I'm not even pissed or anything, just baffled. It seems like everyone is either completely narcissistic and/or brings up non-issues nobody cares about. Also, the passive-aggressiveness of some of these people is unbelievable. Just look at this shit:
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Has Slam Poetry ever produced worthwile content? Can it be saved?
Like all American literary manifestation, slam poetry sucks balls. It's just the American way of life. You just don't have what it takes to produce high poetry or literature.
Saul Williams is the saving grace
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Leonard Cohen is great too
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The only slam poetry that is bearable
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What is slam poetry? Is it just poetry recited for an audience?
Saul Williams is probably the best one i've heard, but even he falls to the total over-embellishment to the point of caricature.
yeah slam poetry is bad, but your examples are exceptionally bad.
its all part of this modernist decimation of poetry as an art form. none of this is poetry, its polemic.
Well, its definitely a different beast than regular poetry, in the respect that you're not expected to read it, ever. Considering that, a lot of the techniques have to be much more exagerrated, this rarely has a good effect (for me), but I think Saul Williams is one of those cases. His imagery and complete mastery of English sonics are undeniable (for me).
It also helps that his subject matter (black violence as art) is compelling and handle in a way that doesn't come across as overly political (with exceptions of course).
No one gives a shit about slam poetry except fat dykes and /pol/-retards.
It's like asking why YA is so terrible. Who cares
/pol/-fags like slam?
hate-sharing is a sure sign you secretly like something
There's some quality
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Ooooh like that
Slam is the decaying carcass of beat, a ghost from a time when words spat from tobacco-fogged stages could still worm their way into soft hearts.
Slam is beat dragged frothing into the harsh light of the mainstream, made to whore itself for the electric eyes of the New Hippies (tm).
Slam is the voice of the society of indignant apathy, where your neighbors know how bad things really are and must remind you how bad things really are at all times.
Slam is the voice of a generation of picky eaters.
deep xD
this is it. the highest american contribution to contemporary culture. you've mastered THE form for 20something white liberal that spends his time discussing non-binary gender politics with his progressive friends over a cup of fair trade coffee. now please don't export it.
no but seriously. this is great.
Damn that was actually pretty neat. Funny how men produce lyrical, interesting poetry and women just drone on about their periods and tampons
>implying tampons couldn't be a powerful motif
Read more Joyce
I would give you some female slam poets, but most of the women I enjoy write poetry instead.
Slam poetry is just a way for people who have neither talent nor work drive to feel artistic
It's rap for people who can't rap but want to look urban and woke. They are Kerouac's filth, spawned to blithe the earth.
>that semicolon
Frankly it's not different from any low-level art that involves literary composition : original local rap generally sucks, original local rock bands suck, original local poetry sucks. There is not reason why original local slam wouldnt suck. Its just supposed to tackle issues the Internet cares about so it spreads more easily. But it's still bad art.
Approach it from the perception of process. Even secretly liking something won't negate openly despising it. Heck, a moral choice is often reliant on there being competing desires, cowardice and heroism.
Tell me, how many heroes never wanted to go back? Secretly or not.
Slam poems are the least poetic incarnation of poetry. The way you read them is more important than the substance of what you're reading. I'm against all public readings. Poetry is something you should keep like a secret. The same goes for music. Solitary experiences are more rich than shared experiences. Nothing is lost in them and your senses cannot be exploited.
>tfw melissa lozada-oliva will never sit on your face
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>ah! a spider! i hate it so much! i better pick it up and show it to all my friends!