Spoken word is political . Not unlike rap, spoken word rose up out of a need for those left out of the mainstream to have a venue in which they could be heard. Spoken word is inherently social . Because it is meant to be heard, spoken word is as much about going to the local pub or cafe and signing up to read as it is about the poet writing in his or her own private, creative world. Call and response is critical .
Spoken word is live , and possesses the energy, urgency and risk of any live performance.
In the mid-1980s, while urban centers across the country were being slammed by Reaganomics, poets began gathering at places like the Get Me High and the Green Mill in Chicago and reading their work. Members of the audience were given score cards and asked to rate poems from 1 to 10, and the poet with the most points at the end of the evening was the winner. He took the concept back to New York and the games were on. Before long, Boston, San Francisco and other cities throughout the country were hosting slams, and in 1990, the National Poetry Association hosted slams at its national festival. Most of the poems won't endure for decades.