Why does slam poetry all sound the same?

[Erthona]

Well if I am nothing I am certainly effortless, and I was the Tom Jones of Librarian's dreams. Who knew it was all due to a hirsute disposition!

dale

[digital_poet]

Funny, I just wrote a blog about this exact topic called "Why Does Slam Poetry All Sound The Same?" - check it out for my opinion/response: http://www.digitalpoet.net/all-slam-poet...s-the-same

[Leanne]

Interesting blog, if not superbly original. If you're here for poetry, then you're welcome -- but if you're here to treat us like click bait for your own self-promotion, then you'll be banned fairly quickly as a spammer. Which is it to be?

[digital_poet]

Believe me, I'm not promoting anything. Just interested in the topic, and I have a similar thought train. I don't sell anything, my site isn't monetized - it exists as a source of information and inspiration for poets.

[Erthona]

Sorry, you jumped in before I had posted, and I didn't see you're latest post.

Oh, it's just to his blog Leanne, nothing commercial, no need to ban him just yet. It's surprisingly adequate. One should definitely check at the vid of Jill Scott, the rest seemed to have gotten their training from NPR. As I said before, the style in slam tends to be trendy, but the style really has nothing to do with slam, other than slam allows any kind of vocal presentational style. What defines slam is that it is a contest, judged by the audience, and as such the "poet" is trying to please the audience by using whatever style and subject matter they think will get the best reaction from the crowd. I think by it's nature, anyone who participates in slam debases their selves because it quits being about the poetry and becomes about giving the audience what it wants (one should think upon that for awhile) in an effort to win. I'm not slamming slam, I just don't think it has much to do with poetry, not because I have a bias against slam, I just don't see how you can put poetry first when you are trying your best to use it to win a contest based on the goodwill of the crowd ( even though a limited number of judges are pick from the crowd to judge, they are certainly swayed by the crowds reaction to the presentation).

digital_poet If you want to post a link to your blog, post it in your signature line, it is access from the user CP, which is at the top of this page (actually most pages), on the left hand side under the black bar, in the gray bar. Once on the user CP page, go to your profile-->change signature. On the text page at the right provided insert the link to your blog.

BTW commenting on this does not count as one of the five critiques you need to begin posting outside of the Newly Registered Forum.

Welcome to the site,

Dale

[digital_poet]

Thanks Dale for the tips and advice.

Only other thing I'd add is that I don't think slam poetry all has to sound the same - and it doesn't. However, most of what someone sees if they YouTube slam poems is something that sounds like its from the same factory as the others.

The goal of my website/blog is to encourage originality. To let people know its OK to perform something that doesn't sound like everyone else. When poets are able to get away from the trendy sound, they'll concentrate more on their actual verse; perhaps slam poetry can morph to "actual poetry performed on stage"...and it can still touch the audience.

Thanks, group.

[justcloudy]

I wrote a reply to this a while back and just checking the thread now I see it never got posted. Oops.

Thanks everyone for the replies, interesting discussion that I wanted to be a part of but now whatever I wrote is long gone from my brain.

Thanks esp to Dale who was surprisingly coherent on the subject! (;p Don't kill me!)

-jc

[Dymun Fengshui]

This is a serious question. 

I like slam poetry as much as the next girl (speaking general populous here, not PigPenners), but get confused sometimes. Are the random youtubes of slam poets I run across all really the same person and I just forgot how he/she looked or even if he was a she or she was a he? Because not only are the styles of the poems invariably super similar, but everyone seems to have gone to the same class entitled "How to Deliver your Poem Orally (Note there is Only One Way)" by Professor Earnest "Breathless" Speeder.

Here's the video that sparked the question. It's a touching look at depression but it'd be more effective if she hadn't taken that class.

I LOVE this video, I love her work of words. I am unsure what is not to love. maybe it just isn't for you. Not all poetry is.

[brandontoh]

I LOVE this video, I love her work of words. I am unsure what is not to love. maybe it just isn't for you. Not all poetry is.

The problem, to state it in clearer terms, is that her spoken words sound forced and awkward. The way it is written may be sincere, but it is presented in a way that screams 'I'm speaking this way because such manner of speech is evocative!' and that makes the whole thing feel insincere. It's kind of like the boy who tries to get his crush's attention by doing things he think are endearing and ends up just being creepy. Of course, deliberately manipulating or directing an audience's emotions is not wrong. In fact it's pretty much necessary, but, the way I see it, she's doing it in such a one-note fashion it's monotonous in an annoying way. Then again, this is slam poetry, and I'm thinking theater. Or maybe this sort of oratorical style is like the work of Arnold Schoenberg; in which case I'm not trained to appreciate it.

[RiverNotch]

"Then again, this is slam poetry, and I'm thinking theater."
Naw, anything that involves one or more folks speaking to a crowd is theater, regardless of what they're talking about. Slam poetry is no excuse for crappy monotony!

"Hitler was known as a great orator, and he specialised in the shout and spasm technique, so maybe there is something to the style."
All roads lead to Rome....All internet discussions lead to Berlin....

[just mercedes]

I think this is a bad example of slam poetry - every person I know will some day die - how twee. If it's going to be poetry, it needs a bit more than that. Just IMHO. Just bad poetry.

[Brownlie]

Well, the title is really bad.