St. Paul is currently playing host to the 21st Annual National Poetry Slam; where the best of the best at speaking the “spoken word” gather to compete in what has been dubbed the “Superbowl of Slam.” Hundreds of poets have come from across North America in hopes of winning it all in the 5-day tournament.

In addition to the tournament, which leads to a championship, a five-day festival of poetry will include competitions, workshops, open mike events, showcases and more.

The tournament schedule is as follows:

Each competitor has three minutes to perform a poem of his/her own construction.

• Aug. 3-5, up to 84 teams will compete in preliminary rounds held at 7-9 p.m. and from 9-11 p.m., nightly, winnowing the field down to 20 teams.
• Aug. 6, the top 20 teams compete in one night of four semi-final bouts.
• Aug. 7, the top four teams face off in a finals competition at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium

The competitors come from diverse backgrounds bringing unique slams that define their poetic style, but they all share the commonality of being the best in the biz. The 2010 Event Coordinator commented, “This is blood, sweat, and tears poetry delivered live, inches from your face…our poets take the very best elements of stand-up comedy, dramatic monologue, and performance-based poetry and deliver it with the energy of hip-hop, punk rock, and jazz. Audiences will be blown away.”