetry Slam in Chicago while lambasting this book, making one wonder if the omission was intentional.

I love the Slam anthology. Before that, the only thing closest representing the national slam scene was Revival: Spoken Word from Lollapalooza which I edited five years ago. (Oh! And published by Manic D Press! Tell me, Mr. Eleveld, what have YOU contributed towards documenting this spoken word movement? When is your anthology coming out? Those who can't do...become critics. And don't get me started on your sense of aesthetic or the lack of it- the cover is quite lovely despite your opinion.)

Already, gentle Amazon.com reader, you are getting pulled into the controversy that surrounds the poetry slam by its very nature. There are folks who love the national scene for its sense of community, others thrive on the competitive aspects of performance poetry. I recommend you buy the book. It gives an accurate glean of the workings of slam poetry and its politic, even if you don't always agree with it. Some of my favorite poems in the book were by Gayle Danley ('94 Indy Champ from Maryland), Justin Chin (Team San Francisco '95) and Jack McCarthy (still slamming in New England). And Sou McMillian (Worchester), Jeff McDaniel (L.A.), Ellyn Maybe (L.A.), Hal Sirowitz (NYC) and Matthew John Conley (Minneapolis)! And Sheila Donohue (Chicago), Patricia Johnson (Roanoke), Jerry Quickley (L.A.)and Mack Dennis (Oakland)! Okay, let's face it, I know most of the poets in this book and love their work. They are among the most exciting people in the world of contemporary poetry today, the reason I return to the national slam scene year after year.

For the record, I am proud to be one of the main organizers of the National Poetry Slam in Austin in 1998.