Last round, you had your lovely, huge groups. To be perfectly honest, I just wanted to eliminate you guys enough to participate in this round. I’m pretty sure it’s going to, by far, be my favorite round yet.
This round, we will be having a poetry slam. You will be on teams of three, three teams to a slam, like in the National Poetry Slam format.
If you aren’t familiar with poetry slams or its rules/format, here’s a little brief.
A poetry slam is a spoken word contest. Participants read poems of no more than 3 minutes. Props, costumes & the sort are not allowed. The poems read are the poet’s original work.
There are usually 5 judges, picked from the audience. They listen to the poem & at the end, judge the poem on a 0-10 scale, to one decimal point. Like in Olympic judging, the top & bottom scores are dropped.
In a team slam, three teams go for four rounds against each other. The order goes as so:
1st. A-B-C
2nd. B-C-A
3rd. C-A-B
4th. A-B-C
As I stated before, there will be two bouts. The two winning teams will move to the finals. Also, there will be a wildcard team from the two bouts. The top scoring team out of the “losers” will join the two definite finalists in the final slam.
The rest of the “losers” will slam also.
These two slams will go down in the same format. The top team will win trophies, the bottom team, yes the whole team, will be eliminated from the “losers” slam.
Harsh? I know. Get over it.
I will be expecting you guys to each write a poem for the slam. Also, I will like a group poem from you guys.
During the rounds leading up to the finalist’s night at the National Poetry Slam, fresh poems MUST be used, but in the final slam, they are allowed to reuse poems.
I will allow this same concept with you guys. For your first round, you MUST write fresh poems. For the final slam though, you may use prewrites, but I am guessing most of you don’t have slam-worthy poetry. I’m just going to say, it is an option here, since I’m being true to the format.
So obviously, you guys will need to get into groups of three. Pick them very, I cannot stress this enough, VERY wisely. I will not be happy listening to the same poem just reworded 4 times. I will not allow people just to sign up for a team. You must come to me with a group of three. If people aren’t getting into groups, I’ll either assign them myself or I will open up complete choice.
Don't forget to give your group a sweet name 'cause really, it's 17% of the fun.
Group A
1. Christina
2. Marty
3. Tyler
Group B
1. Justin
2. Matt
3. Melissa
4. Bri
Group C
1. Chandni
2. Esha
3. Kevin
4. Nate
Group D
1. Audri
2. Johanna
3. Pu
Group E
1. Angie
2. Cassie
3. Stef
The bouts will be groups A, D & E in bout one & groups B & C in the other. :]
Since Hellen dropped out, Nate & Bri were split between groups B & C. An additional round will be added to their first bout, for their fresh, individual poems. The groups are not required to write in their new member into their group poems.
There will also be a change in judging. Only the winning teams in each slam will move onto the winner's slam. There will be no wildcard. All of the losing groups will be in the losing slam & subject to elimination.
Also, I will be needing judges out of you guys. I will need four judges for each bout to judge, along with myself. You obviously cannot judge your own bout. So for now, I will just put you guys in order as to if you want to judge or not. It will come first come, first serve as to who can judge.
1. Matt
2. Tyler
3. Cassie
4. Kevin
5. Stef
6. Marty
7. Mel
Judges bout one: Chandni, Matt, Mel & Kevin.
Judges bout two: Cassie, Marty, Stef & Tyler.
If you’re looking for an example of slam poetry, k-dense is a perfect one.
Also, his slam troupe, Quarantine Unit, has some amazing group pieces like ”I want you to be the one” & ”1997”. I’ve linked the texts to the poems & you can listen to their performances by clicking on the group’s linked Myspace page. Take those as a basis.
Hint: Curtis once told me that the best slam pieces are those at 2 minutes, 50 seconds. They allow a full climax & understanding. That doesn’t give you permission to ramble though.
Looking for something more profession? Google Taylor Mali, Saul Williams, Beau Sia or "The Wussy Boy Manifesto" by Big Poppa E.
We will be having the first slam on Thursday, May 15th & the second slam on Saturday, May 17th. Pieces & order or presentation for both slams will be due on the 15th at 12:00am CST. I will expect judging to not take a million years, so if you’re going to be a slow ass judge, don’t sign up.
Any questions, comment the page. It’s kind of late & I can expect there to be some.
-Chase
Adding your comment:
Who wants to work with Cassie-la?
I want to be person #1.3 
