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The Internet And Slam Poetry

The Internet And Slam Poetry

By Josue Habana

Slam poetry is widely considered an edgy and modern twist on what we might call, "traditional poetry." It takes the traditional forms of poetry and essentially gives them a more urban feel, which helps to make this style a favourite even with people who might not have any interest at all in classic poets and their work.

As with pretty much anything in life, including more traditional art forms, the way in which the internet has evolved has had a massive impact on slam poetry. But how has this incredibly expressive and modern art form been affected by developments to the way we access the Internet?

First of all, the internet has made it much easier for people to share their poetry. You no longer need a book deal or a TV performance slot to let people read or hear your work. You can start a blog at no cost on blogspot.com or wordpress.com, for example, and begin sharing your poetry immediately. Alternatively, you could buy a domain and set up your own poetry website. You can record yourself either in video or just audio, performing your poems and you can share these on blogs or on massive video sharing sites like Youtube, instantly. You have a potentially massive global audience right at your fingertips. This has seen many more unpublished poets come to attention in recent years.

Another way in which the internet has helped poets in general is through an increased number of web based self publishing houses. A fine example of such is lulu.com, which is a website that allowed you to put together a book in electronic format and they will then print and supply hardback or paperback versions and you can even sell copies through Lulu.

Turning our attention specifically to slam poetry, a style that is brought to life through the performance element, one of the most promising developments is that of virtual world open mic events. In Second Life, for example, there are a number of slam poets who perform live a number of times a week at the many venues. A great example is the fringe style venue, Lyrical Cafe, which was founded by Kamille Kamala.