What is slam poetry? Or … is it poetry slam?
This short article is contributed by Ms Esther Yap and Ms Siti Rohanis. Both are speech language therapists based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The authors have recently carried out a 2-week study investigating the efficacy of slam poetry as a strategy to improve and increase word recognition in 10 young children who are reluctant or poor readers and speak very little English. The findings of the study have been reported and presented by Ms Pauline T.C. Poh, a reading therapist at the LDcentre, Singapore, at the recent Third International Conference on the Arts for Early Childhood Education held at the National Institute of Education campus, Singapore, June 1-3, 2009.
What is our definition of slam poetry?
Many genres of poetry have employed the use of the spoken word to convey meaning of their messages. However, there is no genre of poetry other than that which is known as slam poetry relies very heavily on vocal delivery, whose poetic style is found in hip-hop music and has drawn heavily on the tradition of dub poetry (Roberts, 2006) - a rhythm and politicized genre belonging to the blacks and particularly West Indian culture - as well as using traditional theatric devices including shifting voices and tones, while others may recite an entire poem in an ironic monotone (Cavallari, 2003). A relatively recent movement within the changing world of poetry, slam poetry has been credited to an American poet, Marc Smith, who started the poetry slam at the Get Me High Lounge in Chicago, US, in November 1984. He is also known as the founder of the Poetry Slam (Cavallari, 2003; also see Smith, 1984, at http://marckellysmith.com/#/history/). Slam poetry revolves around a strong and distinct vocal presentation, thereby lending itself to a more rhythmic, almost musical creation. The forum in which these poets wrote and present their work is a competitive performance called a poetry slam (Ellik, 2000).
Special acknowledgement:
The two contributors of this article wish to thank Ms Pauline Poh for taking an interest to write on the findings based on this quasi-experimental study done in KL, Malaysia.
References:
Cavallari, D. (2003). What is slam poetry? Retrieved on May 17, 2009, from http://www.weegeek.com/what-is-a-poetry-slam.htm.
Ellik, C. (2000). Dead cat bounce. Berkeley, CA: The Author.
Roberts, C. (2006). Heavy words lightly thrown: The resaon behind rhyme. Waterville, ME: Thorndike Press.
Smith, M.K. (1984). Poetry slam. Retrieved on May 20, 2009, from http://marckellysmith.com/#/history/.
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