All About Poetry Slam

Poetry can be fairly considered as one of the most primitive forms of literal arts. Poets have been affecting the cultures and civilizations of the world since the time immemorial. Even today, there is no such society which is devoid of the pride of having world class poets. All languages, all societies and all cultures have nourished poets of their own and it is the rhythmic and spell bound effect of their poetic expressions which have always left long lasting marks on history. Even in the current era, where science and technology seems to have shadowed all other fields of life, the culture of holding such events where poetry and poets are promoted is quite common. Poetry slams are such functions where this practice is carried out. These competitions are help all around the world almost throughout the year. There are different organizations which arrange these events and there are some set patterns for these events. All poets and other contestants compete in such events and there are proper judges which are of course some of the leading artists and poets. In some communities, these poetry slams are carried out once a year, in some, once a month! There are proper schedules for getting registered in such organization which organize these events. Once you are registered, there are certain terms and conditions under which you can compete in such events. In most of the cases, there are lucrative prize amounts and awards for the winners of the poetry slams. There are many websites conveying information on these poetry slams. If you are one of those ambitious young poets who would like to be a part of these events, it would be rather advisable to you to search out the coming dates and schedules for these events and ensure your presence in the next competition in your locality.

Poetry slams – An integration of poets and performance art

All performing artists enjoy the limelight, attention and awe from the public audience. Any live performance in turn gets more energetic with audience participation. Musicians today encourage audience participation by motivating them to sing along and clap their hands to the beat. This kind of behavior has also seeped into stand up comedy shows and open mic poetry recitations.
Poetry slams events remain a success to date only because of the public audience that is drawn to the charisma of clannish eras – eras wherein almost everyone in the community took part in tribal folk dances, singing sessions and story narration.
Poetry slam first started somewhere in the year 1984 by Marc Smith – a construction worker and took place in a jazz club in Chicago. A couple of years later Smith proposed a plan to another club, the owner of the club accepted Smith’s idea. Smith’s idea was to host a live poetry competition on Saturday nights for enthusiastic performance poets, slam poetry was thus introduced.
These poetries slam events have pushed poetry to a more energetic level of performance, making it a passionate experience for poets and participants alike.
Initially slam poetry was all about certain subjects that revolved around public concerns such as politics, social issues etc. But the poetry slams of today have expanded immensely with a wide variety of themes and subjects.

These poetries slam events are not something that will fade away and are surely here to stay. A form of entertainment that is based on imagination and rooted in performance art will always receive not just an enthusiastic audience but also high brow criticism.

Poetry slams in the true sense are not merely based on the words or lines that are recited and as a matter of fact it is emphatic narration, voice modulation, eye contact and body language that go into this art of performance poetry.

More about poetry slam

In simple words poetry slam refers to a form of competitive art by way of poetry performance. It lays emphasis on performance as well as writing skills of the poet, thereby encouraging poets pay attention to what is being recited and how it is being recited. In general it is a competition like event that gives aspiring poets a platform to showcase their work and talent to an audience. Poetry slam events are generally held weekly, bi-monthly or perhaps just once in a month, it is all based on the community of the given area. If the community has the strong support of the audience and a lot of enthusiastic participants coming in to perform in the area it is likely that slam event will take place more often in the area.

The judges are selected by the co-organizers or hosts from amongst the audience attending the event. These randomly selected judges are then instructed to rate the poet’s work on a scale of one to ten based on the performance and content of the poetry recited.

Those who wish to participate can get their names enrolled even on the day of the event at the venue. Prior enrollment would always be recommended since it is an open event based on a first come first served basis. Generally every person who enrolls himself is given an opportunity to perform in round one. The opportunity to perform in the subsequent rounds is purely based on the score of the judges and it is the judge’s vote that determines which poet they would like to hear more work from. •

Slam events are generally organized by enthusiastic poets with the motivation to cultivate the art of poetry in their respective communities. All the work is usually done voluntarily and the entry fee if any is used to keep the show going or to pay for any special guest performance held at the slam event.

An insight to the Berkeley slam and what the hype is all about

Berkeley slam is one of those many festivities held in appreciation of poetry. It is all about appreciating spontaneous poetry. Berkeley slam is a great platform for amateur poetry enthusiasts who wish to pour out their poetry to an audience in public.

You do not need to have any of your poetry in print or any such kind of formal eligibility to take part in the different kinds of poetry related competitions at the Berkeley slam. In fact, it’s an open platform where by one can walk into this open mic event and jet across your poetic verses to the public gathered out there. And who knows you may even be voted towards winning by the randomly chosen judges – from among the audience. Yes, friends you will be surprised to know that the judges here are actually randomly picked up from among the audience gathered, these judges are then made to vote on poetry that is recited. The poet with the maximum votes from the judges is declared winner.

The best part being that everyone who is part of the slam gets to have a share in the fun. The audience is treated to interesting new poetry depicting the views of the new world, upcoming poets and poetry enthusiasts get an opportunity to be heard and appreciated by the public and those lucky to be randomly picked to judge are proud for being part of the slam.

People who are not fond of poetry also make up a large crowd among the audience, in view of the socialization at the gathering and since socializing makes most people happy they do not mind, in fact all people happily attend the gathering even though it represents poetry. The Berkeley slam has musical guests as part of the show, pulling the audience with their performances between the poetry sessions.

What Makes Poetry – Poetry?

The title might seem strange to some, but this article will help us understand what is it that makes a poetry – call poetry. Basically it is the way the expression of the words, confession, meter arrangement, symbolism, irony, resemblance, spontaneity etc. At the end of the poem, the poet who had just recited the poem, will get a feeling that whatever he had in his mind has been revealed in just a few couples of lines. A poem is meant to bring some sort of chill in the opposite person who is listening to it.

Reciting a poem also entirely depends upon the poet. An ordinary person might not be able to recite a poem in the best possible manner but a professional poet will ensure that his poem has touched the heart of the listeners. The poet will have a strange expression in his face which automatically touches the heart of the listeners. His movement of the eyes also plays a very important role while he recites a poem. There are chances that a poet does not capitalize or win the heart of his listeners but that is similar to the way how each and every song that we hear might not necessarily touch our hearts in any way. But some songs will mesmerize our minds in such a manner that we do not get bored to hear the song again and again and again.

Each poem has got a short story in it. There will be a start and an end to the poem. Even the shortest of poetry will have a meaning and that is exactly why poets are given their due respect. All of us might not be able to become poets but professional poets will make sure that their poems are loved, enjoyed and remembered by their fans for a very long period of time.

How to Write Love Poems

Incase you are romantically involved with someone and you wish to express your love in one of the best possible way, then expressing your love through a poem written by you to your loved one can be one of the best choices. To write a romantic poem, you do not require any artistic skills. Here are some basic tips on writing a romantic poem to your loved one.

1- Think about the person you love – First and foremost, think about the person with whom you are romantically involved. Think about all the good memories that you both shared together. What feelings do you have when you think about him/ her? Ask yourself, while thinking about your partner, do you get warmth inside your body or do you get butterflies feeling in your stomach or do you visualize angels singing around?

2- Compare the beauty of your loved one – When you think about your loved one, think about what you like in your person and compare that with some scenic beauty. For example – if your loved one has beautiful gray eyes, compare it with beautiful mountains or deep lake. Remember, a poem consists of such imaginary words.

3- Check website for rhyming words – In case you are a bit confused pertaining to some of the words that you need to pen down and you wish getting a rhyming word for your poem, the best way is to go through a website. There are many websites that provide rhyming words for each and every word. So, you can get loads of help here.

4- Make it short and sweet – Try making your love poem short and sweet. You do not need to write a poem like an essay.

Just jot down important points and a little bit of help from the internet and you will be able to impress your loved one.

Funny Poems

Have you ever noticed that funny poems are like a magic which can help transform our lives completely? Well, here are 5 different methods which will help transform our lives.

1- Children love funny poems – Children love hearing funny poems. They are often seen laughing and enjoying themselves all through the program.

2- Late Shel Silverstein is known to have sold millions of copies of funny poems. His poems are found in library’s homes, bookstores, schools etc. What makes his poems so famous? Well, most of his books have sketches painted in black and white color but the main secret is that Shel was actually a kid advocate. He knew what kids love and how to help kids become responsible citizens of their country.

3- Some teachers are known to share a funny poem with the class every time their lecture ends or are about to begin. This helps students to attend the lectures whenever teachers take such an initiative. The students loved hearing the poems because such funny poems made them laugh and also help them see the other side of real life.

4- While narrating a funny poem it is equally important that we enact similarly so that children can relate to the poem easily. Just reading out a poem from a book might not help students love poems. The presenter must also have the ability to act while performing.

5- Laughter is a great exercise and enjoying a natural laugh through funny poetry can help in getting your body all geared up. Laughter helps in boosting a human body’s immune system, improves our mood, relaxes our muscles, helps in defusing conflict and helps others attract towards us. And this is what happens when we listen to funny poems.

Try listening to funny poems today and see the difference it can make to your mind, body and soul.

Poetry – Free Verse

Becoming a poet is something which many are not able to achieve. Though poetry is hardly made from few sentences, the entire poem will have a great beginning and an exciting end like a short story. It is surprising to see how poets can create such unique poems.

There are different terms of poetry such as metaphor, acrostic, rhyme, sonnet, free verse, prose, haiku are few examples of the various types of poetry forms. Poetry is not something that needs to be feared of. Rather it is an educational tool that helps students in learning of writing and reading which no other genre is capable of.

Poetry is one of the best beauties of a human heart that expresses emotions leaving the listener with a complete feeling of contentment. There are no other forms of writing that expresses the ability to inspire which poetry can create. One of the ideal forms of poetry which most of the newcomers can try their hands on is known as ‘Free Verse’. This type of poems helps students gain the required strength and confidence. In a Free verse type of poetry, the poem does not have any particular style or pattern. You can set your own rules to the poem. You can end each line of the poem with a rhythm. Incase you are using rhythm in your poetry, ensure not to stress the rhythm too much and do not add the rhythm just for the sake of adding a rhythm. The rhythm has to flow well with the poem. You can also write a poem without the use of rhythm. That is the reason why this particular type of poetry is known as Free verse. Many people are also of the opinion that poetry means it must include rhythm. Well, that is absolutely not correct and there are plenty of famous poems without rhythms.

Poetry – Its Roots

People love poetry. Poetry is something which is very short and ends with a great meaning. Many of us tend to get confused between poetry and a verse, though both of them resemble to be the same. This article will explain what exactly a verse is.

Verse is a musical instrument using words for a metrical or melodious effect. All of us love to use rhythm in words. Let us take a simple example. On your best friend’s birthday, you take a popular tune and convert it by writing your own lyrics to the tune and recite it on your friend’s birthday. This is not called poetry, it is called verse. Similarly, whenever you open a greeting card and read out its wordings, it is called verse and not poetry. And almost 99.9% of greeting cards contain only verses.

So what is poetry? Poetry too includes everything that is included in a verse. But poetry can cause a lot of emotions and provides a deep in-depth meaning of each and every word that a poet recites in the poetry. Many of us have the ability to write verses but very few of them can actually write a poem and that is the reason why poets are always given a lot of respect because each and every word that they recite will bring out emotions and feelings. Only an experienced poet can write a true poem. A poem is a short story. Within the few verses, an entire story is hidden. There are many genres of poetry. Some of the famous forms of poetry are Narrative poetry, Epic poetry, Dramatic poetry, Lyric poetry, Satirical poetry, Prose poetry, Elegy, Verse fable etc.

Nobody knows when the poetry officially generated but it is said that poetry started more than a thousand years in the past.

Myth about poetry

From the very beginning of time poetry was always considered a means to help people express their deep emotions creating a healing impression. In the Greek mythology, it has been considered that Asclepius, famously known as the God of Healing was the greatest son of Apollo. Apollo was known to be the God of poetry.

Similar to writers, poets are also given the same amount of respect. There are many poetry competitions held across the world. As compared to a writer’s job of writing a novel which can turn on for hundreds of pages, in case of poetry, it can end within just a few lines. In spite of that, there are plenty of poetry competitions across the globe to know the poet’s ability to discuss a particular situation within the poem.

A poet reciting poetry can be very soothing to the ears, mind and heart of the listeners. There are poems that end with rhymes. Here are some of the myths that people have about poetry –

1- All poetry does not require ending in rhymes. Poetry is completely flexible and it all depends upon how a poet tends to put forth his poems.
2- It is a clear myth that most of the poets writing poetry are all sad and depressed poets. This is absolutely not the case. Almost all of them writing poetry are doing so for the love of it and wish to express their emotions.
3- All poems do not require proper grammar as often discussed. Even if the grammar is not proper, it can be considered as poetry since the words might have been mismatched to flow well with the poem.

Another myth many people think is that a poem is mostly based on the life of the poet writing the poem. This again is not right. Poetry can be written by anyone, anytime, anywhere.