I'm Brother Said, Slammaster for Houston Poetry Slam the original certified poetry slam in Houston, Texas. This is the blog for Houston Poetry Slam named Justaslamblog and it's dedicated especially to poetry slammers in Houston, Texas and the surrounding area. Of course if you are a slammer from somewhere else in the nation of Texas, that's fine. Of course if you're a slammer from somewhere else in the United States that's fine too. All slammers are welcome to Justaslamblog.
The first goal of this blog is to encourage Houston poets to get involved in poetry slam. The existing slam community is way to small for a city of 2,144,491 million people. The poetry slam community never tried to reach out to poets beyond the loop - hell, to reach out to poets beyond the central district (now called Midtown. Bull!) Maybe the poetry slam community here didn't know how to go beyond those geographical limits. I suspect they didn't want to for purely selfish reasons - but that's another post. When I became Slammaster for Houston Poetry Slam I made it my goal to create a true city wide slam.
I know a lot of poets everywhere are turned off by the competitive nature of poetry slam. They are turned off by the judging. Most poets feel that 5 strangers picked from the audience can't possibly judge their poetry. What that really mean is they feel their poetry is too good to be judged at all. There are those poets who have a philosophical feeling: that poetry like any other art form cannot be judged. And for those who feel that way, all I can say is I hope you change your mind. I use to have those thoughts and I got over it once I got involved, and slowly came to the realization of what slam truly is.
The rest of you probably don't have philosophical misgivings, and you probably don't give a crap what anybody says about your poetry. Good, you're a writer. Your main concern is probably more mundane and practical: what is a slam? Why bother? And something you're probably not willing to admit: you're afraid of losing.
Losing is a part of any competition. Don't be turned off by the competitive nature of poetry slam, because the possibility exists you could lose. As for what slam is: poetry slam is first and foremost a game. If you approach it as a game instead of a means to validate yourself as a poet or a writer you will be much better off in the long run. If you stick with it you will get better at the slam game.
Which brings me to the other goal of this blog. With this blog we want to feature advice on tips and tricks to get you up to speed on that troubling competitive nature of poetry slam and the fear you might have of losing. And most people don't fear losing. You probably are afraid that you will be a consistent loser. We will try to get some of the most experienced slammers to give you the advice you need to be competitive and not lose consistently.
The Houston Poetry Slam Super Slam Week is January 22-26, 2008 and out of that festival will come the 2008 Houston Slam Team. This blog will be one place you can get the advice you need to compete. For more details on Super Slam Week go to www.houstonpoetryslam.org for info on how to register.
The first goal of this blog is to encourage Houston poets to get involved in poetry slam. The existing slam community is way to small for a city of 2,144,491 million people. The poetry slam community never tried to reach out to poets beyond the loop - hell, to reach out to poets beyond the central district (now called Midtown. Bull!) Maybe the poetry slam community here didn't know how to go beyond those geographical limits. I suspect they didn't want to for purely selfish reasons - but that's another post. When I became Slammaster for Houston Poetry Slam I made it my goal to create a true city wide slam.
I know a lot of poets everywhere are turned off by the competitive nature of poetry slam. They are turned off by the judging. Most poets feel that 5 strangers picked from the audience can't possibly judge their poetry. What that really mean is they feel their poetry is too good to be judged at all. There are those poets who have a philosophical feeling: that poetry like any other art form cannot be judged. And for those who feel that way, all I can say is I hope you change your mind. I use to have those thoughts and I got over it once I got involved, and slowly came to the realization of what slam truly is.
The rest of you probably don't have philosophical misgivings, and you probably don't give a crap what anybody says about your poetry. Good, you're a writer. Your main concern is probably more mundane and practical: what is a slam? Why bother? And something you're probably not willing to admit: you're afraid of losing.
Losing is a part of any competition. Don't be turned off by the competitive nature of poetry slam, because the possibility exists you could lose. As for what slam is: poetry slam is first and foremost a game. If you approach it as a game instead of a means to validate yourself as a poet or a writer you will be much better off in the long run. If you stick with it you will get better at the slam game.
Which brings me to the other goal of this blog. With this blog we want to feature advice on tips and tricks to get you up to speed on that troubling competitive nature of poetry slam and the fear you might have of losing. And most people don't fear losing. You probably are afraid that you will be a consistent loser. We will try to get some of the most experienced slammers to give you the advice you need to be competitive and not lose consistently.
The Houston Poetry Slam Super Slam Week is January 22-26, 2008 and out of that festival will come the 2008 Houston Slam Team. This blog will be one place you can get the advice you need to compete. For more details on Super Slam Week go to www.houstonpoetryslam.org for info on how to register.
