Slam Poetry

Slam poetry is a competitive form of performance poetry in which poets recite original work before a live audience and a panel of judges drawn from that audience, who score each piece, usually over three rounds under a three-minute limit. Created in Chicago in the mid-1980s by construction worker and poet *Marc Smith*, the format prizes direct address, storytelling, theatrical delivery and emotional immediacy over page-bound technique. Slam spread through cafés and theatres across the United States and internationally, feeding the spoken-word recording scene through artists such as *Saul Williams* and *Buddy Wakefield*, and remains a live, participatory event first and a recorded genre second.