Final(s) Slam (2 Videos)

That's right, folks! We had another slam! Less of my immediate associates participated this time, but I still did!

The winners of the slam!

Obligatory soloist picture!

The master list!

And here's the text of my poem!

Disclaimer, right now, this slam poem is meta

I’m really sorry, guys, I don’t have anything betta

But I’m here to slam about slamming, and what y’all like

When we slam poets step up and spit into this mic

All I really need to make you scream

For you to clap and cheer and feel like you’re on my team

Is to say something I know you all with agree with

Like man, I hate to work the graveyard shift

There ain’t nothin’ better than a third date kiss

I never want to go to class, I think I’m gone skip

I hate waiting in lines, I hate parking fines

I hate it when my crush wants me to read their mind

I hate getting stuck in traffic behind the shuttle bus

I hate it when I see guys who ain’t chivalrous

Hillary’s a stepford-smilin’ mouth-flappin buffoon,

But where Trump truly belongs is a Fox cartoon

So then I leave the stage, and you think we’re in sync

But the thing is, I never really made you think.

That’s right, audience, I am calling you out,

You only like the taste of water from familiar spouts

I don’t have to be deep, I wasn’t even that funny

All that really matters is you think you think like me

But if I say something to challenge your minds

You sit there quietly, your arms at your sides

You talk about the refugees, with arms open and welcome,

But how would you feel if you had to let them sleep in your home

Maybe your candidate is the best for you

Are they the best for America, when you know what they’ll do?

You say you’re against police brutality

But if you saw it happen, would you leap in the fray?

You say racism doesn’t exist, that it’s come to an end,

But what about those racial jokes you told to your white friends?

You say you oppose the church and its stance on gays

But would you still be kind if a gay were your roommate?

And yes, I’m going there, you say you believe in Christ

But when’s the last time you were unconditionally nice?

Today’s society is all about (hashtag) #SoRelatable

Personally, I think that’s just a bunch of bull.

We are becoming more reliant on our similarities

We ignore the hard things because we like it easy

We don’t want our beliefs challenged, and we don’t to fight

For something we know to be true, or even to make something right

Because if we stand for something, we might stand alone

And standing alone is a fear that fills everyone’s bones.

But if we all stood alone, then we’d be standing together

And our burdens shared would be as light as a feather

So get off the hashtag, forsake the cliché

And make a promise to challenge yourself every day

yes, it’s uncomfortable to question all you believe

But you’ll be surprised by all the rewards you receive

You will find more respect, you will find more clarity

You can defend yourself from scrutiny and barbarity

Best of all, you’ll no longer feel awkward in your own skin

You will become an original, a will-be, not has-been

Thank you.