Minnesota Microphone

The intention for this blog is to be a place to find out about MN’s slam and spoken word communities. There will be followups of slams, interviews and photo shoots with spoken word artists (both local and touring), discussions of open mics and events here in Minnesota, explanations and discussions about slam rules and themes, and visual and audio media so that you know just what you might be getting into.

It won’t be a blog necessarily locked to ONLY the Minnesota spoken word scene, and if I happen to hit a slam or spoken word event out of town, I may cover it.

Personally, I am a writer and a photographer, and have been following the slam scene for less than a year. I compete regularly, a lot of the time out of a desire to improve upon my own performance skills. This isn’t a blog about my personal life, or my person, so it will be a rare occasion for me to blog about my own experiences as a spoken word performer. A lot of the poets and performers that I photograph and interview are now my friends- the spoken word community is very friendly, if nothing else. If you want to talk to a poet or performer about their work or the scene or how an open mic works, more likely than not, they’ll be happy to talk to you.

Right now, I intend to post Thursdays, with the first post of the month about the Soapboxing slam, the second about the SlamMN slam, and the last two posts being a toss up of posts either interviewing performers, following an open mic somewhere in town, or reviewing another spoken-word event.

The final intention for this blog is to both document and expose how wonderfully diverse and exciting spoken word as an art can be. From the storytellers to the slam poets to the stand up comedians to poetry readings to hip hop, there are so many amazing performers here in Minnesota, who are insightful, surprising, and always changing, you will often times get something other than what you were expecting.
-Cole