Transition Hawaii Literacy
Poetry
A Slam Dunk
KEALOHA WONG is SLAM to Hawaii, like Lebron James is to Cleveland.
"Slam Poetry is really performance poetry that's performed on stage and judged. It's poetry that was meant to be performed," said Kealoha Wong.
The modern day "slam" poetry competitions supposedly originated in 1984 by Marc Smith at the Get Me High Lounge in Chicago. In the 90's critics often-linked slam poetry with the edgy-street lyrics performed by those in the hip-hop industry, and to this day many comparisons are still being made.
At a slam competition the artists get up on stage to perform, and judges in the audience score them based on poetry and performance. "Slam is just a gimmick. It's a gimmick that we as poets use to get audiences. There are no winners or losers. The real winner is poetry."(Read more)
