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 ascending City Main Website
Des Moines Poetry Slam United States Active Iowa Des Moines Link
Orange City Poetry Slam United States Inactive Iowa Orange City Link
Indianapolis Poetry Slam United States Inactive Indiana Indianapolis Link
Palatine Poetry Slam United States Inactive Illinois Palatine Link
Rockford Certified Slam United States Active Illinois Rockford 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
Slam of Steel United States Active Idaho Boise Link
Boise Poetry Slam United States Active Idaho Boise Link
Hawaii Slam United States Active Hawaii Honolulu Link
Maui SLAM! United States Active Hawaii Makawao Link
Art Amok! Atlanta Slam United States Active Georgia Decatur Link
Java Monkey Slam United States Active Georgia Decatur Link
DaDa slam United States Active Florida Delray Beach Link
Broken Speech United States Inactive Florida Orlando Link
The Speak Tank United States Active Florida Tampa Bay Link
The S.A.F.E.! Words! Poetry! Slam! United States Active Florida Orlando Link
Black on Black Rhyme United States Active Florida Tallahassee Link

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