For many, poetry slams are like open mike nights or not-drunk-enough Karaoke: powder-kegs for some serious collective embarrassment. It can be stifling, that shared awkwardness between strangers. You never quite get used to it, the unease; what is that? Delusion? Social subtext? A moment of unforgiving clarity? It's sort of like a mumblecore sex-scene: you know awkward when you see it.