I absolutely love poetry slams because the performances are often explosive and the perspectives can really range. I say the more perspectives the better. Slam reminds me a lot of abstract rap from back in the day which was my favorite period of hip hop. It's rhythmic and cool. Popular music and television are all about bitches, money, sex and selfishness. Poetry digs deeper. Plus slam is more entertaining than a simple, conventional reading. It's interactive and the audience is not only encouraged to be loud and proud but 5 of them actually get to judge too!
My style is definitely influenced by slam but I have as much Robert Frost as I do Buddy Wakefield in my foundation. That is why I am a bit intimidated reading at slams. My style, while more entertaining than a stuffy old fashioned reader is not quite as dynamic as performance poets who can sometimes be jumping, stomping, falling and screaming while "performing" their pieces, usually from memory. It's hard to be as demonstrative reading from a paper and with my nerves and anxiety when I read, memorizing a piece is something I have not been able to do as of yet.
Regardless, I have read at a few slams and tonight I will do so again. I took my poem "The One Hit Wonder" back to the lab and I re-worked it better to my liking. I think it flows nicely now and also better tells the story while staying truer to the metaphor I selected to tell it. Basically, it's tighter now. I will also be performing a new piece called "Bully" I tried out last Friday at a open mic on Allen. It went over better than I thought and while inspired by the tragic events that claimed the life of area teenager Jamey Rodemeyer earlier this year, it is an autobiographical piece based on my own experiences dealing with bullies growing up. It acts as both a testament to what people like Jamey, I and so many others have had to deal with and are still dealing with from these misguided souls and also serves as a F**K YOU to all the bullies out there who tear other people down and push them around.
The 5th monthly Pure Ink Poetry Slam starts tonight at 9pm at Merge Restaurant on Delaware. There is a $5 cover and the slam usually goes from 90 minutes to 2 hours. Each poet gets to read 2 pieces although there are 2 separate rounds so the poets don't get to read them consecutively. This will be my 4th time attending and 3rd time reading. It will most likely be the last slam I read at for a while as my focus is shifting to getting ready for my 30 minute long "Young Hearts and Old Minds" show at the 2012 Buffalo Infringement Festival this summer. Stay tuned for more information on that and hopefully I'll see a few friendly faces at the slam tonight!
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