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/Province Citysort descending Main Website
LanarkLips Canada Active Ontario Carleton Place
Respect da mic United States Active North Carolina Charlotte Link
SlamCharlotte United States Active North Carolina Charlotte Link
The All Stars Poetry Slam United Kingdom Active Cheltenham Link
Chicago Four Star Poetry Club United States Active Illinois Chicago Link
Lethal Poetry United States Active Illinois Chicago Link
Mental Graffiti United States Active Illinois Chicago Link
Uptown Poetry Slam United States Active Illinois Chicago Link
Queen City Poetry Slam United States Inactive Ohio Cincinnati Link
She Speaks United States Inactive Ohio Cleveland Link
The People Poetry Slam United States Active Ohio Cleveland Link
Hear, Here! United States Active Colorado Colorado Springs Link
Writer's Block United States Active Ohio Columbus Link
Writing Wrongs United States Active Ohio Columbus Link
Ballabajoomba Poetry Slam United States Active Texas Corpus Christi Link
Dallas Poetry Grind United States Inactive Texas Dallas Link
The Dallas Poetry Slam United States Active Texas Dallas Link
Dayton Poetry Slam United States Active Ohio Dayton Link
FIST (Florida Invitation Slam Tournament) United States Active Florida Daytona Beach Link
Art Amok! Atlanta Slam United States Active Georgia Decatur Link

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