Cigarette Women by Keyma Flight
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“Everything that we think is shining is actually burning.” In this Button Poetry video, Keyma Flight reads her poem “Cigarette Women” at the 2022 Womxn of the World Poetry Slam in Baltimore, Maryland.
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Theater video tags: slam poetry
Don’t Be Nice
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“What does it mean to write something urgent right now?” Don’t Be Nice is a 2018 documentary directed by Max Powers that follows a group of poets from the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City’s East Village who grapple with the political climate punctuated by the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements as they prepare for the National Poetry Slam championship during the summer of 2016.
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Again by Christopher Diaz
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“When I did not feel anything, I begged you for mercy, for myself, a form of forgiveness that always comes in muscle memory.” In this Write About Now Poetry video, Christopher Diaz performs his poem “again” at AvantGarden in Houston.
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Against Consolidation
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“I want to write about tiny miracles: I woke up this morning. I woke up this morning.” George Abraham, author of the chapbook The Specimen’s Apology (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2019), reads his poem “Against Consolidation” at the 2017 VOX POP Poetry Slam Tournament in Manchester, New Hampshire.
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Prescribed Fire
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“My family is a group of redwoods / that sought god instead of ground...” Samoan American poet William Nu’utupu Giles reads his poem “Prescribed Fire” at the 2015 National Poetry Slam. Giles won the National Underground Poetry Individual Competition in 2015, the first Pacific Islander to win the award.
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Deaf Jam
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"Sometimes in my dreams I sign and everyone understands me." In this 2011 documentary directed by Judy Lieff, a deaf teen is introduced to American Sign Language (ASL) Poetry and enters into the spoken word slam scene. Deaf Jam has inspired a website which includes resources for ASL poets and workshops with the artists featured in the film.
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Mahogany L. Browne
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Mahogany L. Browne reads her poem “Black Girl Magic” for PBS NewHour’s “Brief but Spectacular” series. Browne is a poet and author coordinating the Women of the World Poetry Slam at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
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Poetry Saved Our Lives
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Directed by Monica Gutierrez and produced by Galen Brown, 3004 Studios, and the Toronto Public Library, this documentary follows slam poets and mentors from the Poetry Saved Our Lives writing and performance workshops in Toronto, Canada.
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Chicago Icons: Marc Kelly Smith
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Marc Kelly Smith, the founder of the poetry slam movement, performs as part of the Chicago Icons segment of Poets & Writers Live in Chicago on June 20, 2015.
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Katie Makkai
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"I have not seen my own face in ten years, but this is not about me." In this video clip from 2002, veteran slam poet Katie Makkai performs "Pretty," which confronts the harsh reality of how our culture perceives women and appearances.
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