Alltech Brings Inventor of Slam Poetry to Host Lexington Competition!

“The very word 'poetry' repels people. Why is that? Because of what schools have done to it. The slam gives it back to the people.... We need people to talk poetry to each other. That's how we communicate our values, our hearts, the things that we've learned that make us who we are.” -Marc Smith-

Marc Smith has spent years in an effort to bring poetry back to the people. Slam Poetry has revolutionized poetry, turning it from a snobby, highly-refined form of fine art into what, most people will argue, it was meant to be: a raw expression of one’s emotions and humanity. Smith invented the poetry slam and, thus, Slam Poetry. Smith’s efforts and ideals have allowed the rise of, now, stars like Saul Williams, Michael Cirelli and many others.

Marc Smith’s quote embodies my experience with poetry. The constant emphasis that schools place on form, length and the refined nature of poetry completely turned me off to the idea of poetry. My junior year of high school I discovered, through a friend, Saul Williams’ album “Penny for a Thought/ Purple Pigeons”. Finding this album caused me to delve deeper into the works of Saul Williams and discover a new brand of poetry that had been hidden deep under a pile of Haikus by English teachers everywhere.

Slam poetry is raw, a slam poet is an individual expressing how they truly feel deep down in a place that they only allow people to see in their poetry. I got one taste of this style of poetry and have been hooked ever since. This style of poetry has been called very macho, masculine and like a sporting event, this is what causes some people to dislike it but the raw bravado is what hooked me, as well as many other people. Marc Smith has not only created a genre, he has empowered people. Saul Williams said of slam poetry,
“It filled a tremendous void for me and my friends growing up... The only thing that prevented all the young boys in the black community from turning into Michael Jackson, from all of us bleaching our skin, from all of us losing it, just losing it, was slamming (slam poetry). That was the only counter-existence in the mainstream media. That was essential, and in that same way I think poetry fills a very huge void today [among] youth. And I guess I count myself among the youth”

Slam poetry is coming to Lexington! This genre of entertainment has not yet made a real jump to the southern states, other than Atlanta, and I am excited to get to see the inventor of the genre, and a group from his weekly show, bring Lexington into the future of poetry by allowing Lexington poets to enter this slam poetry contest!

The Intern