<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> A poetry slam is a competition in which oral poets read or recite original work . Poetry slam began in Chicago in 1984 with its first competition designed to move poetry recitals from academia to a popular audience when American poet Marc Smith began experimenting with existing open microphone venues for poetry readings by making them competitive . The performances at a poetry slam are judged by a panel of judges, typically five, and usually selected from the audience, or sometimes judged by audience response . The judges usually give each poem a score on a scale of 0--10 (zero being the worst and ten being the best). The highest and lowest scores are dropped and the middle three are kept . The highest score one can receive is a 30 and the lowest one is a zero . </P> <P> Susan Somers - Willett asserts that slam poetry began between November 1984 and July 1986, in the Green Mill Jazz Club in Chicago . Slam poetry is a type of "political complaint" and protest that uses identity and other forms to protest oppression . Slam poets and audiences see slam poetry not only as literary or performative, but also as a political event . Critic Susan Somers - Willett argues that "poems that make an empowered declaration of marginalized identity and individuality are a staple of one's slam repertoire". Race, gender and sexuality are all factors that affect poets and the message of their work . Slam poets work is an embodiment of their identity and it breaks the homogeneity of traditional poetry structure . But a poet is not bound to a certain identity based on their culture, sexuality, or race, although many do use identity . Slam poetry's main goal is to express authenticity of identity to its audience . By this, poets will create a genuine and intimate connection with the audience through their identity based experience . Slam poetry ranges from comical poems to extremely serious work about racism, sexual identity, violence, and personal struggles with life; slam poetry is the outlet a lot of writers use to express themselves . Many poets write from an "I" stand point where in their poems they describe events that have happened to them personally whether it be a positive or negative experience . "Inhabiting the space where the "I" of the page translates quite seamlessly to the "I" of the stage, the author comes to embody declarations about personal experience in performance ." example of authors using "I" would be Ragan Fox, who wrote To be Straight: "I want to be straight because sometimes being gay is just too difficult ." Authors try to reach out to their audience by relating what they say in their poems to how the audience might have felt but never had the courage to say . There are also different ways to perform poetry . Patricia Smith, an African American poet, performed a poem in the voice of a white male skinhead . This shows the opposing party explaining to the audience the hatred and what is going through their minds . Slam poetry can come in various forms, but is a tool that can get a political argument across in an entertaining way to those who listen . </P>

Where does the tradition of slam poetry come from