Decatur Book Festival Poetry Slam Qualifying Round

Over the weekend the Wren’s Nest hosted a poetry slam.  It was one of four preliminary rounds for the Decatur Book Festival’s poetry slam on Labor Day weekend.

Kalina Harrison, of Grady High School, won.

I don’t want to take anything away from Kalina–she was pretty dope–but she didn’t have much competition.  As in, zero.

What’s weird is that last year the poetry slam was a very popular feature at the Decatur Book Festival.  You could hear the crowd reacting from all around the square, and the performers were off the figurative chain.  What’s the story?

Here are my questions:

1. Is poetry slamming a dying art that peaked with hep cats in coffeeshops in the 1990s?
2. Did the Decatur Book Festival just not get the word out to the right people?
3. Are kids just plain ole lazy these days?

If someone could provide us with the correct answers, that’d be great.