Thursday Book Club: Albuquerque’s Slam Poet Laureate to be given trial by fire
For the first time in history (well, that we know of anyway), a city will designate a Slam Poet Laureate. Not only is the position new in that it differentiates slam poetry from traditional poetry (slam being performance-based, traditional being more inclined to be created and appreciated on a page), but the designation of said SPL is unique: The SPL will be determined by a panel of judges in a knock-down, drag-out competition.
Slam poetry is usually performed in a competitive nature, so it’s fitting that 20 poets will be narrowed down in two rounds, leaving 10 finalists to compete for the title on June 13 (event details can be found at the very bottom of this post). Not only does the creation of this position speak to a modern objective – us crazy kids and our hippity-hop music – but it opens up a venue for dialogue about choosing who represents us and why, and what that representation does for the image of a city and its population.
That being said, I have a confession to make: I’m a bit notorious for declaring how much I dislike slam poetry. I guess I’m a purist in that I think that poetry exists mostly on the page; it is the words, after all, that we’re manipulating, right? And when spoken, words are too fleeting to pin down. In order for a word to have any substance, it needs to be written. When a poem is purely spoken, when a poem doesn’t hold its own or have the most effect when it’s written in ink, it comes and goes too quickly.
Or does it?
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