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If you know as much about poetry slams as you do sheaves, which is nothing at all, and you're fearful that violence might be inflicted upon you for being part of a poetry slam audience we can assure you that no such thing will occur. Other than perhaps loudness and ferocity of pitch volume poetry slams are poetry competitions in which poets take the stage in front of a live audience to read or recite any of their original work.

Poetry slams don't have to take place in the traditional setting of a coffee shop but can be held anywhere such as offices, condo patios, or public parks. They can also be held at any time. Poetry slams provide artists of all kinds to show off their creative talents to the masses. In return for baring their soul in front of others their work is judged by those taking it all in.

Some poetry slams are casual where no winner is chosen and everybody is just there to promote this very specific world of art, while other poetry slams will choose select members of the audience to grade each of the poetry slam performances on a numeric scale. The host or MC of a poetry slam is tasked with picking out the audience members who will be judging the competition and most judged poetry slams will consist of five judges. The way such poetry slams work is that after each performance a score is awarded to the poem. Most scoring is done on a 0-10 points system. Both the highest and lowest scores are dropped, which gives each performance a rating that can range anywhere form zero to ten points.

Most poetry slams consist of multiple rounds and eliminate low scoring poets each successive round until one poet is left. There are poetry slams in which no competitors are eliminated and a cumulative score based on each round of scoring determines the winner. Some rules that may or not be enforced in poetry slams include: no use of props, music or costumes and a time limit of no more than three minutes on stage. Broken poetry slam rules do have consequences. For example, if a poet where to come on stage and smash an arrangement to demonstrate a certain line of their poem they won't get disqualified but they could be docked points.

There are two main types of poetry slams: open and invitational. Open slams will let anybody go on stage while invitational slams only allow performers to take the stage that have been invited. If you've never been to a poetry slam before you should consider going to one so you can partake in a truly unique experience.