what’s a Poetry Slam?  

Almost the opposite of the Gerund ruckus, a poetry slam is a structured competition where poets perform original work under 3 minutes without music, props, or costumes. Performers are judged by five audience members, who give scores ranging from 0.1 to 10.0. The highest and lowest scores are dropped from the tally. There may be multiple bouts / rounds, or it could be a standard 4×4 (four teams in four rounds). Slam teams usually have pre-selected poets and at least one backup/stand-in, all of whom qualify to join their team by winning individual slams. 

Our team is a little different.

No submissions, qualifiers/competitions/ or slam experience required.

• Any “slam curious” regular Dirty Gerund community poets can join the team by simply speaking with a current team member on a Monday night.
• The Gerund is not a slam venue, but, the team’s lead will help any interested poet find/attend solo-slams and get practice in with the team ahead of any upcoming team slams we’re traveling to.
• We typically send a team to at least two regional slams per year in the spring & summer.
• Team leaders are voted in annually and serve a maximum consecutive two year term.
• The team lead for 2026 is Bailey Magpie! Contact her on instagram

The Dirty Gerund’s slam team is one leg of our “Roadshow”. The team uses the radical, punk inspired energy of “dive-bar dirt-parking-lot poetry” as inspiration to tackle the time constraints and classic expectations of poetry slam, without losing their fists of gravel.

The team honors its Worcester roots and recognizes its responsibility to the Dirty Gerund as representatives to the public.
Together, we understand that creating truly equitable spaces is a perpetual, ongoing process which will evolve as we as individuals and a society learn and grow, and we are committed to this, to fostering trust, and to holding each other accountable for actions on and off the mic.