Words in Your Face A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam

by O'Keefe Aptowicz, Cristin

• ISBN13: 9781933368825
• ISBN10: 1933368829
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-12-01
• Publisher: Soft Skull

Summary

The definitive history of a revolutionary time in poetry showcasing the poets' own voices and stories. It situates New York slam poetry in the history of oral tradition and especially within the three main arts movements in the 20th century. It traces the birth of the movement at Nuyorican Poets' Cafe and draws on interviews with the leading lights ofthe movement in Chicago and San Francisco. Also traced is the explosive growth of Slam as MTV picked it up along with the spoken word record label, Mercury Records. Illuminating and highly fascinating.

Author Biography

Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz is the Founder of the three-time National Poetry Slam Championship venue NYC-Urbana

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Preface	p. xvii
A Brief Introduction to Poetry Slams	p. xxiii
More Slam Basics: A Slam Poet's Hypothetical Journey from a Local Slam to the National Poetry Slam	p. xxiv
Pre-waves; or, The Early Days	p. 1
A Very Quick and Slanted Pre-Slam History by Someone Who Wasn't There	p. 3
The Pre-Slam History of NYC Poetry and Bob Holman, as told by Bob Holman	p. 10
Getting a Roof On It: The Reopening of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe	p. 22
The Birth of a Movement: NYC Slam's First Year	p. 26
The Vocabulary of The Poetry Slam: Part I	p. 34
Marc Smith (So What!): The Truth About Who Invented the Poetry Slam	p. 35
The Myth of Slam Poetry: The Poetry Slam Certainly Exists, but is There Such a Thing as Slam Poetry?	p. 42
Playing Nice: The First National Poetry Slam	p. 44
Slam's Tipping Point: The End of the Nuyorican's First Year	p. 50
The First Wave (1990-1996)	p. 53
Exploding Texts: Slammers Take It to the Next Level	p. 61
An Interview with Maggie Estep, First Wave Icon	p. 65
From Sea to Shining Sestina: The United States of Poetry and Other Poetry on Your TV	p. 75
NYC Slam's First Bible: The Creation of Aloud	p. 87
We're Here, We Slam, Get Used to It: The Influence of Queer Voices In NYC Slam	p. 93
1994: The Year Slam Explodes	p. 94
Unfair Stereotypes of Other Cities Slams: One Nerd's Perspective	p. 99
Rap Meets Poetry: The Birth of Mouth Almighty	p. 103
First and Always: Graduates from NYC Poetry Slam's First Wave	p. 119
Second Wave (1996-2001)	p. 125
May I Introduce to You the Future: In 1996, Slam Transforms	p. 133
Slam's Second Bible: How Slam Nation Spread the Gospel According to NYC Slam	p. 137
How to Make a Living as a Slam Poet: Mouth Almighty and the Growing Importance of the National Poetry Slam	p. 148
The Vocabulary of The Poetry Slam: Part II	p. 158
We Don't Do Group Pieces: Nuyo Conquers, then Divides	p. 161
And Two Become Three: Mouth Almighty Becomes NYC-Urbana and Nuyo's Championship Team Becomes louderARTS	p. 175
60 Minutes: The Poets Slam Back!	p. 184
Passing the Mic: Felice Belle and the Changing Face of the Nuyorican	p. 188
What It's Like to be There: Nuyorican, NYC-Urbana & louderARTS at the End of the Twentieth Century	p. 197
Rules to Play By: The Unspoken, Rumored Rules of Slam	p. 213
Welcome to the AfterFuture: The Explosion of the Second Wave Poets	p. 215
Third Wave (2001-2007)	p. 237
2001: The Year Everything Changed	p. 245
Words That Comfort: The Aftermath of 9/11 on the NYC Poetry Slam Community	p. 248
Thank You and God Bless: Def Poetry Hits the Airwaves and Broadway	p. 260
Taylor Mali: The Man, The Myth, The Industry	p. 265
What the Heck Is Going On Here?: The Bowery Poetry Club Opens (Kinda) for Business	p. 267
The Rise of Self-Publishing and the Slam	p. 285
Slam's Biggest Non-Slamming Icon Speaks: John S. Hall Takes On Everything Right But Mostly Wrong with the Slam	p. 286
Because This Generation Can Speak for Itself: The Birth of Urban Word and the NYC Teen Slams	p. 303
Hip-Hop and the Canon: Slam's Influence	p. 316
NYC Slam Grows Up: NYC's Slam Third Wave Faces the Future	p. 318
The Good, The Bad, and The Poetry: The Impact of Slam, Inside and Out	p. 327
The Afterword: Or, A Completely Invented Transcription That Nonetheless Felt So Real	p. 351
For More Information	p. 365
New York City Poetry Slam Teams From 1990 to 2007	p. 366
Acknowledgments	p. 370
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