the tradition of slam poetry comes from australia.
where does the tradition of slam poetry come from?
australia
na
na
critic susan somers-willett asserts that slam poetry began between november 1984 and july 1986, in the green mill jazz club in chicago. slam poetry is a type of "political complaint" and protest that uses identity and other forms to protest oppression. slam poets and audiences see slam poetry not only as literary or performative, but also as a political event. somers-willett argues that: "poems that make an empowered declaration of marginalized identity and individuality are a staple of one's slam repertoire." race, gender and sexuality are all factors that affect poets and the message of their work. slam poets work is an embodiment of their identity and it breaks the homogeneity of traditional poetry structure. but, a poet is not bound to a certain identity based on their culture, sexuality, or race, although many do use identity. slam poetry's main goals is to express authenticity of identity to its audience. by this, poets will create a genuine and intimate connection with the audience through their identity based experience. slam poetry revolutionizes of traditional forms of poetry. slam poetry ranges from comical poems to extremely serious work about racism, sexual identity, violence, and personal struggles with life; slam poetry is the outlet a lot of writers use to express themselves. many poets write from a "i" stand point where in their poems they describe events that has happened to them personally whether it be a positive or negative experience. "inhabiting the space where the "i" of the page translates quite seamlessly to the "i" of the stage, the author comes to embody declarations about personal experience in performance." an example of authors using "i" would be ragan fox, who wrote to be straight: "i want to be straight because sometimes being gay is just too difficult." authors try to reach out to their audience by relating what they say in their poems to how the audience might have felt but never had the courage to say. there are also different ways to perform poetry. patricia smith, an african american poet, performed a poem in the voice of a white male skinhead. this shows the opposing party explaining to the audience the hatred and what is going through their minds. slam poetry can come in various forms, but is a tool that can get a poetic argument across to those who listen.
political poetry