I disagree a little, but mostly agree. I think people ARE defining “slam poetry” which makes it a genre, but the push back is absolutely needed. Slam as an event, and an experience is beautiful, and I’ve absolutely seen “slam poetry” fall flat against poetry in a slam. Slam has always been about making your words and your performance connect with the audience. If you’re writing “slam poetry” but proudly avoiding connecting with an audience in a slam, you’ve missed the entire point.
Slam Poetry Does Not Exist: How a movement has been misconstrued as a genre | litlive.ca

Lately, I’ve been meeting slam poets who have never participated in a poetry slam. Let me be clear. I’m not talking about spoken word artists working outside of the slam movement; these are self-proclaimed slam poets with no interest in participating in poetry slams. They’ve never attended one and h…

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