The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON-On Tuesday, July 13, from 6:30 - 8:00 pm, Columbia County Rural Library (CCRL) will host its first-ever "Poetry Slam". "What is a poetry slam?" you ask. Well, poetry began as a part of an oral tradition that included poets sharing and performing aspects of their poems. A slam is a poetry competition where poets perform original works, either in teams or solo, in front of an audience that also serves as judges. "The structure of the traditional slam was started by construction worker and poet Marc Smith in 1986 at a reading series in a Chicago jazz club. The competition quickly spread...