Spoken-word poetry, popularized during the '60s with artists like the Watts Prophets, the Last Poets and the beat poets, is enjoying a revival of sorts across the entire country. Madison is no different.

Cafe Montmartre's Sidecar Bar, the Memorial Union (with their "Big Mouth" series), Genna's, Avol's and other Madison venues regularly host spoken-word open mics and slams. Slams, for those who don't know, are competitions wherein poets are judged according to their content, delivery, style, originality and whatever other criteria the judges (usually picked at random from the audience) choose to use. Engaging, energetic affairs, slams routinely attract large audiences and many competitors.

Madison is home to a number of very good spoken-word artists, including David Hart, Eric Mata, Azaria Nori, james lee, Ray Hsu, Cory Sims, Rusty Russell and of course Jeannie Bergmann, who maintains madpoetry, the go-to site for the spoken-word scene in madison. Containing poet bios, listings of open mics and slams, featured poems from local poets and much more, madpoetry is a great resource for anyone interested in checking out the scene.

Note: The image is courtesy madpoetry.