SLAM POETRY IN ITALY by Marco Aurelio Moro Italian slam

SLAM POETRY IN ITALY
by Marco Aurelio Moro
Italian slam contests begun in 2001, when Lello Voce (his nickname means “Voice”), a neapolitan
poet living and teaching in a high school in Treviso (near Venice) started the first slam contest. Since
then, he helped organizing several slam contests all over the country; most of them took place in the
Northern Italy.
Nowadays, lots of cities are interested by regular slam contests: some in bigger cities, such as Turin,
Milan, Trieste, Perugia, Padova, but also some in smaller ones, such as Portogruaro and Treviso (near
Venice).
This quick spreading of slam poetry, obviously, have never been organized by a singular
organization or network, as one of the most important 'rules' of slam is naturalness. That was why in
the last years (since 2011) a heated argument regarding slam rules was born. In fact, in some cases,
some of the original rules of slam were 'broken' by a few slam contests.
An example of that is the rule of popular jury: in some cases, the jury were formed by 'technicians'
or 'experts' who were not randomly chosen between the people attending the contest but who were
nominated before the beginning of the contest by the organizers; in other cases, the contest were
organized by a publishing house; there was also a very controversial slam contest that, according to
some websites, was meant to be an advertisment for the new novel of a very famous female novelist
who was to be published by one of the most important publishing houses. The latter case was
stigmatized by Lello Voce as 'poetry spam'.
Some slam poets think that these kind of performance cannot be called 'slam contests', because they
betray the spontaneous and popular spirit of the original slam: they say these performances should take
another name, because if they are called 'slam', the Italian slam poetry could risk to disappear and
become something else, more linked to the traditional idea of poetry lecture than to a contest where
the public decide the winner poet.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. - The translation of these texts has
been realized by amateurs and not by professionals. It focuses above all on the sense of the the words and not on their poetic value. It must be seen as a process of cultural and
linguistic opening and aspires to no literary exigeance.
This very fluid situation of 'anarchy' and 'free' interpretation of the most basic slam rules have lead
some slam contests that were 'faithful' to the original spirit of slam to organize a sort of national slam
contest and the setting of an Italian Slam Federation. The local contests who are starting in these
months throughout Italy will elect a winner who is going to participate to the final contest that will be
settled in Monza (near Milan) in Spring 2014.
During a meeting in our association, a local slam poet (Nicolas Alejandro Cunial) made some kind
of classification of the different poetic 'genres' whose poems usually read in slam contests belong to.
The first one is the narrative poetry, which tells a short story in verses. The following video, by
Alfonso Maria Petrosino, tells about how a man in a cafè falls in love with the waitress:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKszImAT4p8 (very beautiful the final sentence: you can take a
man outside from a messy situation, not a messy situation outside from that man):
Entro in un bar e prendo un cappuccino
ma la barista, Dio
la perdoni, mi sorride
e viola i miei propositi di serietà.
Così mi trovo a contemplare come
resistere,
le sue labbra,
mi perdo e arrendo
scopro che si chiama Francesca,
un nome che reputo
stupendo almeno dal 2002.
Resto fino alla fine del suo turno
fino alla mia completa
cecità.
Fuori comincia ad essere
notturno lo splendore
del lago di Como.
Mi alzo, pago, le parlo e,
diamine, mi parla
e quando poi perde il suo turno
vago ancora un po' per Como
chiedendomi quanto ci metterà
I get into a bar and take a cappucino
but the barmaid, God
forgive her, smiles to me,
and infringes my integrity purposes.
So I find myself contemplating how
to resist,
her lips,
I loose my self and I surrender.
I find out her name is Francesca
a name I have been thinking is
gorgeus at least since 2002.
I stay until the end of her shift
until my complete
blindness.
Outside the Como
lake splendor starts
being nocturnal.
I get up, I pay, I speak to her and,
goddamn, she speaks to me
and when she loose her turn
I wonder a little bit more in Como
and I ask to myself how long my mind
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. - The translation of these texts has
been realized by amateurs and not by professionals. It focuses above all on the sense of the the words and not on their poetic value. It must be seen as a process of cultural and
linguistic opening and aspires to no literary exigeance.
la mia memoria a cancellarla
se almeno un mese in me
ci resterà o no.
Si può portare un uomo fuori dal casino
non il casino fuori da quell'uomo.
will take to erase her,
if she will stay inside me
at least one month or not.
You can take a man outside from a mess
not the mess outside from that man.
The second one is the 'dramatic' poetry, that is read with a very large use of body language. The
followin video, by Stefano Raspini, has a very explicit title: SILVIO. Even outside Italy it is clear what
he thinks about the person he is speaking of and who is this person: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=LKWa2OYfw3I (“Silvio, die quickly”)
The third one is the humouristic poetry, whose main feature is irony and wit. The following video,
by Paolo Agrati, is about the end of two love story, full of ironic and autorionic jokes (the first one:
“Alright, I confess: six times a day I go to the shithole and I secretely comb my hair”, even if he is
bold). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpQu-SYf64o
Mi hai lasciato
per futili motivi.
Vabbè, lo ammetto:
sei volte al giorno
vado al cesso e
mi pettino di nascosto.
Però ti amo e ho sempre
fiori freschi per te.
Risparmio lacca
nei verdi di possesso
tanto non ha suono
come la tua campana
senza il mio batacchio
You left me
for futile reasons.
Alright, I confess:
six times a day
I go to the shithole and
I secretely comb my hair.
But I love you and I always have
freshly cut flowers for you
I save up some hair spray
in the green
that has no sound
like your bell
without my clapper.
Ho buttato il tuo spazzolino
spelacchiato come un vecchio airone
I threw your toothbrush away
mangy like an old heron,
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. - The translation of these texts has
been realized by amateurs and not by professionals. It focuses above all on the sense of the the words and not on their poetic value. It must be seen as a process of cultural and
linguistic opening and aspires to no literary exigeance.
curvo e fiero
affacciava dal bicchiere
i tuoi sorrisi bianchissimi
preghiere di una bocca avara ormai.
Era una domenica d'aprile
il sole chiaro
da tempo nessuno veniva a trovarmi.
bent and fiery
it was showing out from the glass
your whitest teeth,
prayers of a mouth that's now sparing.
It was an April sunday
the sun was clear
no-one had been visiting me since a long time.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. - The translation of these texts has
been realized by amateurs and not by professionals. It focuses above all on the sense of the the words and not on their poetic value. It must be seen as a process of cultural and
linguistic opening and aspires to no literary exigeance.