{"id":192989,"date":"2025-01-31T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/?p=192989"},"modified":"2025-12-31T16:04:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T23:04:24","slug":"salt-city-slam-a-space-for-anyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/community\/salt-city-slam-a-space-for-anyone\/","title":{"rendered":"Salt City Slam: A Space for Anyone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chris Atkin<\/strong><\/a> is the current Slam Master at Salt City Slam<\/strong> <\/a>(SCS), Utah\u2019s premier slam poetry group, which he has been a part of for 10 years. Prior to that, he ran a youth poetry group, from which his students went on to win a national competition. SCS saw what he did with those kids and decided they\u2019d like to have him as a coach. From that moment on, he\u2019s been involved in their leadership in many different ways. \u201cI went from having nothing to do with the scene to traveling internationally and placing in the top five out of almost 50 teams,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Slam poetry is both competitive and performative. Atkin says, \u201cA good slam poet is performance-centered. Poets should not just think about what\u2019s on the page, but how it\u2019s delivered.\u201d He condemns \u201cpoet voice\u201d \u2014 flowy, flowery \u2014 because it doesn\u2019t facilitate connection. Atkin wants his performances to feel more human and relatable. \u201cI try to be so prepared that it doesn\u2019t feel like I prepared at all,\u201d he admits. \u201cI don\u2019t want it to feel like I memorized something; I want it to feel like a conversation with the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to have a place where I can test my work out and see what comes back, even if it\u2019s booing.\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Chris
Atkin wants his performances to feel human and relatable, like a conversation with the audience. Photo credit: Logan Sorenson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With slam poetry comes community. Poetry goes from a solo project to a collaboration when you\u2019re presenting it to judges and an audience, getting immediate feedback. Atkin attributed his favorite metaphor for slam poetry to another local poet, RJ Walker<\/strong><\/a>, who says the slam is a gym. \u201cI don\u2019t know that there are many places I can go to exercise my art,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to have a place where I can test my work out and see what comes back, even if it\u2019s booing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Atkin revealed that a challenge for SCS has been locking down a venue. \u201cIn the 10 years I\u2019ve been involved, we\u2019ve been at five or six venues.\u201d Therefore, Andrew Earley<\/strong>, owner of The Beehive<\/em> and an OG slam kid, has been an invaluable resource to SCS. \u201cIt says a lot to know that this community leaves a lasting enough impact on people that even when they step away, they are eager to step back,\u201d Atkin says. \u201cWe reached out to him, and he let us use The Beehive for free. Not only did he create that space for us, but he re-embedded himself in the scene and has become a really big part of it.\u201d Even if things get moved around, SCS isn\u2019t going anywhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be scary to get in front of a crowd, but it\u2019s one of the few places where people are ready to hear anything anyone has to say.”<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Along with recently being crowned Slam Master (again), Atkin is also excited to announce his and Earley\u2019s new literary magazine, Wailing and Gnashing<\/em>. To read and submit, visit wailingandgnashing.com<\/em><\/a>. They separate their submissions into \u201cwailers,\u201d which are more spoken-word and raw, and \u201cgnashers,\u201d which have been fine-tuned and feel finished. If you\u2019re not quite sure which category your poem fits into, they\u2019ll categorize it for you.<\/p>\n

\"Atkin
Andrew Earley, owner of the Beehive, has been an invaluable resource to Salt City Slam. Photo credit: Logan Sorenson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Find SCS on Instagram at @utahpoetryslam <\/em><\/a>or performing live on the last Monday of each month at The Beehive<\/em><\/a>. If you\u2019d like to compete, you can just show up and read your own work \u2014 come prepared with three poems. You might not get a chance to read all three, but you\u2019ll need them all if you go all the way to the final round.<\/p>\n

\u201cA good slam poet is performance-centered. Poets should not just think about what\u2019s on the page, but how it\u2019s delivered.\u201d <\/strong><\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re on the fence about performing, Atkin wants to remind you that every poet you see on stage was once where you are, wondering if they should try this out. \u201cIt can be scary to get in front of a crowd, but it\u2019s one of the few places where people are ready to hear anything anyone has to say,\u201d he encourages. If you\u2019re still nervous, just come and be in the audience. \u201cYou\u2019ll see how the performers are received and understand that this is a space for anyone. Some of it sounds like it belongs in a literary journal, but a lot of it sounds like it was written five minutes before the slam, because it was, and who cares?\u201d Atkin says. The nature of the slam is that it rewards honesty, which anyone can bring to the microphone.<\/p>\n

Read about other poets in Utah:<\/strong>
\nWriting Through Waves: Utah Japantown Advocates Welcome Poet Sawako Nakayasu<\/a><\/strong><\/em>
\nAlex Caldiero’s Final Recitation of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl”\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With slam poetry comes community. Poetry goes from a solo project to a collaboration when you\u2019re presenting it to an audience, getting immediate feedback. … read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":193034,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[],"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[340,376],"tags":[22177,30761,9333,9327,5390,30760,19792],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192989"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slugmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}