MO Poetry Slam Springfield works to support, promote, and encourage poetry and spoken word art in Southwest Missouri.
Poetry Slam:
Established in 2006, by Michael Sowers and Well Fed Head Bookstore, as a Poetry Slam Inc. (PSI) certified slam venue, MO Poetry Slam Springfield still hosts a monthly slam and show the third Thursday of each month. For the past year and a half, we have been located at Nathan P. Murphy’s at 218 S. Campbell, Springfield, MO. The Slam offers an opportunity for any poet to compete and share their poetry. Poets competing in the slam have come from all walks of life and ranged in age from 16 to 78. In addition, the slam encourages the audience to take part in the show; either as one of the five judges, or by cheering on their favorite poet and booing the scores they feel were too low.
Poetry Outreach:
We are always available to bring poets and poetry into the community at large through hosting poetry slams and through bringing poets to events to feature their talents.
We have worked with many local organizations and non-profits to share poetry with the greater Springfield area and are always looking for more events and partners.
Poetry Education:
We currently offer a weekly page to stage poetry workshop at The Creamery Arts Center. The group meets every Thursday there is not a slam and works together on everything from the writing of poetry to its reading and performance. Poets who participate in the workshop are encouraged to come to our monthly slam and try their hand at competing, but it is certainly not required. Contact us for more class schedules and registration information.
Show Me Youth Poetry:
In an effort to reach out to the youth of our area and share with them our love for poetry, we have created a new program geared for poets between the ages of 13 and 19. Currently we offer a weekly poetry class at The Creamery Arts Center for young poets to learn about poetry and language while helping them with their writing and performance skills. Students learn how to create poems that effectively communicate with an audience both on paper and aloud in front of groups. Our goal is to bring this program to every school in the area and hopefully soon have poetry slams locally at the schools, a large regional tournament for the winners from each school, and have the ability to send a team of young poets to compete nationally at a tournament such as Brave New Voices. In addition we run a monthly youth poetry slam which is open to any poet between the ages of 13 and 19 regardless of whether or not they are participating in the workshops.
