Your Local Slam

Slam poets compete against one another, but also collectively as teams. Teams are generally organized around performance venues, their local slam homes. They compete with neighboring teams to hone their skills and sometimes compete in regional team slams for bragging rights. When they feel ready, they might step up to compete in the big top, the annual National Poetry Slam.

P4 has compiled a list of slams from information provided by Poetry Slam, Inc., the Nationals promoter, and from scouring the Internet. The information is searchable by Province or State, and City to help you find a team and its venue near you. P4 tracks all the basic information we can about each slam, but click on the link to the slam's websites for full details. 

A few notes about this list:

  • IMPORTANT:  Note that this listing contains both active and inactive slams.  If you want to search only active slams, be sure to select that option before your search.
  • Try as we might, no list of slam teams or venues can ever be complete or up-to-date. Teams form and dissolve and venues shift from place to place or go out of business, all without notice. 
  • If you see any errors or oversights in this list, please get in touch. We’ll do our best to update our list with your information. Thanks.
  • If you are an organizer with any of these venues, or know of any slams that are now listed here, definitely let us know!
Slam Name Countrysort descending Active? State/Province City Main Website
Bowery Slam United States Active New York New York Link
St. Louis Poetry Slam United States Inactive Missouri St. Louis Link
Witch City Poetry Slam United States Active Massachusetts Salem Link
Lethal Poetry United States Active Illinois Chicago Link
Free Hole Slam United States Active Texas El Paso Link
LionLike MindState United States Active California Upland Link
Louder Arts United States Inactive New York New York Link
MoPoetry Slam United States Active Missouri Springfield Link
UrbSlam Saint Louis United States Active Missouri St. Louis Link
Commonwealth Slam United States Active Virginia Fredericksburg Link
Mental Graffiti United States Active Illinois Chicago Link
Fort Worth Poetry Slam United States Inactive Texas Fort Worth Link
Sit N' Spin United States Active California Sacramento Link
Nuyorcian United States Active New York New York Link
WU-Slam United States Active Missouri St. Louis Link
The Writer's Den Poetry Slam United States Active Virginia Richmond Link
Uptown Poetry Slam United States Active Illinois Chicago Link
Houston VIP Poetry Slam United States Active Texas Houston Link
San Diego Poetry Slam United States Inactive California San Diego Link
The Intangible Slam United States Inactive New York New York Link

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