Fewer and fewer are coming out on Sunday night to the poetry slam. Has it outlived its natural life span, or is this just a trough in the normal ebb and flow of the life of the group and will it return with vitality again?

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2000

Answers

To answer my own question, I am not ready for the slam to die. I look forward to Sunday night. I enjoy working through a poem all week, struggling to find the right approach, playing with the words. I know the slam has given me the chance to learn from others, to challenge myself. If I have to, I am sure I could find another group, but I do so enjoy the people I meet with on Sunday. MB is thinking of calling a break if we continue to have low turnouts. He puts in so much effort keeping us together and functioning, I know it must be disappointing to see fewer and fewer there each week. If you have been going through a busy patch but plan on returning in the future, you could answer here. If you feel that the slam no longer answers your creative need, let us all know that too.
I would miss meeting with this group of most creative people every Sunday.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2000

Hello, all.
Thanks Gwenyth for speaking what is in my heart too.
I can tell you all that I *have* looked around for other slams online... in order to try to recruit more people to our slam.... and was extremely dismayed by the lack of...... quality...... of other sites and the poetry featured. As such, I don't harbor any notions that there would be another site that I could contribute to, and feel that my work was being judged by a group of (warm and encouraging) peers.
I am guilty of urging MB to continue the Slam through the summer months (thinking that i would be free to attend every week) and then not coming. I couldn't help it, I had to work, which was not in my plans at all. However, I've watched the numbers go down, and watched the group's morale sort of slipping, from afar.
I have attributed this decline in attendance to summer..... there is too much to do! You know, tans to accomplish, people of the opposite sex to flirt with, chase, and bed, weddings and reunions to attend, cars to wash lovingly with the hose in the driveway, sunsets to paint, etc. I don't know. I do these things, so I assume others do too.
I guess what I am trying to say is that I don't think now is a good time to look at whether or not the Slam should shut down. Because of summer. Maybe if no one is coming by the end of Sept..then we can look at this again?
Help me out here!
There is nowhere else to go!

sincerely;
kali

-- Anonymous, August 31, 2000

Having been absent for many a moon, I must register my wailing demand that the Slam continue! (I'm moving to my new house this Saturday, after which things may begin to fall into more "normal" rhythms.)

-- Anonymous, August 31, 2000

I wish to see the slam continue too. I think I learn a lot from the other contributors, and it is a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Before I stumbled into the slam, I had never written a poem - well, except for the mandatory submission for high school english class. I doubt that I would even try if the folks at this gathering were not so encouraging and helpful. I haven't been able to contribute every week, and I haven't written anything I'm really proud of as yet, but I keep trying and hoping! *s* I have, however, written a few lines I like - and that would never have happened without this group. I know it asks a lot of MB, and if there is something I can do to make it easier for him, I'd be happy to help out. I can code, so maybe I could do some of that. Anyway, I hope the slam continues for a very long time! AND - I look forward to Kwanlu returning! *s*

-- Anonymous, August 31, 2000

I, too, have been guilty of extended absence, despite weekly promises of making a "real" return. I have excuses, of course. Don't we all?

But I must say that I would hate to see the Slam disappear. I love the Slam... the poetry, the people, the atmosphere. I have come to think of each of you as friends... and I always look forward to Sunday nights, even if I don't ultimately end up making it there for whatever reason. I'm certain I would not have begun writing poetry again if Bill hadn't launched this wonderful little project. That alone makes the whole thing special to me.

Having said that, though, I think it's up to all of us to pool our efforts and make the Slam worthwhile again. If we each up the enthusiasm a notch, help find new contributors, be diligent about constructive comments, collectively blow on the embers --- I'm sure we can muster an amazing autumn collection.

We're all so damn talented, after all ;-)

When I think back to some of the more wonderful Slam nights we've had... you know the ones... when you come away thinking "Wow!" There's no reason we can't make that happen more often. Especially if the Slam means as much to us as we're all saying it does.

OK. End of speech.
I'm gonna go write me a poem for this Sunday.
-X

-- Anonymous, August 31, 2000

Ok, the guilt is overwhelming.... I have made a few token appearances and not done enough regular attending myself. Thought of and supported certain topics with the promise of a poem and then had none forthcoming. It's sort of like having a great band playing down the street on Tuesdays, all of a sudden, you haven't been for a while and you think, oh, it's Tuesday, I haven't listened to the band in a while, head down and they're not playing anymore. How sad. Stay, keep it going.... even though I'm not always here on Sundays, I sneek in during the week and read the poems and ruminate about the new topic, it's a wonderful place.

-- Anonymous, September 07, 2000

i need the slam because no one else will put up with me......

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2000

I know how much work a poetry slamm can be...ran one for ages myself...Bill? Since everything is now on you...could I make it any easier for you? Perhaps I can use my programming skills to take the burden off of you to update pages - maybe put together a little utility to let you (or poets) enter their own work into a databse and just have you "flip a switch" to populate the html pages and archives? It would make it searchable too ;) - let me know - happy to help.

-- Anonymous, October 03, 2000