Slam poetry is meant to be delivered as powerfully and emotionally as can be, much like turning up speakers to hear and feel a song you love, letting the treble invade your skin while the bass causes your heart to quake. These five slam poems covers different topics and do so with wit, humor, and raw emotion, all meant to elicit a response from you!

1. Melissa Lozada-Olivia – "Tonsils"

That useless organ in the back of your throat can be cut out, removed, and you will live just fine. Can we say the same about love?

Quote of Note: “I tell her, ‘I don’t have time to plan for that kind of surgery.’ She says, ‘There’s never really a right time,’ which is what I thought on the coldest days when he was the warmest thing around.”

2. Guante – “Ten Responses to the Phrase ‘Man Up’”

We understand masculinity thanks to the ideas delivered over generations by the patriarchy. Is there really only one way to be a “man?”

Quote of Note: “Why fight to remove our chains, when we can simply compare their lengths? Why step outside the box, when the box has these bad-ass flame decals on it?”

3. Sabrina Benaim – “Explaining My Depression to My Mother”

The highly unexplainable beast know as depression can only be illustrated in the language of metaphors. Even then, how are you so sure that you can ever understand?

Quote of Note: “Anxiety holds me a hostage inside of my house inside of my head. Mom says, “where did anxiety come from?” Anxiety is the cousin visiting from out of town that depression felt obligated to invite to the party; mom, I am the party, only I'm a party I don't want to be at.”

4. RJ Walker – “Said the Confederate Flag to the American Flag”

Given the microphone, the Confederate flag lays down a list of hypocrisies represented by its kin, the American flag.

Quote of Note: “They were quick to find me on that racist shooter’s belt buckle, but which one of us was sewed onto Darren Wilson’s arm? … Which one of us stood behind the judge and watched Zimmerman get acquitted? Which one of us is painted on the box the goddamn bullets come in?”

5. Jesse Parent – “To the Boys Who May One Day Date My Daughter”

Stick around for the humor, the touching sentiments, and the awesome twist ending!

Quote of Note: “If you break her heart, I will hear it snap with the ear I pressed against her mother’s belly; the elbow I cradled her head in will send a message to my fist; my cheeks are tuned to her lips—I will know if they tremble.”