LitSlam: Badass Poetry from Underground
What happens when wikipedia gets crossed with Thunderdome? Lit Slam.
And what happens when the resulting wiki-dome (thunder-pedia?) gives birth to a book?
Something called Tandem.
But let me back up a bit. Lit Slam is this fantastic idea that goes like this:
- Hold a poetry slam once a month.
- Ask the audience to pick their favorite pieces performed at the end of each slam.
- At the end of a year of shows, create a book out of all of the audience favorites from the whole year.
They did it, and this Monday is the release party for Tandem, the first anthology to come out of a year of performances and audience-curated poems.
This celebration performance, like the others before it, will take place in the amazing pseudo-secret that is Viracocha’s V Cave Basement. If you haven’t been there yet, it’s like discovering Doc Holiday’s secret underground batcave. Only better. “I’m your huckleberry…” indeed.
This is the kind of event that shows that poetry has the good to adapt to whatever changes technology and print and society may bring. One of the oldest forms of self-expression will always have a place in our voices and our hearts. I highly recommend you go and congratulate these folks, and hear some of the best poetry to come out of the Mission this year.
You can pick up the book at the reading, or buy it early from Bicycle Comics here.