Bloomington slam poets prepare for verbal battle

The IU Slam Poetry Team had a house show last Friday as a rehearsal for their upcoming participation in the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational on April 3.

On Friday, juniors Harlan Kelly, Sophia Koehler-Derrick and Susan Tanney and freshman Ellie Wyant each performed three slam poems for an audience of about 40 people.

Slam poets do not simply read their poems for an audience. They perform the poems using varying volume, facial expressions and hand gestures.

Tanney said she describes slam poetry as the art of competitive performance poetry meant for the stage rather than for the page.

“It is timed, judged and based in the experience of watching and hearing the poem rather than reading it yourself,” Tanney said.

Wyant said the performance of a slam poem sometimes matters more than the poem’s content.

“Even if the writing is good, if the performance sucks, it’s hard for me to appreciate it,” Wyant said.

A slam poem can feature a broad range of subjects, from politics to humor to self-expression.

“Some sounds just like rap, some is sappy and some is touching,” Wyant said.

Wyant said she prefers writing about relatable events and emotions in her life, which is why she chose to perform two poems about her experiences volunteering and one about a high school friend.

“I always want to be able to connect with my audience,” Wyant said.

Tanney said she prefers quiet slams that allow your brain to process the words separately from the loud voice that accompanies them.

Others, like Kelly, use volume for emphasis in their slam poems.

“I’m the yeller on the team,” Kelly said.

Kelly said in all competitions, even in big national competitions like the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational, slam poems are judged by audience members selected at random.

Wyant said these audience members rank the poems, then drop the highest and lowest scores.

Because the team members will preform the same three poems again at the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational, Friday’s show served primarily as a rehearsal.

The house show’s main purpose was to raise funds to help cover the expenses of the team traveling to the competition, which will be held at Barnard College in New York City.

CUPSI includes more than 50 teams from across the country.

Wyant said team members decided to participate at the urging of their coach, graduate student Michael Mlekody, an “awesome” slam poet who has competed at CUPSI as well as coached teams in the competition before.  

With the house show behind them, the IU Slam Poetry Team said the goal in the upcoming CUPSI is simply to perform to the best of their abilities.  

“Personally I just want to feel proud of my performance,” Wyant said. “If I can move on to semi-finals and finals that would be amazing, and I would give it my all. If I don’t, I will still be in New York watching amazing performers. It’s a win-win situation.”  
Kelly said he would be happy to just see his fellow teammates preform their pieces in an arena like CUPSI.

“We have been working really hard on these pieces, and winning would be some nice sprinkles, but the ice cream is just displaying what we have been working on,” he said.