Word: poetry
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...world had better be careful. It is getting dangerously close to mainstream acceptance. Eminem's movie, 8 Mile, won raves from stuffy, middle-aged film critics and raced to the top of the box-office charts. Now Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam has barged its way onto Broadway. An evening of in-your-face street poetry by nine performers with noms de rap like Black Ice, Georgia Me and Poetri might seem to have an uphill battle in the land of Rodgers and Hammerstein. But the show, being marketed to urban audiences and sporting a relatively low $65 top ticket...
...sticky as a locker room. I am on the hotel patio, waiting for the lineup for tonight's semifinal bouts to be posted, wondering how long we can stay in the saddle of this bucking bronco called Slam. "We" are the Los Angeles team--Thea Iberall, Poetri (yes, his name is Poetri), Jerry Quickley and I--four poets, linked by a love of words and a passion for competition. We are in Austin to sling verse and reap scores in the ninth--and largest--National Poetry Slam in history. Forty-five teams and 14 individuals are here from 26 states...
Finally, the team competition starts. We each get just three minutes onstage. Poetri leads out with Preacher, a soul-stirring pitch against hypocrisy. I'm next. I've never faced a crowd so big. I like it. And they like me. My score of 28.9 pulls us into second place behind New York, where we stay until the last round. Dallas needs a 29.4 to tie. It's not an easy score to get. Backstage we assure one another that we've won second place. Then Dallas sends off a raucous group piece about wanting to be a black...
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