The poetry jam is a gathering of high school students reading competitive poetry.  Students attempt to accumulate as many points as possible in order to compete in the district level jam in January.

The poems performed during the poetry jam aren’t meant to be to hip-hop poetry or vague poetic rants but rather “spoken word” poetry created solely for the purpose of being performed in front of an audience.  Poems are not to include profanity, inflammatory or derogatory remarks, sexual overtones or explicit sexual language, or inappropriate gestures.

The poems at the school level will be judged by a panel of 3-5 judges selected by media specialists. A rubric will be used to score each performance.

Anyone can sign up for the poetry jam on a school level by filling out and returning the “Attention Student Poets” form that can be found at the school’s library, but only the best performance will be invited to perform at the district level in January.

The contest has some strict requirements that make up the scoring guidelines including a three minute time frame with a 10 second grace period. You must also articulate clearly and speak at a rate that is easy to understand, exhibit positive body language and keep eye contact with the audience, and present a poem that is creative and original. Your performance must adequately express the mood of the poem.

For some, sports is their muse to let their emotions out into a conducive environment. For others, poetry is their way to express themselves to show their originality and creativity.