Marc Smith

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marc Smith

Marc Kelly Smith (* 1949 in Chicago ) is an American poet and is considered the founding father of the global poetry slam movement.

Life

Marc Smith was born in 1949 and grew up in the southeast of Chicago, an industrial and working-class area that has historically been heavily influenced by European immigrants. He worked a large part of his professional life in the construction industry, but had been writing poetry since he was 19.

Uptown Poetry Slam

Marc Smith began his work as a literary organizer and presenter in 1984 with the Open Mic series of events Monday Night Poetry Reading in a place called Get Me High-Lounge in Chicago's Bucktown district. The first literary event in the format of a poetry slam took place here in 1986 with like-minded authors, the so-called Chicago Poetry Ensemble . At first it was more like a variety show than a competition. In the same year, the series of events moved to the uptown Green Mill . The three-hour event, which has since taken place there as an uptown poetry slam , consists of three parts: first an open mic, then the presentation of features poets or guest authors and finally the actual poetry slam. The Uptown Poetry Slam is America's longest running weekly poetry show.

From Chicago, the slam movement spread within a few months, first to San Francisco and New York, and then across the United States. Poetry slams are now taking place in over 500 cities around the world.

plant

Smith has published two books of his own poetry and several books on the slam movement. His work as a poet and as a literary organizer is shaped by a left-wing political point of view and is thus in the socially critical tradition of Chicago authors such as Theodore Dreiser, Carl Sandburg and Nelson Algren. Marc Smith frequently goes on poetry tours in the US and abroad. His programs also include a show called Sandburg to Smith-Smith to Sandburg , in which he combines poems by both authors with live jazz. His intention was described in a literary history of the slam scene as follows:

"Extremely well-read and a disciplined, passionate writer, Smith did not think of poetry as something lofty, a refined ideal that people should strive to achieve. Rather, he believed that poetry should reflect the core of one's being, that it was a raw part of humanity, and that a poet had to be both fearless and dogged to tackle it properly. His dedication to this belief was so evident that when Smithsonian magazine covered the poetry slam phenomenon in their September 1992 issue, the reporter described Smith as almost visionary on the need to rescue poetry from its lowly status in the nation's cultural life. "

“As an extremely well-read, disciplined, and passionate writer, Smith does not see poetry as something sublime, not a refined ideal to which people should strive. Rather, he believed that poetry, as an unadulterated part of being human, should reflect the core of oneself, and that a poet must be equally fearless and tenacious to get right to it. His devotion to this belief was utterly evident, for when Smithsonian magazine reported on the poetry slam phenomenon in its September 1992 issue, the reporter described Smith as' downright visionary in the need to take poetry out of its low standing in national cultural life save'."

Marc Smith takes the position of protecting the poetry slam as a genuinely democratic literary format and enabling all social groups to participate and participate. From this perspective, Smith has often spoken out vehemently against the exploitation of the scene through economic interests, corporate sponsorship or film offers.

Books and CDs

  • Quarters in the Jukebox , Publisher EM Press (www.em-press.com), CD, 2006
  • The Spoken Word Revolution Redux , Publisher Sourcebooks Publishing, 2006
  • The Complete Idiot's Guide to Slam Poetry , Penguin / Alpha Press, 2004
  • The Spoken Word Revolution , 2003, Sourcebooks Publishing, 2003
  • Crowdpleaser , publisher Jeff Helgeson, 1996
  • By Someone's Good Grace , Splinter Group Chicago, CD 1993

Filmography

  • SlamNation - 1998, Director: Paul Devlin
  • Sunday Night Poets - 2002, directed by David Rorie, Pugi Films, distributed by the National Film Network

Web links

Commons : Marc Smith  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ An Incomplete History of Slam
  2. ↑ The Spoken Word Revolution , Sourcebooks 2003, therein: Marc Smith: About Poetry Slam , page 116ff.
  3. ↑ Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe, Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam , Soft Skull Press 2008, "Chapter Five: Marc Smith (So What!); The Truth about Who Invented the Poetry Slam "Page 35-36. ISBN 1-933-36882-9
  4. ^ Poetry Slam packs a punch to the heart , Chicago Sun Times, August 4, 1986.


personal data
SURNAME Smith, Marc
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Smith, Marc Kelly (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American poet, founder of the poetry slam movement
DATE OF BIRTH 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago