They called me nigger everyday at that new school and no one could heal me of that humiliation and isolation. I wish I could have written a poem about it that expressed my shame. One of my favorite authors, Zora Neale Hurston said, "There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you."

Slamming is a poet’s expression of words that need to escape. Poet R. Eirik Ott used slam as a means of getting his feelings out about the way he was treated as a child in his popular poem, "Wussy Boy." Poet, Arrianna Waynes used slam to express her non-traditional views on patriotism. The range of poetry at a slam can go from hard-core political to tales of trivial sexual experiences, but whatever the expression, slammers are about reaching their audience.

This emphasis on audience interaction and approval is exemplified by the comparison that Ott makes of being a slam poet to that of a rock star. It is this entertainment factor of slam that upsets the literary establishment but Ott could care less.

"Slammers get much game," admitted Ott. Confessing his wussiness by the fact that he never got much attention from the ladies until he began to express himself through slamming.

After the National Poetry Slam event that happened in Chicago in October 1999, Ott told me about this major "make-out" contest that happened after the event where he and fellow team members were competing for how many people they could make-out with.

Slam certainly does have a rock-concert like, crowd-roaring effect on observers and this I believe is its purpose. Conceptualized by poet Marc Smith 10 years ago in Chicago at the Get Me High Lounge, slam continues in that tradition on the other side of the country, at places like The Blue Room, a small, alternative- type theatre in Chico, CA.

The typical slam venue of rinky-dink dive bars and coffee houses exemplifies the fact that Slam is anything but traditional and perhaps that is the only reason literary experts shun its existence. Not a poetry conosuer, I was invited to my first slam quite coincidentally by a group of friends who walked by as I sat in front of Celistinos, a local pizza joint, eating a slice of godfather pizza. I had nothing better to do and figured that these artsy people were pretty cool, so I followed.

Slam certainly does have a rock-concert like, crowd-roaring effect on observers and this I believe is its purpose. Conceptualized by poet Marc Smith 10 years ago in Chicago at the Get Me High Lounge, slam continues in that tradition on the other side of the country, at places like The Blue Room, a small, alternative- type theatre in Chico, CA.

The typical slam venue of rinky-dink dive bars and coffee houses exemplifies the fact that Slam is anything but traditional and perhaps that is the only reason literary experts shun its existence. Not a poetry conosuer I was invited to my first slam quite coincidentally by a group of friends who walked by as I sat in front of Celistinos, a local pizza joint, eating a slice of "Godfather." I had nothing better to do and figured that these artsy people were pretty cool, so I followed.

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