The tournament is Sat., July 19, 2025 at Kafe Kerouac (2250 N. High St., Cols., OH). Events are FREE to attend.
Teams!
The number of bouts and times have adjusted slightly. You probably don't care because you'll be there all day anyway, but here is the new schedule for the competition that isn't a competition:
Team Orientation = 11:30 am - 12:30
Bout 1 = 12:30 pm
Bout 2 = 3:00 pm
Finals = 8:00 pm
After Party (at Streetlight Guild) = 9:30ish - 1:00 AM
Updated schedule
Register now! Registration is $150.
Not that anyone is hoping to win or anything, here's the prize money:
1st place $150
2nd place $75
3rd place $37.50
4th place $18.75
The poetry slam is a proud, long-standing poetry tradition. For over 40 years poetry slams the world over have changed the face of the art form all over the planet. The Ohio MeatGrinder Slam operates in the spirit of the roots of Slam, putting a good time had by all above all other considerations. To this end, we’ve opted to install only a handful of rules and to distill the experience of a true roots-based poetry slam into one soul-packing day of poetry … no drama, no fuss.
We will have a morning get-together, orientation, preliminary bouts, finals and an after party all in the span of one day. That’s where the grind comes in. It’s like a Slam festival but without all of the workload, demands and infrastructure that larger festivals require. You come, you enjoy the shows, you go home. Please tip your bartender.
This event is about allowing poets to play with the form of poetry in ways that traditional slam competitions often prohibit. You might see a team with props or in costume or playing instruments during a poem. The goal of the poets is to engage you and we encourage them to do so as they see fit, while still attempting to bring honest and earnest poems to the stage and without turning all of this into an actual competitive agenda. We don’t care about who wins and we’re largely disinterested in creating an environment in which anyone else does either.
Ohio and the rest of the Midwest is home to a great many phenomenal poets and writing traditions. We want to celebrate those artists and legacies. It is our hope that you witness every manner of voice, story, and emotion that we can fit into one day, and that you walk away happy to have been part of a truly unique and profound artistic experience whether you be an audience member or a competing poet.
See you at the slam!
Louise Robertson & Scott Woods
Founders – The Ohio MeatGrinder Slam
Everything is at Kafe Kerouac (2250 N. High St., Columbus, OH) unless otherwise noted.
TEAMS!
The number of bouts and times have adjusted slightly. You probably don't care because you'll be there all day anyway, but here is the new schedule for the competition that isn't a competition:
TEAM ORIENTATION = 11:30 am - 12:30
BOUT 1 = 12:30 pm
BOUT 2 = 3:00 pm
FINALS = 8:00 pm
After Party (at Streetlight Guild) = 9:30ish - 1:00 AM
Saturday, July 19, 2025 – all day - The MeatGrinder. Events are free to attend. See registration for participating.
| 10am-11:30am | Registration Brunch. Join us for brunch at Kafe Kerouac. Official names of team and names of poets will be written down. Talk. Hug. Plot your poetic strategies for that magical moment when you hope one of your best friends in the world doesn't do as well as you do <3. |
| 11:30am | Team Orientation. This is for the teams. You need to be there to get your badges, find out the scoop, ask questions and realize there's no 10 second grace period on the poems. Rules. |
| 12:30pm | Prelim Bout 1 The first round of magic happens here. Joseph Harris is our host again this year. All bouts are free. |
| 3:00pm | Prelim Bout 2 The second round of magic happens here. Joseph Harris is our host again this year. All bouts are free. |
| 6:00-8 pm | Dinner Break. On your own. |
| 8-10 pm | Finals. Continuing magic! Top four teams go to finals. Still free! These poets have clawed their way through and ascended the five full inches to the finals stage. We salute you! |
| 10 pm | After Party at Streetlight Guild, 1367 E. Main St., Cols., OH. Food! Drink! House party style action! Free to the public! |
We'll put new information up as soon as we have it. Note: It'll be 3-poet teams again this year. No indies.
List of teams:
Team Registration $150
Registration in now open for July 19, 2025
Step 1: Before July 10, 2025 (after July 10, contact us), pay the registration fee of $150 by cashapp or paypal to:
PayPal: streetlightguild@gmail.com
CashApp: $streetlightguild
Step 2: When paying, be sure to note your home city and state and a contact email.
You don't need a cute team name or to know which poets are on your team yet. We just need to keep track of the teams.
When we get some press, we're putting the links here.