JAVON JOHNSON is an assistant professor of African American Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

"Javon Johnson provides an eloquent argument on a very important subject. Killing Poetry will make a significant contribution to black performance history." - Omi Osun Joni L. Jones (author of Theatrical Jazz: Performance, Àse, and the Power of the Present Moment) "With thick description and deeply personal and political prose, Johnson's Killing Poetry provides a rich opportunity for us to explore a world of competitive art-making hidden to most. Killing Poetry's dynamic attention to the specific racial, gendered, sexual, and geographic valences in the spoken word community, means that it is unrelenting in its practice of  'deep listening' and complex thinking. Javon Johnson transfers his truly gifted eye as a spoken word and creative artist, to the critical work of studying performance and its other attendants." - Jeffrey Q. McCune, Jr. (author of Sexual Discretion: Black Masculinity and the Politics of Passing)

• Preface1 Let The Slam Begin: History, Method, and Beyond2 “This DPL, Come On!”: Black Manhood in the Los Angeles Slam and Spoken Word Scene3 SlamMasters: Toward Creative and Transformative Justice4 Button Up: Viral Poetry and Rethinking the Archives5 Conclusion: “That Is the Slam, Everybody”AcknowledgmentsGlossaryIndexReferences

JAVON JOHNSON is an assistant professor of African American Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

"Javon Johnson provides an eloquent argument on a very important subject. Killing Poetry will make a significant contribution to black performance history." - Omi Osun Joni L. Jones (author of Theatrical Jazz: Performance, Àse, and the Power of the Present Moment) "With thick description and deeply personal and political prose, Johnson's Killing Poetry provides a rich opportunity for us to explore a world of competitive art-making hidden to most. Killing Poetry's dynamic attention to the specific racial, gendered, sexual, and geographic valences in the spoken word community, means that it is unrelenting in its practice of  'deep listening' and complex thinking. Javon Johnson transfers his truly gifted eye as a spoken word and creative artist, to the critical work of studying performance and its other attendants." - Jeffrey Q. McCune, Jr. (author of Sexual Discretion: Black Masculinity and the Politics of Passing)

• Preface1 Let The Slam Begin: History, Method, and Beyond2 “This DPL, Come On!”: Black Manhood in the Los Angeles Slam and Spoken Word Scene3 SlamMasters: Toward Creative and Transformative Justice4 Button Up: Viral Poetry and Rethinking the Archives5 Conclusion: “That Is the Slam, Everybody”AcknowledgmentsGlossaryIndexReferences