National Poetry Month Public Service Overview April 8, 2013: As a public service, since it’s National Poetry Month, and since there seems to be a considerable deficit of awareness about what contemporary poetry is all about, I thought I’d provide a brief overview of the different types and brands out there right now. This, I hope, will save the curious but lazy the trouble of having to do a whole [...] by K. Silem Mohammad

Slam Poetry: The Difference Is You April 4, 2012: Slam poetry is a forum not a form And the difference is u -- Something living, someone alive, It’s the difference between a boulder, unmovable And being bolder, or At least moving Toward each other Because the difference is u. I am a poetry slam coach at a high school. We just finished our third year of competing in Louder Than a [...] by John S. O'Connor

SlamSlamSlamSlamSlamSlam! So there! April 3, 2011: Why isn’t anyone talking about the poetry slam? Out loud? Especially now? Most poets are, would like to be, or consider themselves in the canon’s “official clutches”—the world of poetry célèbre-stars black-tie tributes, gleefully snarky NYT reviews, highbrow race wars, endowed chairs, “if-you’re-supposed-to-know-you-know” [...] by Patricia Smith