Robbed

I’ve read several posts this morning about poets getting “robbed” when they get low scores at a slam.

I pay little to no attention to it when poets feel that way. They have their own opinions, prejudices, and experience within this Star Trek fan universe we call slam. Those things color their reactions that it’s hard for me to decide what the truth of the experience is. (Being a thousand miles away, of course, I really know very little.)

But I adore it when the novice audience that comes to NPS feels that way and lets the judges know about it. Because for me, that’s when the beauty of slam is most evident — that the opinions of ordinary people new to the experience is what makes a slam a slam, and anything else is extraneous.

So — who’s really been robbed this week? That’s a sincere question. Who touched the audience without touching the judges? Who provoked them, honored them, entertained them, moved them, and then made some of them feel compelled to respond to a contrary opinion?

Those are the poets I’m interested in hearing more about.