by Stazja McFadyen

The most frequently asked question about slam poetry is summed up in three little words: "What is it?"

The Austin Chronicle's "Best of Austin 1999" compared slam poets to "the bastard stepchildren of theatre and literature mixed together," adding, "the spoken word 'trend' has proven that it has the legs to stick around as a viable performance genre."

Slam is an evolving poetry movement, milling forward since the mid-1980s when Marc Smith created "The Uptown Poetry Slam" at The Green Mill in Chicago. Now a legitimized genre, slam is defined in the 1999 Random House Webster's College Dictionary, Second Edition as: "competitive, usually boisterous poetry reading." Does this sound like the iambic pentameter's evil twin who escaped the ivory tower of academism to get in people's faces and have some fun? You're close, very close.

Slam broke rules. New rules were formed.

Each poet has three minutes in which to perform a piece of his/her own composition. No props, no costumes, no musical accompaniment, no animal acts. Five judges are selected from the audience. The judges are told to be consistent with themselves, to weigh content and performance equally, and be unswayed by audience response. They score each poem on a scale of 0.0 to 10.0. The top and bottom scores are thrown out. Points are deducted for exceeding the time limit. After three rounds, with eliminations determined by lowest scores, the winner is the poet with the most points.

Judges are boo'd or cheered, depending on whether the audience agrees with their scoring.

Weekly winners qualify to compete in the annual "slam-off" to determine the 4-member team representing their home town at the National Poetry Slam in August.

"The voice of the audience, to respond to the poets in any way they see fit, is one of the precious and fundamental building blocks that the slam stands on," said Sonya Feher, volunteer coordinator for the 1998 National Poetry Slam hosted in Austin.

Censorship is not among the restrictions. Perhaps for this reason, traditionalists such as the president of a local poetry society have kept their distance. While hosting a poetry reading at Book People recently, national journalist/poet Bill Moyers said he hasn't had the guts to slam.

Among the more adventurous is Faulkner Fox, who teaches Poetry at the University of Texas. She came to cheer on one of her slamming students. The following day she wrote her first "slam" poem, about which she says, "Here's what I can't figure out -- would it have been a poem if I hadn't been to the slam last night."

The Austin Chronicle's "Best of Austin 1999" Critic's Picks gave Austin slam poets the "Best Slam Survivors" title, referring to the closing of the Electric Lounge, headquarters for Austin slam since 1994, followed by a short-lived stint at the Red-Eyed Fly.

After a transient summer, the Austin slam family held a summit, with an open forum. The summit led to the formation of a seven-member volunteer council. Members are Mike Henry, Phil West, Sonya Feher, Hilary Thomas, Dillon McKinsey, Aaron Sanders and Woody Baldwin.

If there is a main auricle in the heart of Austin slam, it is Mike Henry. In an e-mail interview, he talks about his passion for the art, its history in Austin, and where he wants it to go.

ADA: When/how did you first begin to slam?

MH: The first real slam in Austin was held at Emo's as a qualifier to get into the slam in the poetry tent at Lollapalooza 1994. It was hosted by Wammo, who had discovered slams on a trip to New York City for the CMJ music conference. We slammed at Emo's every week for a few months, and it was fabulous. Wammo invited me to the first one ... it was love at first sight. By the end of the night, I knew I had found a new home.

ADA: How did the Austin slam get started and who were the key guys?

MH: Full props should go to Wammo. He started the Austin slam, fueled it with his irrepressible energies and made it live. After Emo's, he approached me at the [Electric] Lounge and I, of course, said hell yes. So we started doing it there in late 1994, took our first team to Nationals in 1995 and the rest, as they say, is history.

Wammo continued to host the slam until after the 1996 Nationals when he handed the reins over to Genevieve Van Cleve. She hosted for the next year or so, then split for England. Phil, Sonya, Hilary, Gen and I have shared hosting duties since. As for a more holistic look at "key" people, there are so many ... Phil has been a driving force behind the slam for years. He and I both currently serve on the Executive Council of Poetry Slam, Inc., which is the national slam organization. Sonya, Gen, Susan B. Anthony Somers-Willet, Ernie Cline, Jeff Knight, Hilary Thomas, yourself, so many people have worked to build the slam. It is a product of all of us.

ADA: Comparative info on the local scene's growth/ changes/expansion?

MH: I remember "back in the day" when there were only a half-dozen people who would usually slam, and we'd always have to scrounge up judges, often enlisting Electric Lounge employees into service. Maybe there were 20 or so people there total, but still the poets would sear the walls and pierce the hearts with their words. And because of that, we grew.

Over the years our slam has spread its wings over Austin and reached so many people. Hundreds of poets have slammed here, and literally thousands of people have seen slam in Austin. Sure it has ups and downs, but our audience has definitely expanded. We have been embraced by the local media. Every year the slam finals are packed to the walls.

And, we were given the chance by the national community to produce the 1998 National Poetry Slam, and it rocked like a hurricane. You know this story well, Staz: tickets being scalped outside a sold-out Paramount Theater, CNN coverage, largest NPS in history to that date. NPS 1998 broke the mold...added more teams to the mix and set a standard for the future to be based on.

As far as the evolution of our team at Nationals goes, we are clearly recognized as one of the top slam centers in the nation. In our first year, we had a team member place second in the nation (Wammo), which is pretty much unheard of. We made the finals in our second year at NPS, which is also a Herculean feat. In every year since then, we have come unbelievably close to returning to the finals stage. We stand up with the best slam cities in the world and hold our own, and then some.

ADA: Austin slam community? A family? An "insider" clique?

MH: This is a family. I know it is, because it is my family. The people that I have grown to love, and be in love with. The people that I trust the most -- that I will call when I am in trouble. Next February when Phil gets married, Wammo and Danny Solis and I will stand behind him at the altar.

And more than just that, the family extends to everyone who comes to the shows, slams or judges or watches. There is open-armed, infectious love available for whoever wants it.

The slam gets knocked as being a clique a lot. I think that people mistake our love for each other, the care and fun poetry and support and insanity that we share ... mistake it for being something exclusive. It's true we do share all of those things. But if it's a clique, we are the worst "clique-ers" in the world. Because all you have to do to join the gang is, well, show up. And love poetry. Yep, those are pretty much our two really stringent and oh-so-exclusive guidelines. I'm not trying to be too much of a smartass here...I do realize that many people have the perception of the slam that it excludes people. Changing that perception is among the very highest priorities in our family right now.

ADA: What impact do you want the council to have on Austin slam's future?

MH: I want it to be a central hub for the wheel that is our slam. A grounding element, a place that people can come to with input. I want it to be an inclusive council that represents the family and has the concerns of the slam, the family, the audience, at heart. And, basically, I want for it to be a structural and organizational body that helps us to do what we do even better. The Austin slam is blessed with so many priceless and life-changing poets. It is my hope that the council will help us to do more, to be more. To take the poetry to more people. To have even more fun.

The Austin slam family ceased their wandering and settled in to a weekly slot, Thursday evenings at Gaby & Mo's Coffeehouse Bar, 1809 Manor Road. Sign up begins at 7:30pm.

For more information on poetry events in Austin, visit the Austin Poetry Calendar online.