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 Country Active? State/Provincesort descending City Main Website
The Payday Slam United States Inactive California San Diego Link
The Rich Oak Alchemy Slam United States Active California Oakland Link
Fuck Yeah Poetry Slam! United States Active California San Francisco Link
Swag Slam United States Inactive California San Francisco Link
The SF City Poetry Slam United States Inactive California San Francisco Link
Berkeley Poetry Slam United States Active California Berkeley Link
San Jose Poetry Slam United States Inactive California San Jose Link
Indie Slam United States Active California Santa Cruz Link
Full Moon Poets United States Active California Encinitas Link
The Loud Mouth Poetry Jam United States Active California Visalia Link
Humboldt Poetry Slam United States Active California Eureka Link
Life Sentence United States Inactive California Fairfield Link
Da Poetry Lounge United States Active California Los Angeles Link
Brass Knuckles United States Inactive California Los Angeles Link
Oakland Poetry Slam United States Active California Oakland Link
Tourettes Without Regrets United States Active California Oakland Link
Hear, Here! United States Active Colorado Colorado Springs Link
Denver Mercury Slam United States Active Colorado Denver Link
Slam Nuba United States Active Colorado Denver Link
Poetz Realm United States Active Connecticut Bridgeport Link

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