Sunday, January 31, 2010

Poetry SLAM

I had loads of fun a couple days ago at the Poetry Slam. Part of the Big Bang! Arts Week, the Poetry Slam involved a poetry slam competition amongst students, an open mic, and a preview of Daniel Beaty's latest piece. For those of you not familiar with poetry slam, an example would be Biracial Hair. It's spoken word.

Watching piece after piece performed with poise, confidence, and passion, I was moved to no ends. Topics ranged from love to a hyperbole of swagger to hometowns to materialistic culture to adequate housing. Each one was truth projected with spitfire, stabbing fingers, and fierce eyes. After Michelle, the winner of the competition, perform her final piece, I had chills. It was awe inspiring.

One of the crowd favorites was Hometown. It was simple and had a message that connected to everyone in the room. Have pride in your hometown, don't be afraid of your accent, why do you have to be from New York City and not just New York? Of course, my ramblings about his masterpiece of a performance does not capture the raw feeling of having someone perform his or her original piece in front of you. In all seriousness, I do encourage you to attend and support a local poetry slam.