In Person -

Coffee and Cotton

Mill No. 5 250 Jackson St. No. 401 Lowell, Mass. 01852

AND Online! -

Virtually on Zoom and streaming on Facebook Live

/// About the Slam ///

The format is as follows: order chosen by random, and then all poets do one poem. The top four scorers from the first round go on to do a second poem. Then the top two scorers from the second round do a third poem to determine the winner.

The winner gets $70; second place gets $30.

Slam rules are standard: poems must be original (read by the author); they must run three minutes or less, including any introductory remarks (there is ten second grace period, but if you go over 3 minutes and 10 seconds, you lose 0.5 points for every 10 seconds over that time); no props or musical accompaniment, other than what you can do with your own body (it's OK to sing, clap hands, or beat your chest, but no harmonicas, recorded backing, etc.). It's OK to read off a text, tablet, phone or other device, but poets that perform without a net tend to get higher scores.

This is the third qualifier slam for our Mill City Speaks 2023 slam team. The winner and runner-up earn a place in our finals, which will happen in April or May. We will be doing other qualifying slams into the new year.