Slam Poetry (1980s–Present, USA)

We arrive in the 1980s — a bar in Chicago, Green Mill Lounge. A white construction worker and poet named Marc Smith wants to make poetry more engaging. He starts the poetry slam — a competitive, scored performance format. Slam becomes a stage where performance matters as much as — sometimes more than — the words themselves.

The slam scene grows quickly and includes many voices: Black, Latinx, queer, immigrant, disabled, working-class — voices not welcomed by academic poetry spaces. Artists like Patricia Smith and Saul Williams dominate early slams, bringing fierce, personal, and political poetry to the mic.

But again, we see a cultural tension: slam formats often enter white spaces faster than the communities they come from. Some venues sanitize the content. Others profit from the energy of protest without investing in its roots.

And yet, slam has been a gateway — expanding spoken word across classrooms, festivals, and global stages. This is where many people first encounter spoken word poetry as performance, vulnerability, and resistance all in one.

• Saul Williams – Experimental, rhythmic, pan-Africanist; bridged hip-hop and poetry.
• Buddy Wakefield – Known for emotionally raw, autobiographical performances.
• Patricia Smith– Nationally acclaimed poet and performer, and is the author of numerous books, including Incendiary Art. 

Activities

• Audience Hook: Start a poem with a gripping opening line and perform it to the room.
• Punchline Crafting: Create a final line with impact—the kind that ends a slam poem.
• Volume Map: Practice one line using 3 emotional volumes: whisper, speak, shout.