This essay, Poetry slams do nothing to help the art form survive, struck a chord with me.

I have always had mixed feelings about slams. And I have always felt that the quality of poetry heard in poetry slams is lacking and certainly it works against innovative and experimental poetry (try reading Gerard Manley Hopkins or John Ashberry in front of a mirror and in a slam style and then ask yourself how well they’d hold up).

The only division in poetry is between those people willing to take the time to read it and those who will not.

Nathan Thompson, the essayist wrote that line in refutation of the idea that slam poetry is a democratization of poetry. He writes, not without merit, that ‘Most slam poems are not strong enough to be published in even minor poetry journals.’

Slam poetry is not a substitute for… poetry. In some ways, it’s like the girl in school who can hit the high notes and who sounds great, but then you hear Billie Holiday sing Strange Fruit and how she can do it with subtlety, tone, and emotion and without even raising her voice.

Perhaps. I don’t know. I just with slam and performance poetry were used to also direct audience members and participants towards the great mass of poetry culture, from Homer to Natasha Trethewey.