One of the greatest promotors of modern poetry—particularly African-American poetry—is Def Poetry Jam.

Def Poetry Jam has done a lot to help make poetry more mainstream. The show often highlights rock star type poets: those poets who know how to put on a show, while still speaking meaningful words. Unfortunately, HBO Canada doesn’t appear to broadcast the show. But then, I don’t have the money to subscribe to HBO even if they did.

Thankfully, for those of you who share my situation, there are plenty of Def Poetry Jam clips on YouTube.

What we really need, though, are more programs like Def Poetry. We need mainstream—or semi-mainstream—programming to bring poetry to the masses. Hell, I’d even settle for an American Idol-esque show as long as it made poetry appealing to a wider audience.

As far as I know, Def Poetry Jam is the only program of its kind. Am I wrong about that? Are there more shows of this kind? If there are, please let me know.

And, if there is a way to watch Def Poetry Jam on Canadian television, please share that information as well. I’m sure that I’m not the only one who’s interested.