Slamlandia ft. Brian Stephen Ellis

Join us on MARCH 19TH for an IN PERSON Poetry Open Mic and Slam at Literary Arts!

Sign-ups are at 6:30 PM. Show begins at 7:00 PM.

Both our poetry open mic and poetry slam have 10 slots. This show we are doing a LOTTERY SYSTEM, where we will take sign ups until 6:50pm, pull the lists, and decide randomly who gets to read this evening.

Slamlandia is not in qualifying season at this time. Poets who compete in the poetry slam are not earning points, just playing for a silly lil trophy. Qualifying season will likely begin again in July 2026.

Literary Arts: 716 SE Grand Ave, Portland, OR 97214

Here are some important COVID-related things to note:

• While not mandatory, masks are STRONGLY ENCOURAGED
• Please be smart and safe and, if you are feeling ill the day before/of, please stay home
• Keep an eye on our social media for any more updates

We will have a feature from BRIAN S. ELLIS!

Brian Stephen Ellis (he/they) is the author of five collections of poetry, and one collection of short fiction, the most recent of which are, Pretty Much the Last Hardcore Kid in This Town (2023) Alien Buddha Press and Against Common Sense (2023) from Limit Zero Publications. In 2014 he was the recipient of the William Stafford War No More Award. They live in Portland, Oregon.

No door admission.

Please see our Accessibility and Safer Space info below.

★ •*´¨`*• O P E N • M I C •*´¨`*• ★

The open mic will start the show out. The open mic is a great way to share your wonderful poetry! You can share 1-2 poems lasting a maximum of 3 minutes. 10 slots only in the open mic.

★ •*´¨`*• T H E • S L A M •*´¨`*• ★

☆ The slam will be 2 rounds.

There are 10 slots in the poetry slam.☆

☆ Poems will be scored on a scale of 0-10. There will be 5 judges. The lowest score and highest score for each poet will be dropped and the middle 3 scores will be added together.

☆ There is a 3 minute time limit for poems performed in the slam - with a 10 second grace period. A 1/2-point time penalty will be subtracted from the poet's score for every 10 seconds they go past the time limit.

☆ The 5 poets with the highest scores will move on to the 2nd round.

★ •*´¨`*• A C C E S S I B I L I T Y •*´¨`*• ★

There is one entrance with no stairs. The event is on the bottom floor of the building. Any seating can be adjusted to make room for any accessibility equipment. There is also a bathroom that can be accessed on the first floor.

★ •*´¨`*• S A F E R • S P A C E • P O L I C Y •*´¨`*• ★

(1) – Slamlandia is committed to the safety of our community and all of its members. This includes but is not limited to performers, audience members, venue staff, volunteers, featured poets, and Executive Council members. We will not allow any act of hate, bigotry, harassment, or violence within our space and will prohibit the entrance of those who have committed these acts in or outside of our space.

(2) – The Slamlandia community is a community based in consent. It is the responsibility of individuals initiating contact to receive enthusiastic consent for the following activities:

☆ Physical contact

☆ Discussion of personal or heavy topics

☆ Discussion of poetry shared on stage

(3) – Slamlandia does not censor our mic and space - with the exception of hate speech. Hate speech includes, but is not limited to threats of violence, the use of slurs for a group you do not belong to, racism, sexism, transphobia, transmisogyny, homophobia, classicism, and ableism.

☆ Marginalized voices expressing anger toward the group of people oppressing them does not fall under the category of hate speech.

☆ In the event that a performer is using hate speech on stage, an Executive Council member will end their performance and ask them to leave the stage.

☆ In the event that a performer uses hate speech, it is the responsibility of the Executive Council to explain to the performer why this was a violation of our hate speech policy to the best of their ability and point them to resources for further explanation

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