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THE COLUMBIA CHRONICLE
I SEPTEMBER 6, 2011
WRITTEN BY BRIANNA WELLEN LAYOUT AND DESIGN BY JONATHAN ALLEN PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRENT LEWIS
THROUGH WORD OF MOUT
hen poet Marc Kelly Smith first thoug performance with poetry, purists of the act as disgraceful. Typical poetry read consisted of a gathering of artists stan reading their poems, according to Sm accepted format and the pushback surrounding any att it, Smith stepped in and brought his own twist to the m “It seemed obvious that if you were going to speak on the stage in front of people, you should try to do it with some passion,” Smith said. So on a Sunday night in July 1986, Smith brought the “Uptown Poetry Slam” and the Chicago Poetry Ensemble to The Green Mill, 4802 N. Broadway, introducing the city—and soon after, the nation and world—to the art of slam poetry. Now in its 25th year, the slam poetry movement continues to evolve with the modern times while maintaining the underground sensibilities that first made it groundbreaking. “People don’t understand today because we’re so used to it, but what we were doing in Chicago 25 years ago was just mind blowing to people,” Smith said. “It rocked their preconceptions of what poetry was supposed to be doing.” The Sunday night shows still take place at The Green Mill, and according to its owner, Dave Jemilo, the show remains the same. Smith still runs the night, the show still lasts three hours and the slam winner receives the same prize given out 25 years ago—$10. Jemilo said the only thing that has changed is people now know what to expect. Jemilo, who admitted to not knowing much about poetry to begin with, said he wasn’t surprised at the
Marc continues to say this particular art form cannot without community... If art becomes about one person the community gets lost.
–Da
movement’s growth through ize how far the it would spre the Himalayan Mountains i grasped how the “Uptown P Mill was affecting the rest of “As we’re in the middle of even drive a car there, and h talked about a poetry slam Jemilo said. “I’m sitting in th I own this joint.’ So then I tho Poetry Slam, Inc., was form art of slam poetry and make t From the group came the “N debuted the same year and w teams of four poets per team features more than 75 teams five days, which Scott Woods as a testament to the growin While slam poetry is now s familiar with, they still don’t