Roethke Festival Poetry Slam
Join us at SVSU's Whittaker Lecture Theatre (Brown Hall 106). This poetry slam is open to adults, college students and high school students. Prizes will be awarded to the top three winners. Live music and refreshments will round out the evening.
Doors open and sign-up will be available starting at 5:30. Arrive early to hear the SVSU Jazz Combo play before the slam begins at 6:30.
The slam will be judged by Ben Champagne, Jared Morningstar, and Donny Winter. Rules and judging criteria are as follows:
Poetry Slam Rules
Poets of any age may participate.
Poets must perform poems of their own creation. No AI-generated creations.
Poems are limited to three minutes, with a 10-second grace period.
Poets cannot use props, costumes, or pre-recorded audio during their performances.
Live instruments and musical accompaniment are not allowed. Singing, beat boxing, clapping, or making any sounds with your body is permitted.
Memorization is optional. Poets can memorize their poems or read them from paper or some other device.
Team performances are allowed, in which multiple poets collaborate on a single poem.
Poems cannot contain hate speech or speech that denigrates any group or person, or make sexist, racist, homophobic, or transphobic comments.
The poet receives scores out of ten from all three judges, giving the poet a total score out of 30.
The winner will receive a gift card and other prizes provided by the SVSU Roethke Poetry and Arts Festival.
Judging Criteria
Poem (4 points possible)
The poem is well crafted and demonstrates effective use of poetic language, which may include figurative language and/or rich vocabulary.
The poem clearly conveys an idea and a point of view.
The poem captures and conveys human emotion and experience.
The poem effectively uses rhythm and sound of language.
Interpretation (2 points possible)
The poet’s body movements, facial expressions, and gestures are consistent with and enhance the ideas and mood of the poem.
The poem conveys energy and emotion that is consistent with and enhances the ideas and mood of the poem.
Performance (4 points possible)
The poet speaks clearly.
The poet projects their voice.
The poet effectively performs for the audience.
This event is free and open to the public, and there is no need to pre-register. It is part of the triennial Roethke Poetry and Arts Festival. Read more about the entire week scheduled events here.
This event is part of the Roethke Poetry Festival. More details and a complete list of events can be found here, https://www.svsu.edu/roethke/.
Roethke Festival Events