"From its humble beginnings at Chicago's Green Mill Tavern to an annual convergence featuring hundreds of poets from more than 50 cities, poetry slams - the Olympics of poetry - have become a cultural phenomenon. Poetry Slam: The Competitive Art of Performance Poetry documents ten years of these unprecedented literary events with details on hosting your own slam, winning strategies, tips for memorization, and other informative essays, as well as 100 of the best slam-winning poems ever."--BOOK JACKET.