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Posted (edited)

Slam Quest Thread

Slam Quest O.O.C. thread

In order to fulfill my quill quest, I propose we hold a Virtual Poetry Slam.

If you would like to sign on, please PM me with your Role preference...


Ladies and Gentleman: The winner and champion of the first Annual Dreamlost Slam Quest is none other than the Co-Guild-leader from the Articulate Artisans of Alliteration: The poet and wordsmith:

Mira

Everyone please feel free to congratulate him in the Slam Quest thread.



Additional Audience members real or unreal are free to show up at anytime...





Slam Poetry explanation:

Rev's take

Zariah's take



Setting: Cabaret Room

Roles:[/color]

Master of Ceremonies: Revery
Hostess: Zariah
Featured Guest Poet: Cyril Darkcloud

Open Mike Poets: at least 5:
1. Fountain (alt character)
2. Zariah
3. Tanuchan
4. drummondo
5. Vlad
6. Ayshela
7. OPEN list...

Slam Poets: at least 3, but no more than 10.
1. Mira
2. Loki Wyrd
3. Katzaniel
4.drummondo
5. cryptomancer
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Judges: 3 or 4, but can be members of audience
1. Vlad
2. Wyvern
3. Ayshela


Audience members: Open free for all
Wait staff / tea and or coffee makers / Bartendor: Open free for all


Audience/MISC so far...maybe:
Listed for Reference:
1. Nyyrak
2. Cerulean
3. Katzaniel
4. Tanuchan Waiter/Minstrel?
5. Mynx Waitress
6. Peredhil
7. fountain

Slam Poet Prize: A very special Cyril Darkcloud "multi-part critical analysis of the winning contestant's work"



more to follow...

Edited by Tanuchan
broken links
Posted

Proposed Order of Events:

~~subject to change~~~

 

1. Initial Setup thread: Revery (e.g. M.C. opens up the floor for open mike)

2. Back stories welcome for any arriving poets/guest/staff/audience members

3. Open Mike Poets perform/ Hostess and MC sets the stage...

4. Break for chit-chat/food/ whatever…

5. MC makes introductions, goes over the rules, and opens the Slam Competition

6. Slam Poets perform 1 to 3 rounds of slam poetry

7. Judges Declare Winner

8. Winning Poet awarded prize...

9. Intermission

10. Special Guest Poet Performs…

11. MC Closes: “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”

Posted

Rules/Procedures:

 

Master of Ceremonies: MC is always right. MC will not perform poetry as Revery.

Hostess: Hostess is always right...

 

 

Special Guest Poet: May perform anything… Poet is not limited to Poetry. Guest Poet may sing, dance, preach, lecture, preform a one act play, plug her/her book, invite audience participation, teach an informal class, lecture, and take requests…whatever and what have you…

 

Open Mike:

1. Poets may perform anything; I do mean anything remotely resembling poetry…

2. No time, prop, character, form or length limitations…

3. Audience is not obligated devote their whole attention to the Open Mikers… in other words, people might be moving around and talking during their performances.

4. OP Mikes will not be formally judged.

5. May be members of Audience.

 

Judges:

1. May be member of Audience

2. Judges rate slam poets on a scale of 1 to 10

a)Initial Results/impressions may be PM’d to me and or other judges to review

b)Final Results can be posted individually, in tandum with other judges, or filtered through the Hostess or Master of Ceremonies...

c)American idol type sidebar judging styles allowed, though not required...

3. Judges will rate poets solely on their poetry, without regard to RP style, costume, props, past performance, etc.

4. Slam Poets’ Score will consist of the average of all judges

5. May judge as many as 3 elimination rounds.

 

Rounds:

1. Number of Rounds will correspond to the number of Slam Poets Competing.

 

2. One Round for 3 Poets

3. Two Rounds for 5 Poets

A. 2 Poets would be eliminated from the first round, leaving 3 to compete in the Second Round.

 

4. Three Rounds for 10 Poets

A. 5 Poets would be eliminated from the first round, leaving 5 to compete in the Second Round

B. 2 Poets would be eliminated from the second round, leaving 3 to compete in the Third and Final Round.

 

Slam Poets:

 

1. May be members of audience

2. Must perform a new poem for every round of competition: No repeats.

3. Poet is judged solely on Poem Presented: RP style, Props, costumes though allowed should not Factored into the Judging.

4. Poems limited to 600 words or 100 lines entry, but there is no obligation to meet or “fill” the 600/100 word/line limit.

Posted (edited)

Audio? :blink:

 

hmm, never thought about that...

 

**pauses to consider**

 

1. That would prolly involve someone willing to host the media files for that...

2. It might limit the participates, due to lack of means/know how to record audio...

 

hmm...

 

Well, I suppose if and only if all slammers agreed to put their poem in an audio format in addition to their post...

 

AND if someone finds a means of hosting it, then I'd allow it...

 

Otherwise, the quest shall proceed page poet style... it's a 'Vitual' Slam Quest remember... Hmm, but vitual could also mean doing a Video and Audio stream together...but I think that's a little beyond my skill, at least for my quest...and it might be a little much for dial up connections... Sounds like a good idea for the future though...

 

rev...

Edited by reverie
Posted

LOL no not insulting each other. But I guess you could do that if you wanted to...it's not nice though.

 

What is poetry slam?

 

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 an event in which poets perform their work and are judged by members of the audience. Typically, the host or another organizer select the judges, who are instructed to give numerical scores (on a zero to 10 or one to 10 scale) based on the poet's content and performance.

 

An example of rules/faq/etc.

 

PSI-Poetry Slam

 

 

Sorry rev...if you want to add/correct this in any way...let me know...

Posted

Okay,

 

I've had two more happy quest seekers sign up:

 

Wyvern as a Judge

 

and Cyril Darkcloud as Special Guest...

 

 

Likewise, because of a generous donation of time and resources:

 

Audio may be do-able... I have to think about it some more, though...

 

rev...

Posted

What is the difference between slam poetry and poetry?

 

That's not the right question to ask. There is no such thing as "slam poetry" even though the term "slam poet" seems to have gained acceptance. Those who use the term "slam poetry" are probably thinking more of hip-hop poetry or loud, in-your-face, vaguely poetic rants. The more useful question to ask is "What is the difference between spoken word and poetry?" Spoken word is poetry written first and foremost to be HEARD. At any given slam, much of the work presented could be called spoken word.

Ah, so filling it with rhymes and alliterations is probably a good strategy.

 

Thanks for the explanations, both of you (though Rev, it might help more people if you just posted that whole PM into this thread) and I do believe I'll try this out. Sign me up for Audience member and Slam Poet competitor... though I suspect you might do better to allow more than 10 competitors...

Posted

Katz: Glad to have you aboard...

 

Regarding ## of Slam Poets: I actually expected more ppl to sign up for open mike than the Slam?

 

hmm... Well, i can thrown out the Slam limit, if you think more than 10 will sign up... That would be really great...I just needed to illustrate the cooresponding # of rounds... But remember for every additional round I tack on, the poet most slam another poem.

 

Loki Great. hmm, maybe after more people sign up, I should hold a poll for whether or not to use Audio? Thoughts?

 

rev...

Posted (edited)

As per Request... My PM loosely explaining Slam poetry... or my take on it at least...

 

Hmm, how to describe slam poetry...

 

Well, Slam Poets views the world of poetry in two Relms:

 

Slam Poetry: Short Spoken Word poems that are meant to be Preformed before an Audience in a Competitive Setting (usually 3 minutes in length or less) Which, often incorporates elements of narrative story telling with a flair for the dramatic...

 

and

 

Page Poetry: Everything Else...

 

Like, I'm a page poet... I write for the sake of writing, and generally direct poems either towards myself or one or two people in mind... Like a love poem...

 

Slam Poets write to and for similar reasons, except they write their poems as performers on stage...

 

Slam Poets can often sound like hip hop without music, but that's largerly a regionally thing... Like, if you are in a highly urban area, you'll get more spoken word with a hip/hop flare... See drummodo and Wyv's works...

 

or if you in a more diverse college town, you'll find the poems have a less rhythmic but more reflective quality...

 

But then, again you never know what you're going to get... Many people travel great distances to slam...

 

Slam poems range from form stone cold serious to laugh out loud funny...

 

Ya know, some of the great slam poets even elevate it to the Level of a very short One-Man-Show/Play...or Monolague with the Audience...

 

Oh, but by no means, do I expect the Page Poets of the Pen to aspire fully to the level of a veteran Slam Poet...

 

Like, I only have one or two poems that are slam worthy...

 

Still, I do not recommend Slamming often... Like in any competition, you can tend to lose focus on what's important: the work. A lot of slammers get consumed with "Winning" and resort to overused trite gimmicks and hooks to win the audience over... See the pop music of any genre.

 

I've also happened to meet Gyle Danley, a former international champion a few years ago:

 

gayle danley

 

Her website probably explain it better than I can..

 

Here's a couple of her poems:

 

Gayle Danley,

 

"Megahurts,"

she kept saying.

 

"There are four hurts that stain the mind

worse than coffee:

when the cord is cut

and the baby must endure life separately

 

when he lies and leaves

and the baby learns there is no such thing

as love and must endure life separately

 

when Mama lays her last breath into your arms

and the baby realizes forever lies

and must endure life separely

 

when the baby dies and there is no one near

to catch the final blinking of her eyes

and she must endure death separately,

 

megahurts, sugar, mega"

and you know you numbers coming

like the last orange line train

slowly on schedule

soon

 

---

 

Civil Rice

by Gyle Danley

 

I didn't march in Birmingham

or sit in at Woolworths

or wave a picket sign

boycott anything

or spend a night in the county jail

 

I missed all his speeches

and was nowhere near that aching mule pulling his casket

 

But I'll have you know I was part of the Civil Rice Movement

 

Yes I ate rice with Coretta Scott King

and it was't just any rice

It was gently cooked

resting beneath a blanket of gravy

 

Coretta's niece was my cousin's best friend

and during one of our many visits to the niece's home

I had rice with the Kings!

 

Mrs. King served it herself

wearing an apron

and her bouffant-for-life

 

And then we discussed Dr. Kings next speech

and he rehearsed it for me

and we wrote the melody for that song(We shall Overcome)

and I became the family advisor

 

They're gonna build a monument to me

with a fork in one hand

and a copy of Ebony in the other

The plague at my feet will read:

Altanta Native Ate Rice With the Kings

 

And I'll be on Oprah

and I'll be judged not by the color of my skin

but by the number of rice recipes I've created:

mountaintop rice

voting rice casserole

I am somebody rice

and my favorite

brown rice (for colored eaters only)

 

So let the marchers waste their time

While they're toting pickets signs

I'll be holding up my folk in memory of that spe-

cial day

Standing among the giants of my time:

Rosa

Jesse

Aunt Jemima

and Uncle Ben

 

....

 

well, hope some of that helps,

 

rev...

Edited by reverie
Posted

A poll sounds good. I'd probably actually prefer not speaking--I'm better on paper. :) But I like to challenge myself, and I have found I do have the capabilities to record, so either way works for me.

Posted

Had this QQ taken place a month earlier, I would be all for audio recordings of poems. But now that I have lost my access to a high-speed internet connection I'm afraid that if I can not successfully record and upload, I will not be able to participate. If all of the other Slam Poets agree to an audio format I will do my best to follow suite and if worse comes to worse, might have to just post my poems in the normal way.

Posted

Seems to me that if we want audio, it would be only as an augmentation, entirely optional, or else you will probably lose participants due to that, and I rather suspect that isn't the ideal situation, given that it wasn't even part of the original idea. B)

 

On another note, can we start working on these, or are we given a topic or something when we begin? As far as I understand, it would have to have been written specifically for this, but it doesn't matter if we plan ahead, right?

Posted (edited)

As far as I know slam poetry doesn't typically have a specific topic. Though I don't claim to know much...

Edited by Loki Wyrd
Posted

*laughs* sign me up for making coffee and tea!

 

a couple of questions -

 

1. Will topics be assigned for either of the poetry events (open mike or slam)?

2. Is it either-or, or could an ambitious/undecided person sign on for both?

 

'shela the perpetually confused ;)

Posted (edited)

Katz:

 

By all means start writing your poems now... I should have went over this point... but one of the basic concepts of Slam or even open mike is that 'this is not improv'

 

You should have prepared piece ready to go by the time you are called up to the mike...

 

Strickly speaking your poems do not even have to entirely orignal to this thread... I would prefer if you came up with something orginal for the quest though...but inspiration can be a fickle thing, ideed... It's not unheard of for many people in real life to Slam poems that were written a long, long time ago... and some use the some one's over and over and over again... This can get to be bit tiresome though...

 

Regarding Topics, Loki's right. Your subject matter is whatever you choose... Slams and open mikes are Free-for-all anything goes kinds of things... So long as you use only words... No elaborate props, No Music, No drums...

 

Ayshela:

 

Topics: Unless someone expressely needs a theme given to them individually to jump start their creativity... I will not be assigning topics...

 

If anyone wants to do both Open mike and Slam... Go right ahead... Keep in mind, that you can't Slam the same poem, you read at Open mike though...

 

Also the only open rows that are limited as an 'either or' choice are that of "Judge" and "Slam Poet"

 

A judge can be a member of the audience, staff, open mike, even be the special guest... But a judge cannot "slam" that would be a confict of interest... :)

 

Like wise: Anyone can read at open mike, even the M.C.

Please sign up for this before hand though...

 

rev...

Edited by reverie
Posted (edited)

No prob. Big P...

 

I'll put you down for audience now...

 

Oh here's a note: The current audience list is only for reference of those that plan to be in attendance... It by no means is meant to limit the amount of fictional charactor inventions that some of you might be inclined to come up with... or does it limit other pen-nites from walking into the show later on...

 

Pretty much, i'm being pretty loose with the story development that exists on the preferable edges of the competition... Anything goes really, just please keep it clean and yield back control of the Floor to the M.C. or Hostress so they can keep the rounds progessing forward...

 

rev...

Edited by reverie
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