City to see poet infestation

by Maria DeBlassie

Daily Lobo

Slam is the extreme sport in the world of poetry.

That's what Ken Rodriguez, coach and member of the Albuquerque Slam Team, said.

"The definition of slam poetry is to take poetry back to the people," he said.

This year Albuquerque will be holding the National Poetry Slam, and publicity director Don McIver said the events are located in various venues Downtown. The events start Aug. 10 at noon and run through Saturday night.

McIver said the poetry slam is a great way to show the city off to the nation.

Matthew John Conley, slam poet and former Albuquerque resident, said 11 years ago people in the city laughed at slam poetry and now Albuquerque is hosting the biggest poetry party on the planet. He also said Albuquerque is a town of the unusual.

"It's a place where you step outside and it's raining on one side of the street and the sun is shining on the other side and there's rainbow in between," he said. "Albuquerque is full of poetry."

Slam poetry started in Chicago in the mid-1980s, McIver said, by a construction worker named Marc Smith who, tired of dry poetry readings, developed a way to get the poet to engage the audience. By turning readings into a competition in which the audience judges the poet, Smith made poetry more accessible, McIver said.

"Slam poetry shows the vitality of poetry," he said.

This year is the largest poetry slam ever, with 75 teams and every region in the nation represented, he said. New Mexico has teams from all over the state.

McIver said poets are judged by random members of the audience and are rated by a complex point system.

"Marc wanted to get away from the idea that there are experts in poetry," he said.

The rules for performing are simple, he said. Poets are limited to three-minute performances and can't use costumes, props or music, only their voice and body.

Competing this way makes poets take their work to a different level, Rodriguez said. Danny Solis, chair and artistic director of the event, said slamming gives poets a chance to honor their poetry.

"There are certain things you can only say in a poem," Solis said.

Solis has won many poetry slam awards, including the twice-earned title of Albuquerque City Champion and, this February, the International Individual Champion in England.

An award winner himself, Conley said his favorite poets include Dr. Seuss, Walt Whitman and Patricia Smith.

Poetry is not a dead thing written by angst-ridden teens wearing black turtlenecks, but is for everybody, Rodriguez said.

"You don't have to be a poet to appreciate poetry," McIver said.

National Poetry Slam 2005

Festival pass $31, Saturday finale $20, day events free, night events vary. For event times and locations, visit nps2005.org