For those who love the lavish language that poetry endorses, on Sunday Nov. 10, the College of St. Benedict / St. John’s University (CSB/SJU) will be presenting “Poetry Slam 2002.”
The event that some call a “showdown of words between poetry pros” will showcase four poets who participated at the annual National Poetry Slam this summer in Minneapolis, along with 12 students (two from SCSU) who will all engage in a lyrical battle.
The poets will be divided into four groups. Each group will contain one poet from the four poets who participated in last summer’s poetry slam, allowing an opportunity for rookie poets to learn something from experienced poets. The slam poets will then go on stage one after another as they deliver their own pieces to the audience. Each poet will be given a time limit of three minutes and points will be deducted for contestants who exceed the limit. The audiences will also be given a part to play in the event, since judges of the contestants will be chosen from the audience.
They will then choose the poets who will proceed to the next round until they attain a final showdown. Poets will be judged on several aspects, including the ability to reach his/her audience, verse and performance techniques.
The concept of emphasizing audience involvement began when the slam poetry idea was conceived in 1986, by Marc Smith in Chicago. Since then, slam poetry has been slowly spreading throughout the country and even gone international in countries such as Germany, Canada and the Netherlands.
This summer, a total of 84 teams from all over the country took part in the National Poetry Slam in Minneapolis.
For CSB/SJU, this is the second year running that they are holding the event. The show will begin at 7 p.m. at the Brother Willie’s Pub located at SJU. From 7 to 7:30 p.m., an “Open Mic” session will be held. This prelude to the main event will give the opportunity for members of the audience to come up on stage to read their own poetry or their favorite poems for the slam poets take the stage.
CSB/SJU held a workshop on Monday, Nov. 4, by Cynthia French on how to perform poetry. French is a “Slam Master” for the Minnesota Slam Team and the coordinator for the National Poetry Slam 2002. She will also be hosting the Poetry Slam on Sunday.
Nakia Pearson, ahead organizer for the event, says that the topics of the poetry read will be very open and might raise controversial topics. The close involvement between the audience and the poets is what makes the show special.
“(Poetry Slam) can be described as opening up an internal discussion with the audience,” Pearson said.
There is no admission fee and all ages are welcome. For further inquiry on Poetry Slam 2002, Nakia Pearson can be contacted at [email protected].
For information on the National Poetry Slam 2002, log on to www.nps2002.com.
