By Eva Andrews
Bold. Defiant. Aggressive. Revealing.
These are just a few words to describe slam poetry, an art popular in America since the 1980s. Slam poetry, spearheaded by Marc Smith, left the classroom a long time ago and stumbled into the streets, where it shed its stuffy strict diction and took on a bebop, hip-hop resonance. It stumbled into lounges, cafes, and other joints in the Chicago scene before sweeping across the nation. It takes guts to take the stage and bear your soul to the masses, and that’s exactly what these brave performers do. If spoken word has done its job, you’ll be shaken to the core, changing your perspective, and re-thinking your life motto.
All ages have since joined in on this art form meant to free your soul and shed the callouses of your heart. Some of us use Drake to “get in our feelings,” but others have slam poetry that never seems to leave any race, creed, gender, religion or sexual orientation out. Its all inclusive yet exclusive experience allows participants to celebrate everyone’s differences; it peels back the mystery of every stereotype and classification.
It won’t allow you to sit idly by and watch. It will reel you in and set you back out to sea with your tail spinning free. With that being said, it was hard to believe that so few supported such a necessary liberation on Tuesday Sept. 29.
First-year Nicole Shoults is assembling a slam poetry club for Salem students. The club’s first slam event is still in the works, but they do hope to hold it later this month. To be successful, the team needs support from Salem students. Email Shoults if you are interested in getting involved at nicole.shoults@salem.edu.
Get your story, your frustrations, and your truest beliefs out and into the open in a crowd that is well receptive. This can serve as a means to make connections with other passionate poets. Don’t let the captivating art of slam poetry pass you by.
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