Black Chakra emerged from the dark curtains light on his feet, shoulders at the ready, cracking his neck. Like a cage fighter entering the ring, the wordsmith prepared for battle.

“I do not desire to be good at poetry,” Chakra said in the lead-up to his performance. ”I desire to be the best.”

And it’s no small feat to be crowned champion of Charm City Slam, Baltimore’s highly regarded slam poetry and spoken word competition.

Poets from all walks of life traveled here last week for the third annual throwdown, ready to test their craft against the best of the best. The finals featured the 12 winners of the monthly slams during Baltimore’s third season.

Kenneth Something, who hosted the event last Tuesday, said most people think of poetry as a Mother’s Day card or a haiku. But there’s no “roses are red, violets are blue” in Baltimore. Only one word captures the styles heard: bars.

“If you wanna know how good your poetry really is, go to Charm City,” said Ayanna Florence, one of the evening’s 12 competitors.

Florence, 29, is a full-time poet based in Charlotte, North Carolina, who, like many others at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company Downtown Theatre, traveled from her home state to battle it out in Baltimore. In her vulnerable first poem, Florence tackled police violence against mentally ill citizens.

It is said that pigs will eat just about anything

Can’t tell a carrot from a carcass

Have a hunger deep as a drought

Don’t care if their teeth hold flesh or flower

— Excerpt from "Wellness Check," by Ayanna Florence

Poets, judges and people in the slam scene echoed similar sentiments: Baltimore is the most competitive slam poetry city in the country.

Something describes Baltimore as the “mecca” of the genre. Ninety percent of competing poets at Charm City Slam events are from out of state, as well as 35-40% of attendees, he said. “It’s not talked about a lot in Baltimore, but it’s talked about everywhere else.”

Our very own Baltimore Slam Team travels and competes to make a name for Charm City, earning them colloquial titles like “Slammageddon” and the “Baltimore Slam Dynasty.” Many of the founding team’s members, including Chakra, teach with Dew More Baltimore, a poetry program for marginalized youths. The team was encouraged to compete in 2015 when their students dared the instructors to take the stage.

Chakra, 36, said the scene here is simultaneously big and underground. He even describes himself as “the most non-famous famous person to ever exist.”

That radical energy was reflected in the night’s crowd — a boisterous and passionate room of slam poetry fanatics.

Audience members are not just there to fill seats. Their opinions, reactions and cheers fuel the fire, particularly when judge’s scores are announced. Cries of “That’s a 10!” and “We don’t like that!” are the sort of commentary that make the competitions feel like a sport, Florence said.

Tola Fadeyi, a neuroscience major at Johns Hopkins University with a minor in writing seminar, goes to Charm City slams just to be inspired.

“So far I’m just a rolling spectator, just constantly in awe of the beautiful stuff our community creates,” said Fadeyi, 21.

The competitors battled in pairs in each round, a coin flip determining who went first. A panel of five judges scored each poem on a scale from zero to 10 — zero meaning find a new career and 10 meaning poets went above and beyond the judge’s expectations. The highest and lowest scores from the panel are dropped, so 30 is the highest total score a poet can receive.

Ashlee Haze is known as “Big 30” — a nickname she carries for earning so many perfect scores. Although the 36-year-old does not compete as often nowadays, the legendary poet judged last Tuesday’s three-round competition with a critical eye.

“I’m not a 10 girly, regularly. I may have one or two to give out that night,” the Atlanta resident said before the competition. Her criteria for high scores include poignant writing, layered storytelling and an energetic performance.

At the third annual Charm City Slam, only one person scored a perfect 30: Black Chakra. It was the poet’s third time competing in the event, after a second-place finish in 2023 and a round-one elimination in 2024. To say he wanted to prove himself would be an understatement.

Chakra competed and perfected his pieces in the year leading up to the battle, preparing 30 potential poems paired with energetic and emotional performances.

Last week’s line-up was dense. Chakra and Florence made it past the first round, as well as Khalil Houston, Cyn, Steven Willis and Sheri Hall. Chakra defeated Florence in round two with a hard-hitting poem about violence in Gaza, earning him that coveted 30.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Often occurs when a newborn baby is sleeping

Death always comes for the children at night

Like it knows if you were alert or awake you would never allow this to happen

Over 15,000 children have died in Gaza

I guess you slept through it

— Excerpt from "SIDS," by Black Chakra

In the final three, Chakra battled Cyn and Hall for the crown, finally claiming the title of Charm City Slam Champion.

With a win under his belt and the night behind him, Chakra acknowledged that he had wanted to quit after his elimination last year. But despite his rocky finishes, he knew he wasn’t done with slam poetry.

“You still got a pen,” he reminded himself. “I still think you got something to say.”