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- November 8, 2011 21:40pm
Submissions for Slam National Newsletter
In slam we have a saying that the best poem never wins. Well, the best poem may or may not win the slam, but it will get published faster~ this is your chance to show off those chops on the page poets, so send your very best work. This newsletter will, we hope, help to destroy some of those persistent myths out there by showcasing the very best of what the spoken world out there has to offer.
To help achieve that, all submissions should follow the basic guidelines below. Any submissions that do not will be discarded unread, so please be sure to read through carefully.
Send between 3 and 5 poems for consideration. Please be sure poems are final edits and not works-in-progress (i.e. no inconsistent punctuation, misspelling, etc. Use your spell check!)
Any theme or topic is welcomed. We will occasionally have themed issues, but will still find room for general submissions in each issue also. Previously published work and simultaneous submissions are welcomed. We want to showcase your best work to our readers and in the process, maintain a high standard for the writing and rhythm of the poems we publish.
Please include a bio of no more than 100 words with your submission. If your work is accepted for an issue we will contact you to request any additional info (photos, etc.)
We are very excited to tell you that we will be considering audio and video submissions of poetry for future issues as well! This is a still new frontier, but for you spoken word artists and maestros out there, the performance element often lends authenticity and passion to the poem and we want our readers to be able to witness the piece at its peak.
Any multi-media poems or collaborative poems submitted should be accompanied by a full text version of the piece and please be sure the clips are good quality with clear sound so the power of your words is preserved.
To submit Audio:
Send between 3 and 5 tracks directly to the Poetry Editor at zgkluckman@msn.com. Please include the name of the CD and Producer (if any) along with the submission. MP3 is the preferred format, though we can accept others in a pinch.
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Starting November 1, 2011 All audio submissions will need to be submitted via www.BandCamp.com. This online resource is free to sign up. People interested in having their Spoken Word Albums reviewed and/or tracks featured in the Newsletter will need to have an account with Bandcamp. Details on how register and upload tracks and submit your work to SNN will be posted by October 31, 2011.
To submit Video:
Send up to 2 video clips (with the full poem) directly to the Poetry Editor at zgkluckman@msn.com. If you are sending a link, please indicate whether you have the rights to this video before we reproduce it.
Poems should be sent to our Submission Manager at SLAM! to SLAM! National Newsletter
Audio and Video Submissions should be sent directly to the Poetry Editor at zgkluckman@msn.com
- August 1, 2011 22:27pm
The National Poetry Community loses another brother: David Blair
David Alan Blair “Blair”, age 43, born Sept. 19, 1967, passed away Saturday, July 23, 2011. David grew up in Newton, N.J., but came to call Detroit his adopted home. He is the son of Hildegard Blair and Herbert Blair.
Blair was an award-winning, multi-faceted artist: poet, singer-songwriter, writer, performer, musician, community activist and teacher. In the words of Metro Times journalist Melissa Giannini, “Blair focused his work on the hope that rises from the ashes of despair.”
A 2010 Callaloo Fellow and a National Poetry Slam Champion, his first book of poetry, Moonwalking, was recently released by Penmanship Books. Blair, as a solo artist, and with The Urban Folk Collective, self-released more than seven records in the last ten years. His most recent album, The Line, with his band The Boyfriends, was released in 2010 on Repeatable Silence Records.
Throughout his life, Blair performed at venues, large and small, across the nation and around the world. He was nominated for seven Detroit Music Awards, including a 2007 nod for Outstanding Acoustic Artist. He was named Real Detroit Weekly Readers Poll’s Best Solo Artist and The Metro Times Best Urban Folk Poet. In 2007, he won the Seattle-based BENT Writing Institute Mentor Award.
As well as being the recipient of numerous awards, he taught classes and lectured on poetry and music in Detroit Public Schools, The Ruth Ellis Center, Hannan House Senior Center, the YMCA of Detroit, and at various universities, colleges and high schools across the country.
Blair has friends and fans on almost every continent. He will be greatly missed by the loved ones he left all too early. He is preceded in death by his father, Herbert Blair. He is survived by his mother, Hildegard (Smith), siblings Herbert Blair (who resides in Pennsylvania), Tony Blair (New Jersey), Walter Blair (Florida), Joy Blair Swinson (New Hampshire) and many nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts and uncles.
And every raindrop falling from the sky
is like a tribute to the blue skies following behind,
And every raindrop falling to the sea
is like a testament to a new life that will come to be.
~Blair
(from the song “Every Raindrop”)
- July 6, 2011 14:14pm
Rest in Peace Will Bell aka Will Da Real One
Poet and spoken word artist Will “Da Real One” Bell was shot to death early Sunday morning outside the The Literary Cafe, a place he owned and had grown as a performer and promoter of young writers for years. Bell, whose performances are documented on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam among others, was 47. The following, from The Miami Herald gives details of the sad event while shedding light on Bell’s significance to both local and national poetry and spoken word scenes, while also highlighting the role poetry played in helping Bell overcome a great deal of adversity:
Bell, 47, whose performances have been featured on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, had just closed his business, the Literary Cafe and Poetry Lounge on 933 NE 125th Street, at about 12:40 a.m. and was walking to his car nearby when another car occupied by at least two men pulled up beside him, said Lt. Neal Cuevas of the North Miami Police Department.
A gunman leapt out from the passenger seat and fired multiple times at Bell, who died on the scene, Cuevas said. The men then fled in the car, but did not take any of Bell’s possessions, which included cash and jewelry.
“We don’t have a motive right now,’’ Cuevas said.
Several witnesses, who had been inside The Literary Cafe earlier that night, offered police differing descriptions of the suspects’ car color as light and dark, with a spoiler on the rear.
Bell will be missed in South Florida’s poetry and spoken-word performance scene, where he loomed as a local laureate, having achieved national recognition with performances on Def Poetry Jam and on albums by artists such as Miami’s Pit Bull, and hosting open-mic nights at his Literary Cafe and other venues.
Standing nearly 6-feet-5, Bell cast an imposing presence on stage, where he delivered prose honed from a life of poverty, fatherlessness, crime and prison — before finding redemption through words.
read full article here: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2011/05/famed-miami-area-poet-will-bell-murdered/
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