12 Of The Best Slam Poetry Performances To Leave You In Awe

Slam poetry is democratic. The only criteria for winning is your ability to move the audience with the power of your poetry. With the tense political climate and unending biases, slam poetry events feel like precious protected corners. It fills me with joy and courage to see so many people speaking their truth out loud, through poetry. The experience of a poet performing their own piece can be moving and cathartic for both the poet and the audience. I encourage you to watch or participate in slam poetry events and let yourself feel all that they can make you feel.

Here’s a compilation of some of the best slam poetry to send shivers down your spine.

1) “Mama” by Emi Mahmoud

Excerpt:

“I’m not saying dating is a first world problem, but these trifling motherfuckers seem to be.The kind who’ll quote Rumi, but not know what he sacrificed for war.Who’ll fawn over Lupita, but turn their racial filters on.Who’ll take their politics with a latte when I take mine with tear gas.Every guy I meet wants to be my introduction to the dark side,Wants me to open up this obsidian skin and let them read every tearful page,Because what survivor hasn’t had her struggle made spectacle?Don’t talk about the motherland unless you know that being from Africameans waking up an afterthought in this country.Don’t talk about my flavor unless you know thatMy flavor is insurrection, it is rebellion, resistanceMy flavor is mutinyIt is burden, it is grit and it is compromiseAnd you don’t know compromise until you’ve rebuilt your home for the third timeWithout bricks, without mortar, without any other option”

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2) “Why are Muslims So…” by Sakila and Hawa

Excerpt:

“No graffiti artist is going to tell me to go homeNo Call of Duty player is going to threaten me No overprotective bigot of a mother is gonna ruin my day No ignorant bystander is gonna leave me feeling left outNo tumblr post is gonna scare me awayAnd no biased border patrol is gonna stop me from seeing my familyBecause today is one of the holiest day of the year And instead of spending time with my family,I’m up on stage defending my family.”

3) “Hair” by Elizabeth Acevedo

Excerpt:

“They say Dominicans can do the best hair. I mean they wash, set, flatten the spring in any loc but what they mean is we’re the best at swallowing amnesia, in a cup of morisoñando, die dreaming because we’d rather do that than live in this reality, caught between orange juice and milk, between reflections of the sun and whiteness. What they mean is, ‘Why would you date a black man?’ What they mean is, ‘a prieto cocolo’What they mean is, ‘Why would two oppressed people come together? It’s two times the trouble.’What they really mean is, ‘Have you thought of your daughter’s hair?’ And I don’t tell them that we love like sugar cane, brown skin, pale flesh, meshed in pure sweetness.”

Books by Elizabeth Acevedo: The Poet X, With the Fire on High, Clap When You Land

4) “Adrenaline Rush” by Rudy Francisco

Excerpt:

“Once, a friend of a friend asked mewhy there aren’t more black people in the X Gamesand I said, ‘You don’t get it.’Being black is one of the most extreme sports in America.We don’t need to invent new ways of risking our livesbecause the old ones have been working for decades.”

Books by Rudy Francisco: Helium, I’ll Fly Away

5) “What Kind Of Asian Are You” by Alex Dang

Excerpt:

“Let me tell you about being so marginalized, it’s to the point of ‘I really can’t believe that’s Asian!’Let me tell you about derogatory terms and origins of words such as: chink and gooklet me tell you about the struggle of Asian parents not knowing the language,so we,Ate pet food because it was cheaperLet me tell you about the job of interpreterWhen you’re still playing with Lego blocks but your English is already that much better than your parentsLet me tell you about honor and dignityLet me tell you about a society that projects us as nothing but the secondary role and never the leading manLet me tell you all the things you don’t want to knowlike how chink,comes from the clinking of metal to railroad as the slaves built train-tracks for this country to be connected”