Each week in 300 words

Juna's Slam Night

I went to my very first poetry event last night at Juna's cafe in the Commons. I weaseled a friend to come with me because I wasn't sure what the atmosphere was like and I didn't exactly want to experience it alone. As it turns out, I already knew Kate as a friend's exgirlfriend (once again proving that Cornell really is a small world).
The event wasn't exactly what I expected, but that's not necessarily bad. Since I had no idea what a poetry slam was, I just assumed it was where people go up, read their poetry while the audience drinks coffees or chais and politely applauds when it's over.
This was not the case. It certainly started out that way, with an open mic where poets/writers went up and demurely read their work and were rewarded with appreciative applause. There was a short break and then Kate went up to perform her poetry. It's like watching a singer - inflections and arms everywhere, voices escalating and retreating, exploding out of nowhere, bouncing at the knees - clearly a performance of the heart. I won't lie, at first I was really weirded out by how passionate the poetry was. After I'd warmed up to it, I kind of felt inspired in a way, or at least got ideas for a few poems I'd like to write. It amazed me how people can memorize their poems and recite them in such a way that they make perfect sense, even if it looks like gibberish when it's on a sheet of paper.
Afterwards they had a slam poetry competition. One girl had the most amazing poem about a boss who continued to ask her if she was straight, and in her mind, she wondered about all the definitions of "straightness" and wanted to tell him that she was curvy, or a circle, or something. I wish I had a copy of it, I loved it.
Anyways. It was definitely a crazy experience, although I wish I'd bought some coffee for it, just to complete the scene.

posted by Debbie @ 9:08 AM