By Safiya Merchant
After the announcer calls her name, Jelaila Gonzalez, Div. 165, steps onto the platform and faces the audience at Columbia College. Skyscrapers can be seen through the large window behind her, and she adjusts the microphone to her height. Finally, she begins to recite her poem, an angry ode to her mother.
‘I want to be deceptive like you
Stretch skin to break wrinkles in my
Baby face
Wear your dark shade of lipstick
Sinister scarlet shade 32 from the
Wal-mart by the house you raised
Me in’
“I write about my family and tragedy. I like to take tragedies and make them more beautiful,” said Gonzalez.
Like Jelaila, many teenagers opened their lives to an audience at the 2010 Louder Than A Bomb Poetry Slam Festival and Competition. The slam competition is divided into three major rounds: Preliminary Bouts, Semi-Finals, and Finals. Since this was my first year attending, I was not sure what to expect. What I found was an environment that encouraged creativity and individuality, and where competition raged not only against other schools, but also within oneself.
Preliminary Bouts
The preliminary bouts were held at multiple buildings of the Columbia College campus. In each bout, there would be four individual pieces (a member from each school) and one group piece. In one building, the Lane Tech slam team competed against schools such as Main East and Oak Park River Forest. Like other sports, slam teams recognize the skills of their competition. In my opinion, this acknowledgement helped promote the idea that your fellow poet is your friend.
“Main East is] very polished. Their pieces were very slammy. [Oak Park River Forest are] always amazing writers. I’m more interested in our poets [Lane slam team] being solid poets rather than slammers,” said Ms. Meacham, coach of the Lane Tech slam team.
To me, one of the most astounding aspects of the slam was that when other teams performed and forgot their lines, the audience would yell statements of encouragement, like, ‘It’s alright,’ ‘You got this,’ and, ‘Check your swag.’ Although these words of encouragement did not always help the poets remember their verses, it was comforting to have such a ‘family-like’ atmosphere. Before arriving at the slam, I thought people would laugh at those who made mistakes on stage.
Sabrina Walker, a seventeen-year-old from Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep, recited a poem about how she did not find happiness through listening to music and being the person music often tells people to be. Instead, she found happiness in religion.
“Poetry is the reality of who you are. I’m usually an actress and it’s easy to play someone else. [Poetry is more difficult because] it’s hard for people to see the core of you. My mother is physically and mentally impaired so her speech is hard to understand. As I grew to know her, I learned to speak for her and I never stopped talking,” said Walker.
Many people often like the poems that they can relate to. I was enthusiastic when Cia Mathew, a Main East student, performed. Like me, she is Indian and her poem was about overcoming the stereotypes that the educational system has for Asian students. It was also a thank-you note to the slam society that had embraced her diversity and lisp when other teachers failed to do so.
“I started off writing about things that weren’t personal and this year I learned to look inside. I was so scared talking about myself. Spoken word is your soul on a page,” said Mathew.
Although many of the poems were humorous, tragedy often took the stage. Through these poems, the audience could learn about each poet’s life and turmoil. Kelly Reuter, an Oak Park River Forest student, spoke of her brother who was stabbed and killed.
“Every time I perform that piece I perform like the guy who did it is right there. I kinda want to give back with my poetry. I think it’s really important to inspire other people and myself,” said Reuter.
Ollie Rios, Div. 261, is a poet on the Lane slam team and knows that telling our stories, whether they be tragedies or happy moments, allows us to understand one another.
“I [write] a lot about scenes that I see in everyday life. Scenes that you don’t really notice but when you look into it, you see they’re not as simple as they look. [I also write about] the emotions that come out of realizing these things,” said Rios.
Despite the fact that the Lane Tech team did not advance to the next round, the team and I still attended the Semi-Finals and the Finals. Poetry slams are not only about winning a competition. They are about enjoying art and supporting those who create it.
Semi-Finals
The Semi-Finals were held at the Steppenwolf Theatre on Monday, March 1. Like the varying shades of wood that made up the stage, the diversity at every poetry slam round was a sweet surprise. I saw a Hispanic beatboxer and a Muslim stepper wearing a headscarf on the same day. This diversity greatly contributed to the poetry slam experience because it allowed me to learn about different cultures, religions, genders, and sexual orientations. It was a respectful environment where everyone only judged each person’s ability to write and perform poetry.
Danny B., a Mather student, performed a piece called, “Listen,” which was a plea to his mother to listen to him so that he would not succumb to society’s expectations and ideas of who he should be.
“[The hardest thing about poetry] is telling your story and being able to present it in a way that someone can live your story. People think that nothing significant comes out of poetry slams [but] so many people put their heart on the stage and you make so many connections. The point is not the points, the point is the poetry,” said Danny B.
Monica Grabijas, a seventeen-year-old from Main South, was one of the individual poets who competed, but not as part of a team. Her poem was dedicated to Bill O’Reilly, who said that the youth were ignorant.
“[I’m] inspired by the things that make me angry. I watched the Bill O’Reilly show in Government class. [The most difficult aspect of writing] is coming up with a subject to write about and that’s hard when you live in suburbia,” said Grabijas.
According to Billy Tuggle, a volunteer, bout MC, and poet, poetry is extremely beneficial to both the community and oneself.
“It’s an art form in which it’s easy to find your own voice. Even if you’re too afraid to go on stage, it’s a good catharsis. You can speak about what’s important to you,” said Tuggle. “I write about urban culture/lifestyle, hip hop culture, and how everyday life relates to our own purposes in life. I will not do angry poetry. You have to show the positive aspects and constructive solutions. It’s a lot more rewarding to give something to the community…for people to realize that their opinions are relevant.”
Finals
The winner of the 2010 Louder Than A Bomb Poetry Slam Competition was Kumba Lynx, a non-for-profit organization and artistic collective that uses hip-hop and other art forms to educate kids about social justice issues. It includes three Lane students: Marvin Gutierrez, Div. 034, Gina Gonzalez, Div. 180, and John Vietnam, Div. 155. They will go on to compete at Brave New Voices 2010 in Los Angeles in July.
According to Marvin Gutierrez, whose two aunts are the co-founders of Kumba Lynx, poetry slams are a difficult and popular art form.
“It’s a challenge to be comfortable with [performing] because you’re in your own world and you have to channel your energy to get into performance mode and to [get the point of poem across]. Some people will take [poetry] as a bunch of kids whining but people just aren’t listening,” said Gutierrez.
“You got to be tolerant of other people’s ideas [if you are writing a group poem]. You gotta build off each other instead of break each other down,” said Vietnam.
The Future
For Ms. Meacham, the Lane slam team would be better if it expanded into a spoken word club.
“It will be open to more people. I feel there needs to be more of an outlet for these kids to meet and have a community. I’d like to have more performances so they [the team] can have more recognition,” said Meacham.
The Lane slam team admits that many people hold misconceptions about poetry slams and even poetry itself.
“People think that poetry is boring and hard to understand but it’s trying to describe something more beautifully and [bring attention] to things audiences don’t see everyday,” said Rios.
“[People think] that it has to rhyme, it has to be dramatic and loud, it has to sound like rap,” said Gonzalez.
After watching Louder Than A Bomb, I left the competition with a sense of regret and hope. I regretted that I had not joined the slam team because as a person who loves to write and speak her opinion, I think it would have been a great opportunity to finally tell my own story to my peers. In doing so, I would have been able to make peace with this story. However, I also left with hope, for I can now go on to college with the goal of joining or creating its slam team. In the end, the poetry slam showed me that everyone has the potential to be creative and to change our world. When we deny people the opportunity to do so, we lose valuable dreams that could lead to progress.
