 "Photo: Paul Chouy")
Korim, of Team Neo-Soul, approached the microphone, closed his eyes and began a torrent hum of dialogue almost incomprehensible to the audience.
At Friday's Slam Bowl IV at Ruta Maya, emcee Kimberley Taylor introduced young slammers who argued the strength and moving power of words, as well as veterans who "spit" - the insider term for delivering a piece of slam poetry - about everything from politics and race to romance.
Individuals and teams write original, three-minute spoken pieces, sometimes packed with metaphor and wordplay and sometimes as straightforward as a stand-up routine. A panel of five judges awards up to 10 points, and slam champions are born.
The emotions of a slam poet's pieces is often masked with wordplay, though slam can be a tongue-in-cheek way of revealing intimate thoughts. Austin Slam member DaShade Moonbeam defended his status as a "Black nerd" but mocked himself by adding that he cried during "Transformers." Team Acme's Mike Whalen epitomized the inevitability of the youth generation becoming "yuppies" by describing people who seriously argue the difference between a Mac and a PC.
Slam Bowl IV matched four of Austin's slam teams against each other and raised funds to send poets under 21 to the Brave New Voices festival and slam championship in Washington, D.C. in August. Veteran slam team Austin Slam won the local bowl.
Austin poet and former Austin Slam team member Wammo popularized poetry slam in 1992 in Austin when he joined the MTV Spoken Word Tour. The team, which includes Mike Henry, former president of the nationwide organization Poetry Slam, Inc., helped build local slam to a major force on the national scene.
Ron Horne, poet and co-director of the Texas Youth Word Collective, said the raw energy of slam poetry is an exceptionally powerful medium.
"Every culture has a need for what slam provides," Horne said. "Slam is so powerful, because it hasn't been filtered or adulterated."
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