Sound like fun? The Poets' Asylum holds both just-for-fun themed slams
and open slams. Check out the Sunday and Monday schedules for the dates of upcoming slams.This page contains information about a past slam season in Worcester. For current information please go here.
| What is Slam? | 2006 Slam Structure | 2006 Slam Winners | 2006 Indy World Poetry Slam | 2006 National Poetry Slam | Archived Info |
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Congratulations to the 2006 Worcester Slam team - Gary Hoare, Urban, Bobby Gibbs and Erin Jackson. These fine poets represented Worcester at the 2006 Nationals in Austin, TX in August '06.
We're glad you asked that... Slam poetry can be moving, funny and deadly serious, sometimes all in the same poem. Each round participants perform their own original work for the audience. Five randomly chosen judges from the audience give each poem a score between 0.0 to 10.0, with 10 being the highest possible score. The high and the low scores are dropped, and the three remaining scores are added. There is a time limit of three minutes per poem, with a 10-second grace period. After the grace period is passed, points will be deducted from the poet's score.
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 and Monday schedules for the dates of upcoming slams.
Looking for more info? Head on over to the PSI FAQ page for all the info you need.
| The points are not the
point; the point is poetry!!! -- Allan Wolf, former slmmaster, Asheville, NC |
Here's the structure for the 2005/2006 season:
Each Semi-Final will be a four round slam with a different time limit each round (1, 2, 3, and 4 minute rounds). A no repeat rule is in effect; the poems used in semi-finals can not be used in finals.
As with all competitions there are rules to follow. 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 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.
This is the place to check out the winners of the latest slam, qualifying or otherwise.
The winners of the 10/24 slam were Danny Balel and Gigglez.
The winners of the 11/27 slam were MC Spiel and Ryk McInytre.
The winners of the 12/11 slam were Urban and Nick Davis.
The winners of the 12/18 slam were Gary Hoare and Bobby Gibbs.
The winners of the 01/01 Winter Semi-final were Bobby Gibbs, Gary Hoare, Urban and Ryk McIntyre. They move on to the Team Finals in June.
The winners of the 02/26 slam were Erin Jackson and Sean Conlon.
The winners of the 03/12 slam were Simone Beaubien and Nick Davis. After making the Cantab team Simone dropped out of the Worcester semi-finals allowing third place finisher of the 3/12 slam, Dave Keali'i, to move on to semis.
The winners of the 04/02 slam were Joe and Mr. Marquis.
The winners of the 04/30 slam were MC Spiel and Ansel Appleton. MC Spiel decided to step aside, allowing third place finisher Jeff to move on.
The winners of the 05/28 Spring Semi-final were Erin Jackson, Sean Conlon, Nick Davis and Joe (the artist former known as Gigglez).
The winners of the 06/04 Team Finals were Erin Jackson, Bobby Gibbs, Urban, and Gary Hoare. These fine poets will respresent Worcester at the 2006 Nationals in Austin, TX this August.
Congratulations to Bobby Gibbs in winning the Semi-Final Slam and iWPS Slamoff on January 1st!!! Bobby will head to Charlotte, NC to represent Worcester at the 2006 Individual World Poetry Slam Championship. Bobby also moves on to the team finals later this year with Gary Hoare, Urban and Ryk McIntyre.
The 2006 Individual World Poetry Slam (iWPS) championship is Mike McGee. Congratulations Mike and a big round of applause to all the competitors and organizers.
In 2006 the National Poetry Slam will be held in Austin, TX. The annual gathering of performance poets will be held August 9 - 12th.
The host hotel will be the Hyatt Regency Austin (208 Barton Springs, Austin, TX).
For more information please visit the excellent NPS '06 website set-up by the Austin Slam, organizers of both the 2006 and 2007 National Poetry Slam.
Information on the past six years in Worcester Slam can be found in the links below.
| 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 |