POETRY BODYSLAM
Yesterday I went to a poetry slam on campus. It was really scene. The MCs, a nondescript woman and a man who dressed like he was Scrooge from A Christmas Carol, well the guy did most of the talking and he was really into it. I felt like I was on the set of a TV program where the host is SO PSYCHED ABOUT SOMETHING and he wants the audience to know and get hooked on whatever it is he's so high on. The woman would jump in now and again to play the straight to the dude's ham, but inbetween acts she would tell awful jokes which I had to boo.
As for the performers themselves, they were mostly younger kids, passionately reading about their desire for political revolution, love, sex, parental validation, understanding, love, sex, am I repeating myself? Stage presence was definitely brought in spades by these folks, but what they had to say was mostly trite and cliché. Save for a woman named Dana, who gave a list of 15 things that made her "her", it was all to be expected with a crowd of the late teen / early 20s aged.
Luckily they had driven down a couple professional poets from the east bay to give us a release. Even when they spoke about things like love they were a million* times better than the rest. I don't remember their names, but they both had familiar personas and friendly demeanors. Beat poetry is cool, but after hearing them I wasn't ready to go back and listen to the students for round two. I left after that.
Beat poetry is fun and all, but it isn't quite my thing.
As for the performers themselves, they were mostly younger kids, passionately reading about their desire for political revolution, love, sex, parental validation, understanding, love, sex, am I repeating myself? Stage presence was definitely brought in spades by these folks, but what they had to say was mostly trite and cliché. Save for a woman named Dana, who gave a list of 15 things that made her "her", it was all to be expected with a crowd of the late teen / early 20s aged.
Luckily they had driven down a couple professional poets from the east bay to give us a release. Even when they spoke about things like love they were a million* times better than the rest. I don't remember their names, but they both had familiar personas and friendly demeanors. Beat poetry is cool, but after hearing them I wasn't ready to go back and listen to the students for round two. I left after that.
Beat poetry is fun and all, but it isn't quite my thing.