How did the idea for slam poetry come about?
Marc Smith: I started a show at the Get Me High (November, 1984/Chicago) on Monday nights, which was the place where I and a few other people got their chops and performed there. We did that for a year and a half and from there we formed the poetry slam. We had done shows around town at different places and we were looking for one spot to do a regular show and that’s when we found the Green Mill. There wasn’t any competition in the beginning. I called it the slam because at that time, we were encouraging the audience to respond whether they liked it or didn’t like it. To fill the last hour of the set, we started the competition. People don’t understand that the competition part was an afterthought. We were paying attention to the art of performance. CB: So, getting back to those early days … Marc Smith: … I did it every two weeks through 1985 until August and got very frustrated with it and quit, but people kept bugging me to come back and do it. Then I started doing it every week
