[New-Poetry] Is slam in danger of going soft?

[David Graham]

Like it or not, Mr. Smith’s concept has become a global phenomenon,  
especially among young people, who, helped by exposure to hip-hop,  
seem more comfortable with the idea that poetry belongs both “on the  
stage and on the page.” Slam poetry has been incorporated into school  
curriculums across the country; more than 80 cities now compete in  
the annual national championship; and similar contests are springing  
up in the most unlikely places, most recently on Réunion Island in  
the Indian Ocean.

“I think that perhaps Marc sees this as snowballing out of control,”  
said Susan B. A. Somers-Willett, author of “The Cultural Politics of  
Slam Poetry” and a slam poet herself. “This is something that started  
in Chicago as a group of oddballs who wanted to do some pretty avant- 
garde things, but over the years, as it entered the commercial  
sphere, it has gotten more and more homogenous and started catering  
to a demographic mainstream.”

Full article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/books/03slam.html?_r=1



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David Graham
grahamd at ripon.edu

Home Page:
http://web.mac.com/drjazz

Poetry Library:
http://web.mac.com/drjazz/iWeb/Site/DGPoLibrary.html
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