San José Poetry Slam

The Tabard Theatre and Poetry Center San José present The San José Poetry Slam.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Sign up list will be open from 6:30 to 6:59 p.m. at 6:59 p.m. the list will close and we will do the random draw. Slam starts at 7 p.m.

Hosted by Mighty Mike McGee

Cash prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. Admission: $5-10, no advance reservation required.

If you have never been to a Poetry Slam before, a poetry slam is a competition, imagine spoken word poetry as an Olympic sport. The rules are simple:1) Poets must use their own poems. 2) poet must use only one poem per round. 3) no musical accompaniment. 4) no props. 5) there is a time limit of 3 minutes and 10 seconds. going over that will result in a time penalty. Violation of rules 1 through 4 will result in disqualification. This is a two-round slam, poets with the highest scores will move up to round two. Sign ups to compete must be done in person. If you’re not competing, we could use judges.

Established in 1998, the San José Poetry Slam was one of the first continuous competitive poetry events in the Bay Area. It has been a foundation and home for spoken word and performance poetry, loaded with a collection of regional and national championships to boot. San José has a widely respected name for spoken word thanks to the quality work and notable poets that have come up through the ranks, all thanks to the poetry slam community. Our slam has hosted many acclaimed featured guests from around the world, and it has brought home both national and international trophies. Covid forced a move to Zoom until now, and we’re excited to be at our new home at the Tabard Theatre in San Pedro Square in downtown San José!

Poetry Center San José promotes and supports the literary arts in San José. Over the past four decades, PCSJ has brought hundreds of exceptional writers from around the country to read from their works and, in many cases, to conduct workshops for local writers. PCSJ is a nonprofit organization established in 1978. Its base of operations is in the charming turn-of-the-century Victorian home where the renown poet Edwin Markham once lived, now located in San José History Park. Poetry Center San José is a member supported organization and is funded, in part, by grants from Applied Materials Foundation, the City of San José’s Office of Cultural Affairs, Knight Foundation, Poets & Writers, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, SVCREATES, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council and also supported in part by a SVCreates National Endowment for the Arts American Rescue Plan grant. We also thank Brandenburg Family Foundation and Anne & Mark’s Art Party for their generous giving.