At a lone mic in a dimly lit room a wordsmith, with candor and cadence, creates a linguistic fog enrapting an audience, pulling them into the poet’s subterranean emotional world—but for only three minutes at a time, in three rounds, and judged by randomly selected audience members. Such is the way of a poetry slam.
Utah’s slam scene has increased in size and ranking since first competing nationally in 2004. The slam season culminates every March with the top 10 poets—as per point rankings since the previous September—vying for five spots to represent Utah at the National Poetry Slam, to be held this year in St. Paul, Minn.
Despite the competition, slamming is mostly an
opportunity, unlike the solitary effort that goes into the written word,
to verbally connect with listeners, expressing feelings others couldn’t
put words to. Performance poetry is a vessel for artistic expression,
along with, of course, wordsorcery. So, help send off our best, artists
who bring life and light to this human experience.
Poetry Slam Finals @ Mo’s Grill, 358 S. West Temple, 801-359-0586, March 29, 8 p.m.
Speaking of...
-
Nurture The Creative Mind
A look at the Ogden nonprofit before its next poetry event.
- Feb 12, 2017
-
Wasatch Wordsmiths
Poetry group brings a brand-new slam to Este Pizza
- Sep 3, 2015
-
RJ Walker
Diving into the mind of the SLC performance poet
- Jul 29, 2015
- More »
More by Austen Diamond
-
Wasted Space
342 S. State, Salt Lake City
- May 6, 2015
-
Jackalope Lounge
372 S. State, Salt Lake City
- Apr 22, 2015
-
Geeks Who Drink at Piper Down Pub
1492 S. State, Salt Lake City
- Apr 15, 2015
- More »
Latest in Entertainment Picks
Readers also liked…
-
THE ESSENTIAL A&E PICKS FOR MAR 14 - 20
St. Patrick's Day, Bored Teachers Comedy Tour, Downy Doxey-Marshall: Bloom and Laura Sharp Wilson: Gilding the Lily: A Choreography , and more.
- Mar 13, 2024
