On March 12 at the Snoring Sasquatch arts house, the public and poets alike are invited to attend the second in a series of poetry slams.
Poetry slams date back to the 1980s when Marc Smith decided to battle the snooty and elitist reputation poetry had at the time by designing a night that encouraged poets of all ages and writing styles to gather together in friendly competition — thus, the “slam” part of poetry slam.
Poetry slams can feature a broad range of voices, styles, cultural traditions, and approaches to writing and performance as was shown at the previous slams at the Sasquatch.
“We had quite a few different styles, covering several topics,” said Sasquatch volunteer Jason Smith. “From traditional poetry to a more hip-hop influenced sound, at times it got quite intense.”
Tradition has the MC choose five judges randomly from the audience who then get to rate the performances on a scale of 0-10. Those selected can rate poems based on whatever feelings they have but the highest and lowest scores are eliminated, giving the performer a score of 0-30.
“It brings poetry to the people,” said local poet Kuya Minogue.