7/26-27: Copper State Poetry Slam returns to Phoenix

Since Marc Smith created the poetry-slam movement 30 years ago in Chicago, the no-frills spoken-word competitions have spread across the world, from Australia to the Czech Republic to Hawaii.

Arizona's own statewide competition will take place Saturday and Sunday, July 26-27, bringing in teams from across the state.

"It's the ultimate form of expression, using only words," said poet Jeremiah
Blue, director of the Copper State Poetry Slam. "That's part of what makes it difficult to market on a mainstream level. There's no music or props, it's a very direct form of expression. It's very simple and raw."

Blue, took the reins of the slam in 2012 and brought it to the Phoenix Center for the Arts last year, attracting about 250 people over two days.

This year, Blue decided to hold the event over a weekend to accommodate out-of-town participants. Due to scheduling conflicts, the event has moved to a new location at the Playhouse on the Park at Phoenix Theatre. Other than eliminating one workshop, the event will run almost exactly as it did last year.

Teams of four compete against one another, presenting solo, in pairs, trios or a full group onstage. The poets recite written pieces, generally by heart, and are scored on a scale of 1 to 10 by judges selected randomly from the audience. The team with the highest score at the end of competition wins the state title.

So far, eight teams are scheduled to compete this year.

"I hope we have a lot of new audience members, especially those from other cities," Blue said. "We've seen a massive resurgence of poets and audience members at our weekly shows, and a lot of them are relatively young people. Spoken word is getting a lot more exposure than ever before on YouTube, especially with college students."

Poets can participate in a workshop on Saturday afternoon, and anyone can attend the special Nerd Slam and Haiku slam before the main bouts.

Details: Saturday and Sunday, July 26-27. 4 p.m. publishing workshop, 5 p.m. Nerd Slam, 7 p.m. bouts Saturday. 4 p.m. Haiku Slam, 6 p.m. championship bout Sunday. Playhouse on the Park at Phoenix Theatre, 1850 N. Central Ave. $10-$14 for day passes, $20 for two-day passes. 602-254-2151, copperstatepoetryslam.com, phoenixtheatre.com.