Word: slamming
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...poets here don't sit in a dark corner, sipping cappucino and smoking Turkish cigarettes. If you want the judges to let you taste victory, says Slam Co-Host Michael Brown, you've got to go get them...
Performance poetry is nothing new, but the point of the Slam is to knock your opponents out of competition--a boxing ring with literary types. Brown and his wife Patricia Smith brought the Slam to Boston from Chicago, where competitive poetry reading has been part of the scene for years. Local poets come to the Bookcellar every week to perform their pieces for the audience and for randomly chosen judges, who hold up Olympic-style scorecards. Poets steel themselves for rejection; the audience cheers or growls for their favorites. The more reaction, the better...
...gonna kick some serious poeticass!" shouts Patricia Smith to the crowd, and they whoop in approval. This week is the semi-finals, and the crowd is pumped. McIntyre has been on the official Boston Slam Team for a while now, and he knows how to get the audience going. He walks among them, slamming his fist in his hand...
Since the Slam started back in September, it has rattled the local literary circuit. Two weeks ago the Bookcellar opened a Saturday Slam to accomodate the crowds which scrunch into the cafe to watch the poetic conflagrations...
Smith, who admits that the Slam is "a rather silly game," says it has given the Boston poetry scene the kick in the pants it needs. The slammers say that the competition energizes them. Tweney says the slam makes him "put in his soul. It's cool...