Who Want Some MO Poetry????

This doesn't really go with the theme of my blog; however, I thought I would share it with you lovely people.

This weekend I attended the Buckle at the Belt Poetry Slam at Nathan P Murphey's. This was the first poetry slam I have ever been to, but I was highly impressed with how well it went. At first, some of the poets were going a bit quickly for me to catch what the overall purpose of their piece was. But, the further into the evening it got, the more my ear became accustomed to the poets and their styles

There were a few poems that stuck out to me for a number of different reasons. Although I do not remember the individual poets’ names, I do remember their pieces and how well they executed them in a performance manner. There was a poem that was battled out between two lovers of music, there was a poem about a father and his habits of nonexistence, there was a poem about Detroit that I found highly ironic, and many others.

I was surprised at how informal of an environment this formal competition was set in. Half of the time, most people weren’t even listening to the poets on the stage, but the teams that were competing against each other were still treating each other with the utmost respect.

There were ritualistic aspects of the slam that I noticed as well. Each team had a routine answer phrase whenever it was called upon. Each team said its team member’s name a certain way right before they were to take the stage. The acts of the sacrificial poet, as well as the audience’s participation in the scoring of the competition were also of a ritualistic manner. I would imagine all of these things are what keep the atmosphere of slams familiar to the fans, which is all part of the draw.

Fayetteville’s team was very good. I don’t necessarily agree with the outcome of the competition. I think they should have taken first place, yet they came in last. Although, when I was talking Jeremy, one of their team members, he said something that I have to agree with, “It’s just for fun, you can’t try to put a number on it.” He seemed ok with the outcome of the judgment, so who am I to argue with it? He also informed me that in August, Fayetteville will be holding a top 100 competition. The top 100 poets in the nation will be there and it should be great fun. My friends and I have already started planning a road trip.

Over all, it was a great experience. The musical entertainment afterwards was a lot of fun. I ended up purchasing both of Michael Stone’s albums and Nora and Gnoll were great. I was highly impressed with the whole scene and I’m glad I was given this opportunity and shared it with my friends.