Justaslamblog: The Ultimate Poetry Slam Tutor

The 6th Principle: Know the Format, part one

2008-02-10T15:59:00.000-06:00

by Brother Said

So you've been reading the first five principles of poetry slam, right, and you nervously decide to enter your first bout. Before the competition begins, you gather with seven other poets and the emcee to go over the rules. You hear the MC say there are three rounds. While breathing deeply, you confidently go over the major rules in your own head: the three minute time limit, no props, no music, and no costumes. Your intestines are doing flips as your name is taken out of a hat and you get position six. That's pretty good positioning. The slam starts and just before you go on stage you pick a melodramatic poem meant to trump the comedy that set you up. The crowd bursts into enthusiastic applause. It gets better: you win the first round. The two lowest scoring poets get eliminated. You're puzzled. You don't remember hearing the emcee mention elimination. But who cares. You're in the lead! But then the host calls you up to start the second round.

What the hell? You're the highest scoring poet of the first round, so shouldn't you be going last in the second round? Noticing your visible confusion, one of the eliminated poets standing nearby tells you that it's high to low order in the second round. Oh. O.K. So you pick the right poem for first position in the second round, and get a pretty good score after another grand performance. Your nervousness is virtually gone. The other five poets aren't as hip as you are about the first five principles of the seven principles of poetry slam, so they're not positioning poems well. You're still the the highest scoring poet, and when the host announces the scores, you've accumulated a top score of 58.2 points. Wow! This slam stuff isn't so bad after all. At this rate you could win first place in your first slam! Even if you go first in the third round, nobody will catch up with your accumulated score. The two lowest scoring poets of the second round are eliminated and it's time for the third round. You prepare to start the third round and win this slam, when the host announces much to your surprise and consternation that the third round will be random draw clean slate.

What the f@#k?! Suddenly your high score of 58.2 is gone. You have to start from scratch. You pull 1^st in the third round. Oh, that's just great. Then your poem about Pookie sacrificing herself for her puppies sets up the second poets resonant comedy about a dog named Luther with three legs who overcame all odds to survive and eventually became a high school mascot. Your 27 points gets out scored by the second poet's 27.7. At least you'll come in second, you think. And then the third poet does a thrilling melodrama about how he was influenced positively to leave gang life by an inspiring teacher who died of cancer. 28.4 points. O.K. The score creep is clearly not on your side here, and you figure you'll settle for third, because you remember in my first principle of poetry slam article I told you there are three winners in a slam. Third is definitely not bad for your first slam. However, the final poet does a poem about how his sister was raped by Uncle Joe. He gets 30 points, and you lose. Game over. There's always the next slam.

What the hell happened? You're acting like a novice slammer is what happened. Well, you're not suppose to be a novice slammer forever, right? But really, a lot of slammers, even vets, ignore the format of a slam until they get screwed at the end - then they want to complain. Emcees usually explain the slam format before the slam. But emcees can be rookies too or just busy, so you had better ask what the format is before the slam starts. If your city has more than one slam don't assume the formats of the slam on 7^th street is the same as the format of the slam around the corner or crosstown. That's right, every local slam may have a different format - some slightly different from others. Some are radically different from others. Poetry Slam Incorporated doesn't even recommend a format. But local slams usually pick a format that reflects the goals of the local slam. Most local slams want to field a solid slam team to send to Nationals. Poets who win despite a difficult format become prime contenders. If you are one of those poets that wants to make a team then you need to take format seriously.

But I'm a pretty good writer, you say, and I'm increasing my number of performance poems like you said, Brother Said. I practice my poems over and over until the performance is flawless. I'm developing a good strategy - what does format have to do with anything? Good question, because even I overlooked the importance of this principle. I thought I would be able to wrap this principle up in one article. I actually started this article before I started the article on the 5th principle. It was during the writing of this article that I realized the topic of format is so important, I'll have to present this principle in two parts.

But to answer your question: remember, poetry slam is a positional game. Depending on the format your position can shift radically throughout the game into a better or worse position. Your application of basic poetry slam strategy is going to be effected by how you get into good or bad position. If you want to be a serious poetry slammer that wants to make a local slam team or wants to compete for prizes, and you intend to win consistently, then you must know the format of the slam beyond the random draw. There will always be a random draw before the slam. Here are the main components of format we will discuss in part 2: rotation, number of contestants, elimination, the recording of scores, and special rules.

Dealing With Crisis

2008-02-10T15:45:00.000-06:00

By Brother Said

I have to apologize to those of you looking forward to the continuation of the series: The 7 Principles of Poetry Slam. Just as Super Slam Week worked out like we planned, and we thought we had a dedicated team, and I was busy scheduling practices - two people dropped. They suddenly realized that being on a slam team and practicing every week was more responsibility than they had expected - one reason why I and my board of directors decided to hold prizes until after a team returns from Nationals.

So here is the list of alternates. I'm trying to track you down here in Houston, but if you see your name on this list and you notify me before I hold an Alternates Slam - then you can take your rightful place on the team, and claim prizes.

The alternate list for replacing vacancies on the Houston Slam Team are as follows:

1.Black Blues

2. Marlon

3. The Black Lotus

4. Sal

Results of Super Slam Week

2008-02-10T15:26:00.000-06:00

By Brother Said

The 2007 - 2008 Super Slam Week started Tuesday January 22nd, 2008 and qualified several poets at venues that were enthusiastic for us to return next year. The winners of the 2008 Houston Slam Team Grand Slam Final held at our official venue Bohemeos on Saturday January 26th are as follows:

1. Camryn Barganier ($300 prize winner)
2. Brother Said (not elgible for prizes)
3. Byron Williams ($150 prize winner)
4. Larry Cortez ($100 prize winner)

Congratulations to the 2008 Houston Slam Team. Participants signed team contracts before the slam and agreed to receive their prizes in August after Nationals.

The alternate list for replacing vacancies on the Houston Slam Team are as follows:

1.Black Blues

2. Marlon

3. The Black Lotus

4. Sal

Shakesperian Asides: Remain Focused

2008-01-21T15:04:00.000-06:00

By Brother Said

From the moment you arrive at the slam venue, you are in competition, so take everything you hear with a grain of salt, and be careful about what you say. There are fellow poets sincerely in need of advice. But be careful. You don't want to be drained by someone who wants to recite their whole poem to you just before the competition to see what you think. Such people drain you of your energy, and mess up your focus. Tell them politely you will be all too willing to help them after the slam. By the same token be careful who you listen to when advice is offered unsolicited. Some experienced poets sincerely want to help others, and when they do they will give you good tips. But some poets are ultra competitive and will give you bad advice on purpose. Some may not know what they are talking about and may want to appear knowledgeable. The bottom line: slam competition requires your focus. Be careful who you allow to interrupt that focus.

Then there are the slam myths. If you are a novice slammer, you may hear various commentary before, during, and after the slam competition: rhetoric that threatens to cloud your sense of purpose and ruin your confidence in applying strategy. One such myth is the “you need slam poems to win ” myth. Don't listen to that foolishness. There is no such thing as a “slam poem”, though you will hear that term a lot in your slam career. We play the poetry slam game with poetry period, ideally, performance poetry – though you will see all types of poetic styles. Another myth is the “there is no formula to winning” myth, which implies that there is no strategy that works at all. Don't listen to that foolishness, either. There are reasons why you win a poetry slam. There are reasons why some poets win consistently – and it can't be that their poetry is just better than every body else's in every slam. What ever those reasons are, that's a strategy. Poetry slam is a positional game and there are ways to play your poems in the various positions and ways not to play your poems.

by Brother Said

The most harmful myth though, usually propagated by an over zealous host or emcee, is that poetry slam is not about the competition or points. Most of the time just smile when you hear that and clap like everybody else, but absolutely ignore that foolishness. Sometimes that type of commentary is just filler, stuff for the host to say while he waits for the score. Other times it's an over zealous emcee polarizing the judges with ill advised, vociferous commentary. During crucial contests, if you feel it's prejudiced the judges against you, file a protest. The official definition of poetry slam is “competitive performance poetry”, and the emcee's personal opinion that they think poetry slam should not be about the competition may wrongly influence the judges. The judges should only be influenced by the poets presenting their poetry.

Shakesperian Asides: Volunteer to be a Judge

2008-01-21T09:55:00.002-06:00

by Brother Said

Want to know how hard the judges have it? Before you start your slam career, volunteer to be a judge. You may learn what I learned when I volunteered to be a judge: you make your decisions based on emotion. Most judges are instructed by the host or emcee to give the score they feel the poem deserves. And that's what judges do - but it ain't easy. There's some inner conflict with your logical self, but there is no time for complex deliberation. You want to be fair. I had my own personal criteria which I thought was rather informed and efficient since I'm a poet – but I ended up scoring some poems without much deliberation, but based on emotion. Some people I was biased against the minute they hit the stage.

There is some scientific basis for this. Modern technology has made it possible to see the brain working in real time. Over the past ten years of brain studies the old notions that human beings think logically has been dispelled. Peoples brains have been studied in real time to see whether they funnel decisions through the logical part of their brain in the frontal lobe or through the emotional part in the back of the brain. What's been discovered? Every decision everybody makes very rarely goes through the deliberative, logical front part of the brain, but most decisions are made with the emotional portion of the brain first, even the most crucial decisions.

And that gets to the main point about poetry slam: judges aren't taking your poem home to study it. They have from 30 seconds to a minute to make a decision right then and there at the slam. Since all human beings make all their decisions emotionally anyway, what is a slam judge going to do? Slam judges go with their gut feeling - which includes comparing your poem to the poems that just preceded you. That's where the second premise of positional truth comes from. The judges scores are based not just on how good your poem is, but also where your poem fits in the order. So don't take the judges score personally. And volunteer to be a judge to see what it's like. It just might make you a better, more understanding slam competitor.

My Own Shakesperian Asides Part One:Scientific Evidence That Talented Poetry Slam Poets in Poetry Should Focus on More than Talent...well, sort of

2007-12-03T18:49:00.002-06:00

By Brother Said

This is an aside from my series of articles on the seven principles of poetry slam. In the article on the 1st principle of poetry slam (that first and foremost poetry slam is a game for poets) I made a point about newcomers to slam leaning solely on their talent, and how that approach usually leads to those poets becoming disenchanted with the art form when their talent doesn't always get the results that fills their ego with the affirmation and acceptance they have longed for since being snotty nosed kids. Well, there seems to be a scientific basis for my assertion which I discovered in an article from Scientific American entitled The Secret to Raising Smart Kids . Now before you roll your eyes heavenward and shake your head is disbelief, disgust, and disdain - check out this excerpt. The bold emphasis is me imposing editorial omnipotence:

Our society worships talent, and many people assume that possessing superior intelligence or ability—along with confidence in that ability—is a recipe for success. In fact, however, more than 30 years of scientific investigation suggests that an overemphasis on intellect or talent leaves people vulnerable to failure, fearful of challenges and unwilling to remedy their shortcomings. The result plays out in children,..... who coast through the early grades under the dangerous notion that no-effort academic achievement defines them as smart or gifted. Such children hold an implicit belief that intelligence is innate and fixed, making striving to learn seem far less important than being (or looking) smart. This belief also makes them see challenges, mistakes and even the need to exert effort as threats to their ego rather than as opportunities to improve. And it causes them to lose confidence and motivation when the work is no longer easy for them. Praising children’s innate abilities.....reinforces this mind-set, which can also prevent young athletes or people in the workforce and even marriages from living up to their potential. On the other hand, our studies show that teaching people to have a “growth mind-set,” which encourages a focus on effort rather than on intelligence or talent, helps make them into high achievers in school and in life.

Alright?! Got the point. You should have since I put a lot of key points in bold. Focusing on talent alone tends to make one not want to put forth effort. So whether you are talented or not, don't be afraid to try poetry slam. There is so much more involved than winning first, second, or third. There is a far greater prize that results from putting forth the effort to really focus on the game and the art form of performance poetry.

If you'd like to read the whole article here's the link:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-to-raising-smart-kids

Poetry Slam Principle 1: The Game

2007-11-29T23:18:00.002-06:00

By Brother Said

I call poetry slam the sport of poets. If you want to slam you have to learn how to play the game of what Poetry Slam Incorporated defines as "the art form of competitive performance poetry". Poetry slam is not a poetry reading with judges. It's competitive. That means there are winners and losers. It also means there are strategic aspects to winning and losing. You will need to become a student of the game if you're serious about winning and avoiding losing. By losing, I mean you don't finish in the top three. But along the way you will lose poetry slams. Most poets, especially the novice slammers - are going to lose more slams than they win. Don't let the prospect of losing effect whether or not you slam. Don't be afraid to lose. This doesn't mean you should plan on being a loser. It means that most of the time, because this is a game and games have losers, you might lose and you shouldn't take it personally. It means you should study the game. The real issue is not the loss, but what you learn from losing. You will learn virtually nothing about the beautiful game of poetry slam if you lean only on your talent as a poet. Part of being a good student of slam is realizing early on: you will lose poetry slams despite how talented a poet you are.

Too many poets get involved in slam and lean only on their talent. Slam is a game involving a lot of luck, so good writers can get use to coming in first in a slam and think it's just their talent that's getting them wins. But when they finally do lose they let go of their composure and may even stop slamming altogether. The same goes for some poets that never win. They start slamming, thinking their talent will get them hi scores, then they don't get the scores - and they stop slamming. Neither of the foregoing types of poets, those that win too much early in their slam career and those that lose too much early in their slam career, were serious about the art form of performance poetry. They were good at performance poetry, and that's important - but not all there is to slam. They were'nt serious students of the competitive part of poetry slam, and probably didn't want to be serious students of the competitive part of the game. They want easy wins. Such people inspired the title for this blog: "justaslam". After losing a slam they suddenly wax philosophical and tell you “this is just poetry” or “just slam”. Do you think Tom Brady or Bret Favre say that about football? Do you think Miles Davis or Duke Ellington or even Prince said “this is just music”? Look, anything can be “just” when compared to war or hunger or natural disaster - in which case if you really feel being a poet is a waste of time or not as important as natural disasters, then go work as a fireman, or in emergency response or join the UN. Don't be “just a poet”.

Do you want to be a poetry slammer? Then don't say stuff like: "it's just a poetry slam " or “it's just poetry”. Don't be afraid to lose a poetry slam. You may come in first a lot, but you will lose eventually. You may lose a lot, but if you become a student of the game you will win eventually. Either way never give up. Remember, there are really three winners in a slam, so don't view coming in second or third as losing. Losing is not making the top three. Don't get discouraged when you don't make the top three. The poetry slam game is 70% situational. Sometimes the judges do give stupid scores. Sometimes you get consistently bad position throughout a slam. But 30% of the poetry slam is you. Students of the game really look at why they lost: whether it was the 70% situational which you have no control over; or the 30% personal which you do have control over. You have to write good poetry. You have to give better and better performances. You can't go over time. You have to apply at least basic slam strategy and learn to develop advanced strategy. You have to learn how to play the game of "competitive performance poetry".

In future articles I will detail the remaining six principles of poetry slam.

Welcome To Justaslamblog

2007-11-23T15:11:00.000-06:00

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.