This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Congratulations to Jesse Parent!
The Individual World Poetry Slam took place in Cleveland from October 12-15, 2011 and local slam poet Parent took second place overall for the second year in a row.
A poetry slam is a competition in which poets have a time limit to perform a poem for an audience, and then are judged by five randomly selected members of the audience on the content of their words, performance, and other factors.
The judges score from a 1, which is a horrible poem, to a 10, which is the best thing they've ever heard. The high and low scores are dropped to give a poet their final score.The Individual World Poetry Slam involved 78 international competitors who met to compete for the world title among slam poets. After two days of preliminary bouts in which the poets compete in rounds with 1, 2, 3, and 4 minute time limits, the 12 highest placing poets competed in the finals held on Saturday, October 15. After three rounds of competition, Washington, D.C. poet Chris August took first place, with Jesse Parent taking second place.Parent has competed on Salt Lake City's poetry slam team at the 2007-2011 National Poetry Slams, a team competition put on yearly by Poetry Slam, Inc. In 2011, the Salt Lake team finished 8th out of 76 competing teams.Parent competes monthly at the Put Your Mouth Where the Word Is poetry slam held at Mo's Neighborhood Grill, 358 South West Temple in Salt Lake City, held every last Monday of the month at 8PM. Admission is $5.