Poetry Slam

Join us for an unforgettable night of spoken word, hosted by Wordstock Sudbury Literary Festival and Myths and Mirrors Community Arts. Come to snap along to powerful poems, or register to compete and share your voice on stage.

Please note that this is a FREE event. You do not need to register to attend the event. Poets who wish to compete in the event must register using this form. If there is still slots available, you can sign-up before the event (cash-only)

RULES

1. Each poem must be of the poet’s own creation.

2. Poets do not have to memorize their poem. They may bring a notebook, piece of paper, phone or chapbook.

3. Each poet pays a fee of $5 to compete. 50% of the earnings are awarded to the winner. Myths and Mirrors and Wordstock Sudbury are committed to providing 2 free seats per competition for those who this may pose a barrier to.

4. Each poet gets three minutes (plus a ten-second grace period) to read one poem. If the poet goes over time, points will be deducted from the total score by the scorekeeper. The poem/performance will lose .5 (point 5) off of their score for each 10 seconds they go over.

5. The poet may not use props, costumes, pre-recorded/taped music, or musical instruments while performing. It’s just you and your poem on stage. BUT you are allowed to sing or beat box or make any other sounds with your body in your performance. As far as props go…don’t write a poem about your phone and use your phone in your performance, or a poem about toques and point to your toque etc. as for costumes, you cannot change clothes during your bout. meaning the outfit you wear during your piece has to be the same outfit you wear during your team piece in the same bout. changing your clothes for the performance of a different poem could be considered a costume change.

6. The poem may NOT include sexist, racist, homophobic, or transphobic comments. Basically, use your common sense and don’t be a jerk, and leave your hate at the gate. However, anger, upset and frustration are totally legit emotions to express in your poem, just be creative in how you go about doing it.

7. The poet receives scores out of 10 from five randomly-selected judges. The high and low scores are dropped and the middle three are added together, giving the poet a total score out of 30.

8. In the event of a tie, the top two poets face off in a final round.