Congratulations to the Worcester's representative to the 2011 Individual World Poetry Slam Championship, Bobby Gibbs. At the end of four rounds Bobby came out ahead of seven other poets, securing the right to rep Worcester at iWPS. Thanks to all the poets who competed, the folks who bravely took up the score boards, Liz Heath for hosting and all those who came out to witness this first class event. Scores can be found below for those interested.

Congratulations to the members of the 2011 Worcester Slam Team - Brandi MacDonald, Bill MacMillan, Bobby Gibbs and Alex Charalambides with alternate Liz Heath. They will represent Worcester at the 2011 National Poetry Slam this August in exotic Boston.

So what's this Slam thing anyway?

We're glad you asked that... Slam poetry can be moving, funny and deadly serious, sometimes all in the same poem. Simply put, poetry slam is the competitive art of performance poetry. It puts a dual emphasis on writing and performance, encouraging poets to focus on what they're saying and how they're saying it. A poetry slam is a competitive event in which poets perform their work and are judged by members of the audience.

One of the best things about poetry slam is the range of poets it attracts. You'll find a diverse range of work within slam, including heartfelt love poetry, searing social commentary, uproarious comic routines, and bittersweet personal confessional pieces. Poets are free to do work in any style on any subject.

Most slams consist of two rounds, though team semi-final and final consist of more rounds. The winner is the poet with the highest combined score at the end of the slam.

Sound like fun? The Poets' Asylum holds both just-for-fun themed slams and open slams. Check out the Sunday schedule for the dates of upcoming slams.

Looking for more info? Head on over to the PSi FAQ page for all the info you need.

2011 Slam Structure

Here's the structure for the 2011 season:

1. Eight open qualifying slams will be held between September 2010 and April 2011. Each slam will be 2 3-minutes rounds and will allow 8 poets to compete. Open Slams will follow the standard format outlined in the MC spiel, which is shown below.

   Slam dates for the 2011 season
   September 26, 2010		January 16, 2011
   October 31, 2010		February 6, 2011
   November 14, 2010		March 6, 2011
   December 5, 2010		March 20, 2011
   Winter Semi-Final Slam December 12, 2010		Spring Semi-Final Slam April 3, 2011
   2010 Worcester Slam Team Finals April 17, 2011

2. The two competitors with the highest cumulative score after two rounds each slam will advance to one of two semi-final bouts - the Winter Semi-Final in December and the Spring Semi-Final in April.

   Each Semi-Final will be a two 3-minute round slam. The top 4 finishers will move on to finals (April '11).

3. The top four finishers in each semi-final slam will move on to the 2011 Worcester Slam Team Final in April 2011.

   Finals will be three 3-minute rounds.

   In the event of a tie for fifth place we'll hold a haiku death match to determine the fifth place finisher.

   The top 5 finishers will become the 2011 Worcester Slam Team. All 5 will participate in the 2011 National Poetry Slam.

4. There is a no-repeat rule in effect between rounds. The 2 poems each person qualified with can not be used in semis or finals. The 2 poems used in semis can not be used in finals.

   In essence this means that each poet will need at least 7 slam poems to successfully compete all the way through finals.

5. Poets going to finals must commit to being on the Worcester team (should they win a spot) at the close of semi-finals or withdraw. If they withdraw the next poet in the semi-final bout will compete in finals.

6. All competitors must complete a contact & poems used card when they slam, regardless of whether they move during the qualifier or not. These cards will be used to track what poems are used in conjunction with the no-repeat rule.

   The host is responsible for making sure this info is requested of the slammers. The slammers are responsible for returning the cards with their contact info before the slam begins. The cards will be used to draw the order.

   After the order is drawn the cards will be returned to the competitors. Following the slam the competitors need to fill in the title of the poems used (or the first line of the poem if the poem is untitled) and return them to the host. If the cards are not returned then the slammer is disqualified from that slam and is not eligible to move on to the next round.

7. In the event that a poet drops out of semi-finals we will replace them with the next finisher from their qualifier in the order of finish. For example, if the second place poet in the October qualifier drops out of the Winter semis then the third place poet will take their place. If the third place poet has already qualified in another open slam then the fourth place poet would move up and so on.

8. Following finals should a team member drop off the team the alternate would replace them. If a second person had to drop out then the next finisher from finals would join the team. Should it be necessary to replace more than 4 poets (thus exhausting finishers 4-8 from finals) we will hold a "last chance slam" to replace the missing team member.

The MC Spiel

As with all competitions there are rules to follow. For most slams Worcester follows the rules as laid out by PSi with respect to time penalties, etc. The basics are covered in the MC spiel, a variation of which follows.

What you are about to witness is a poetry slam. The competitors, of whom there are 8, will perform their own original work, 3 minutes in time length or less. They will use no props, no costumes, no animal acts and no musical accompaniment.

The judges, of whom there are 5, will take those hard wrought words and score them, Olympic style, zero to ten. Zero... the worst poem ever written. So bad that the poet should be forced to play in traffic so we never have to hear it again. Ten... the perfect poem. World peace and spontaneous orgasms throughout the room. We'll drop the high, we'll drop the low, add them together and poof, we have a score. The poet with the highest combined score after two rounds is declared the winner. Judges, please use one decimal point as it helps avoid ties.

Poets who go over 3 minutes are taken out back and shot. Either that or we give them a ten second grace period and then start deducting half a point for every 10 seconds they go over after that. Judges, don't worry about the time, we'll take care of it after you give your scores.

That just about covers the structure and rules. One last thought... Worcester has always tried to stay true to the spirit of Slam. We look at Slam as a friendly competition that is meant to be fun. We try not to take ourselves, or the competition, too seriously. You'll find great poets and poetry at the Slams run by the Asylum. We hope you enjoy the show.

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2010/2011 Slam Scores

Below are the scores from the 2010-2011 Slam season.

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2011 Women of the World PoetrySlam

The Women of the World Poetry Slam (WOWps) was held March 9-12 in Columbus, OH. Congratulations to Theresa Davis on winning WOWps '11.

The Poets' Asylum did not send a rep to WOWps.

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2011 National Poetry Slam

Congratulations to the members of the 2011 Worcester Slam Team - Brandi MacDonald, Bill MacMillan, Bobby Gibbs, Alex Charalambides and Liz Heath. They will represent Worcester at the 2011 National Poetry Slam in 2011 in exotic Boston. Thanks to the other competitors, Sarah Sapienza, Mckendy Fils-Aime and Kim Casey, and to everyone who packed the WCUW Front Room Sunday night to cheer on all the competitors. Special thanks to guest MC Tony Brown, our judges (Gary, Jenith, Kristina, Kirk and Rackle) and runner Dave Mac for making the show run extra smooth. It was a great night for performance poetry in Worcester. We hope you enjoyed the show.

The National Poetry Slam returned to Boston, MA in 2011. Congratulations to the 2011 National Poetry Slam Champion: Slam Nuba from Denver, Colorado, as well as our other finalists: Nuyorican Poets Cafe (New York City, NY) in second place, Providence Poetry Slam (Providence, RI) in third, and Writing Wrongs (Columbus, OH) in fourth. Check out the official website for scores, pictures and more.

The Worcester Slam Team finished 63rd out of the 75 teams that competed. They read the pieces they wanted, received a huge audience response and enjoyed themselves immensely. Thank you everyone in the Asylum community who supported their efforts to represent Worcester at NPS.

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2011 Individual World Poetry Slam

iWPS 2011 will be held October 12 - 15th in Cleveland, OH. The Poets' Asylum will send a rep this year. We held two qualifying slams in July (the 3rd and the 24th). The top two finishers in each qualifier will join members of the 2011 Worcester Slam team as part of the Worcester iWPS rep finals in August. The qualifiers will consist of 2 3-minute rounds.

Congratulations to the Worcester's representative to the 2011 Individual World Poetry Slam Championship, Bobby Gibbs. At the end of four rounds Bobby came out ahead of seven other poets, securing the right to rep Worcester at iWPS. Thanks to all the poets who competed, the folks who bravely took up the score boards, Liz Heath for hosting and all those who came out to witness this first class event.

Finals consisted of four (4) rounds, each with a different time limit. There were be a 1-minute round, 2-minute round, 3-minute round and a 4 minute round. This mimics the format at iWPS. There was a no repeat rule in effect between the qualifiers and finals. Poems performed in the qualifier where the slammer advanced to finals could not be used during finals. For NPS team members this means the poems used in team finals could not be used during the iWPS Finals.

The website for iWPS is iwps.poetryslam.com.

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Archived Info

Information on the past nine years in Worcester Slam can be found in the links below.

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