Slam the Radio Show(SRS)-2-22-09 The Lightning Night LIVE from the Green Mill Jazz Lounge in Chicago...its the one that started them all....the Original UPTOWN POETRY SLAM...hosted by the creator of the poetry slam movement.... Marc Smith(so what!) MARC KELLY SMITH - the founder of the Poetry Slam Marc Kelly Smith is best known for bringing to the world wide poetry community a new style of poetic presentation that has spawned one the most important social/literary arts movements of our time. As stated in the PBS television series, The United States of Poetry, a “strand of new poetry began at Chicago’s Green Mill Tavern in 1987 when Marc Smith found a home for the Poetry Slam.” Born on the southeast side of Chicago, Smith’s innate sense of rhythm and unflinching realism has made him one of the country’s most compelling performers. Full of grit, his performances break poetic boundaries, giving audiences an acute vision of what poetry is and what it can be.