By now, the history of poetry slam has been repeated ad nauseam: Working class Chicago poet Marc Smith added rules and scoring to bring the focus in a poetry reading back to audience engagement. With some minor refinement over the years, it’s a format that, at its best, still shakes up the complacency of writer and audience member alike. Teams of four poets each perform a 3-minute poem that’s scored on a 0.0-10.0 scale by five audience members with the top and bottom scores eliminated and the remainder totaled. The top teams and the top 8 individually scoring poets progress to a final bout. For more history – centered around New York City but with enough background on the overall history of slam, I’d recommend Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz’s terrific Words in Your Face.
Columbus is rich with slam, sometimes sending three teams to the National Poetry Slam and having sent winners to the Individual World Poetry Slam (IWPS) and finalists to the Women of the World Poetry Slam (WOWPS) as well as hosting the latter event twice. We’ve also hosted the Rustbelt, a regional poetry slam, more times than any other city since its founding by Bill Abbott in Dayton in 2000. Rustbelt returns to Columbus for the first time since 2012 this weekend to one of our classic venues, the Garden Theater. Using all three rooms as venues over two days, that historical building is going to quake with poetry, laughter, and gasps. Just as a music fan knows some of the most interesting work is bubbling up on regional touring circuits and in small venues, these regional poetry slams have a deserved reputation for taking more risks that pay off big artistically. Rustbelt isn’t a minor league, it’s a crucible for the development of styles, a chrysalis for voices to emerge from, and a chance for differing scenes to come together and spark off one another. On a personal note, I’ve attended at least four of the six times Columbus has hosted previously and always come away stunned by something I’d never heard or thought about before or seen a poet I was vaguely familiar with come alive in brilliant technicolor.
Just as a music fan knows some of the most interesting work is bubbling up on regional touring circuits and in small venues, these regional poetry slams have a deserved reputation for taking more risks that pay off big artistically. Rustbelt isn’t a minor league, it’s a crucible for the development of styles, a chrysalis for voices to emerge from, and a chance for differing scenes to come together and spark off one another. On a personal note, I’ve attended at least three of the six times Columbus has hosted previously and always come away stunned by something I’d never heard or thought about before or seen a poet I was vaguely familiar with come alive in brilliant technicolor. Expanding on its eponymous region, the 16 teams competing in this year’s hail from as far away as NYC, Austin, and Baton Rouge.
Whether you’ve been interested in poetry for years, are just getting introduced to poetry (page or performance) or, frankly, aren’t sure if you like poetry all that much, Rustbelt promises funny, thought-provoking voices and performers there to leave everything on the stage. Videos from past Rustbelts are below to give a taste of the level of poetry this slam usually attracts. As additional enticement, this year Rustbelt is free to all audience members. See a bout or two or bounce around the Garden all weekend.
Rustbelt 2016 takes place at The Garden Theater. Preliminary bouts take place on Friday, June 3, at 7:00pm and 9:00pm, and Saturday, June 4, at 1:00pm and 3:00pm, with finals on Saturday, June 4, at 8:00pm. For more info, visit http://www.rustbelt2016.com/ or the Facebook event.