Yeshiva Poetry Society welcomes you to the December Slam at Kushner

Date:Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Time: 10:30-1:00

Topics: Students will be asked to write 2 poems. The first is free verse and the topic is “villains”, and the second is a refrain poem with the topic of the “unnoticed.”

Students will be given five minutes to perform both poems.

Students will be judged for their use of language, their adherence to the stated poetic form, their approach to the theme, the quality of their performance, and their overall success at moving the judges and the audience.  Awards will be given to the top four poets.  The judges are published poets, writers and educators.

The schedule for the match is below:

10 AM- Opening Remarks/Welcome
10:15 - Round #1

11:15 - Finalist Round
12:15 - Awards/Closing Remarks

12:30 - Lunch
 

About the Themes:

Villains: Villains seem so easy to identify when we encounter them on the pages of a book or in the reel of a film. Yet, in real life they are harder to identify. What do you think “bad guys” look like in real life? What motivates people to hurt others? How do we understand those who hurt others? Let your imagination or your inner psychologist flesh out the villain.

The unnoticed: How much are we blind to as we hurry down the paths we have designated for ourselves? What would we see if we took the time to look? Write a refrain poem exploring what is unnoticed in your life. The refrain poem is a somewhat loose structure, so we are setting down some parameters and ask that the refrain be at least one line of repetition which appears periodically in the poem.