A poetry slam is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges.

Poetry slams began in Chicago in the 1980s, with the first slam competition designed to move poetry recitals from academia to a popular audience. American poet Marc Smith, believing the poetry scene at the time was "too structured and stuffy", began experimenting by attending open-microphone poetry readings, and then turning them into slams by introducing the element of competition.

The performances at a poetry slam are judged as much on performance as content, and poets may compete as individuals or in teams. The judging is often handled by a panel of judges, typically five, who are usually selected from the audience. Sometimes the poets are judged by audience response.

American poet Marc Smith is credited with starting the poetry slam movement at the Get Me High Lounge in Chicago in November 1984. In July 1986, the original slam moved to its permanent home, the Green Mill Jazz Club. In 1987, the Ann Arbor Poetry Slam was founded by Vince Keuter. In August 1988, the first poetry slam held in New York City was hosted by Bob Holman at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe.

In 1990, the first American National Poetry Slam took place at Fort Mason, San Francisco.

Today, there are regular poetry slam competitions all around the globe.

While slam poetry has often been ignored in traditional higher learning institutions, it slowly is finding its way into courses and programs of study. For example, at Berklee College of Music, in Boston, slam poetry is now available as a minor course of study.

Different formats of poetry slams exist throughout the world. Generally, however, in a poetry slam, members of the audience are chosen by a master of ceremonies (MC) to act as judges for the event, though scoring can also be done by the audience. After each poet performs, a score is awarded to the performance. Scores generally range between zero and ten.