Even though New York Comic-Con has passed, the great thing about the con are the moments that stay with you. Truly, NYCC is a mecca for all thing nerd related. If pop culture is a spectrum, then New York Comic Con is a point where all the different fandoms that make up that spectrum converge. I have been attending NYCC for a few years now, especially as press. Whenever I think there’s nothing that can surprise me about the con, I’m happy to be proven wrong. So hearing that Jive Poetic was bringing back the NYCC Poetry Slam competition for the second year in a row, I was ecstatic.
It’s a bit jarring to think about a slam poetry event being held at a comic-con. For me, they have been two separate worlds. I, and many other writers on Black Nerd Problems, started out in slam poetry. I talked about nerd things in poetry spaces but never really talked poetry in nerd spaces. Jive Poetic is a man that walks between both worlds, so there is no better person to have thrown this event. In case you ain’t know, Jive Poetic is a co-founder founder of the Brooklyn Poetry Slam, former host at the Nuyorican Cafe. His work has been recognized by the British Arts Council; US Embassies in Australia, Brazil, and Poland. He’s also an amazing DJ and gigantic nerd. Jive Poetic could do an entire lecture on every iteration of Transformers you can think of. Again, the perfect person to host this show, along with another all-star slam poetry performer and graphic artist genius Rico Frederick as the for DJ this event.
When Jive hosted the event in 2024, it was the first time ever to my knowledge that a poetry event, let alone a poetry slam, had ever taken place at New York Comic-Con. I remember walking to the room with Jive. We thought it would just be a handful of us for the event. We saw some people coming in. Then more people, coming in. Then even more folks coming in until there was about 100-125 people in the room on a Friday night at NYCC to hear fellow nerds read poems. I never thought I’d live to see the day. Obviously, the poems read were nerdy and had some elements of pop culture in them. In the slam poetry scene, there would be nerd slams hosted just for this type of reading. A special slam for everyone to talk about the elements of their fandoms. It was an amazing thing. A truly successful night. Which is why it wasn’t a surprise to have Jive Poetic back again for NYCC 2025.
However, something funny happened the second time around. This year, I was running late to the event, Vanessa Carlton’ing through downtown New York to get to the Javitz Center. When I got there in time to perform, I noticed something. The poems weren’t all nerd poems this time around. There were still nerds reading the poems. Folks dressed up in their cosplays going to the mic, but they were just reading poems. On it’s own, the culture of the NYCC Poetry Slam had changed. Now, it was never a nerd slam to begin with but, I mean you see a lady go up there dressed like Haikyuu‘s Shoyo Hinata, you wouldn’t be wrong to expect to be hearing something anime related. That didn’t happen this time and that’s not a bad thing. It’s actually a great thing.
This change meant that there didn’t have to be a theme met in order for the audience to resonate with the poems being read. There were still nerd pieces but for me, it was astounding being able to sit in a room of cosplayers, and fans, hearing poems being read by other fans that weren’t related to a specific type of media. The readings were personal and there was nothing lost because of that. This is a testament to Jive’s hosting as well. Jive is always able to come in and banter between poems making things light with jokes, or sitting with heavy themes. Rico, as the DJ, will pick a song to match the energy… or just do what he wants, which makes his song choices so hilarious, when he chooses to go left field of whatever happened. The point being: this is the type of curating needed in order to help spaces grow.
It should also be stated that this year the poetry slam coincided with Comics & Hip-Hop: A Marvel x Mass Appeal Conversation panel announcing the collaboration between Nas and Marvel. The panel turned into a concert. Now, this was a great thing but since it was happening at the same time as the slam. That meant folks couldn’t do both. That’s a tough choice but again, the slam had an amazing turn out. The nerds, fans, and community of New York Comic-Con fuck with poetry and showed up for poetry. Again, I was pleasantly surprised to be able to see this play out.
I’ve seen comic writers step into poetry (Prince of Cats by Ron Wimberly) and I’ve seen author’s step into nerdom (Missing You, Metropolis & Small Lives by Gary Jackson), I just never thought I’d see, in my eyes, poetry represented so heavily and physically at a convention, especially one as big as New York Comic-Con. Here’s hoping we get to see the Jive Poetic host the third NYCC Poetry Slam in 2026.
Oh, and if you’re wondering who won the slam this year…
Photography by Nicholas Nichols
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