You have twigged on to one of the main differences between traditional and slam poetry. In traditional poetry, most of the time, less is more. However, in slam poetry, veering into verbal diarrhoea is a valid technique to add structure and flow.

I stopped going to my local slams after finding out the hard way that all the popular poets are rappers, and traditional poetry is looked at as quaint at best, and as 'dead white males' at worst.

To what slam scene are you local? Based on that description, I would guess somewhere in North Carolina or Florida?

I've actually participated in a number of local scenes. Right now, I'm in Southern Ontario, about an hour west of Toronto, where I moved to go to University.