A slam poet, or spoken word artist, can be a social activist, a stage performer and, above all, a passionate poet at the core. Slam poetry is a fairly new, unique form of expression that began with older generations performing their pieces in dingy, Chicago lounges in the '80s. Since then, spoken word has grown to include a large youth slam poetry scene, as students trade in paper for the power of their voices, soap boxes for open mics and claps for snaps, proving they've got something to say to the world.
What is slam poetry?
Unlike traditional poems, in which meaning is drawn from visual wordplay and spacing, slam poems are written to be performed in front of an audience. Sophomore slam poet Jesse Welch, whose slam poetry team in Chicago was featured in the youth slam poetry documentary "Louder Than A Bomb" (2009) — also the name of the world's largest high school poetry slam — loves the call-and-response between the poet and the crowd.
"No one is Emily Dickinson sitting writing a notebook, and then after they're dead, someone publishes it. This is written to perform it next week," Welch said. "There's catharsis, there's art, there's a lot I get out of writing, but my poem is designed for someone else to hear. I write my poems to change how someone thinks, make them think about something new or impact them emotionally."
Junior James Nan Lin, a newcomer to the slam poetry scene who won his first open mic competition at this year's Tufts FUSION event judged by veteran Def Jam poet Beau Sia, finds empowerment in this form of expression.
"Slam poetry is a more visceral way of communicating your ideas and thoughts," Lin said. "Poetry can be very [nuanced], as abstract or as specific as you want it. Everyone can take away what you may not intend for them, but with slam poetry, it's very in-your-face."
Poetry is often viewed as too abstruse and highbrow to be appreciated by the masses. One of the reasons why slam poetry has caught on with youth is the accessibility of the emotions tied to performances. "I could never understand poetry, but when I went to a slam for the first time, I felt like I knew what was going on," Welch said. "Even if I didn't catch the layers and layers of subtext, there was a top layer of emotion and meaning that anyone can get."
Welch has been writing slam pieces since the age of 12 when his sister took him to a youth slam. "I kept going to slams after that first one because it really spoke to me," he said.
While Welch started at an early age, many students are first exposed to slam poetry in college. Junior Matthew Seto of UMass Boston and junior Judy Lei of Smith College got involved in spoken word when they took a poetry class and have been dabbling in it ever since.
"For me, it's about advocating an issue out there that the audience has not heard [of]. It's a way of expression, a way of activism," Seto said.
"I enjoy it because it gives me a voice. As a student, I can't find other outlets for me to express what I'm feeling," Lei said. "I enjoy performing for other people, and I feel a connection whenever I hear another poet speaking about the same issues that I'm speaking about. I don't want to lecture people, so poetry is a way for me to let out my feelings."
The inspiration
Though it's been around since the '80s, slam poetry reached new heights with the introduction of HBO's show "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry" in 2002. In the past, slam poets were often confined to cities where slam poetry had a big presence, and they performed in places like Chicago's Green Mill Cocktail Lounge and New York's Nuyorican Poets Café. But Def Poetry Jam became a platform for spoken word artists to have their voices be heard on a much broader scale, exposing audiences to the slam poetry scene beyond these city hotspots.
According to Welch, when most slam poets start writing, they mimic the style of famous poets like Buddy Wakefield and Saul Williams of Def Jam. Once slam poets delve deeper into their artistry, it's only a matter of time before they boldly pull a Picasso and dare to be different in order to have their voice stand out in the crowd.
"One of my favorite poets in his piece writes, ‘If you sound just like another poet, then we don't need both of you.' So over the years, you develop a recognizable aesthetic that I think is really valuable commercially and artistically," Welch said.
According to Welch, one of the biggest divergences among slam poets is the distinction between those who write about themselves and those who write about the world. "Theme-wise, I'm very much a politicized poet. I write about a lot of world issues, whether it's because I think it's important or because I'm not comfortable enough about myself, I'm not sure," Welch said.
On the other hand, poets like Lei and Seto often write pieces that focus on their race and personal identity as Asian Americans. Pieces on identity — ranging from sexuality, gender, class and race — are common because one of the things that draws people to slam poetry is the poignancy, vulnerability and power with which performers' raw emotions come forth on stage.
"With slam poetry, I think it's the closest you can get to standing in front of a mic and just telling people how you feel about things," Lin said. "I think it's actually pretty close to stand-up comedy in [that] you're very vulnerable. If they kill you, then they kill you. But if they like you, then they really like you."
The writing process
Slam poetry is a fluid form of expression that does not necessarily have a formal structure. Thus it allows for experimentation and freedom within writing and performing poems.
Similar to the famous slam poet Saul Williams, much of Seto's inspiration is grounded in his ties to the hip-hop culture. "I like hip hop, and hip-hop songs are about performance. So a lot of that is the same technique [of] writing rhymes in my performance pieces."
For Lei, writing a slam poem isn't much different than writing any other kind of poem. But what makes slam poetry so unique is that writing the piece is only half the battle, and the performance is key.
"I really feel like it's two sides of a coin," Lin said. "Ultimately, a lot of my friends asked to read my poem before performing it, and I said, ‘No, you can't read my poem because by reading it you won't be able to fully grasp the message I'm trying to convey.' But at the same time, the performance aspect is nothing without the words that go behind it."
Similarly for Welch, the writing process is very much about how the piece will be interpreted by audiences.
"When I write a slam poem, I put on some instrumental track on my iPod, and I just walk. I'll walk for miles," Welch said. "I hear the poem as I'm writing it. There's no aspect of trying to convert it from the page to the stage. I'm writing it as a performer."
The common threads in slam poetry are the raw emotion and expressive nature of the pieces, which all slam poets, young and old, novice and experienced, must convey through every performance.
"A lot of people would say I have different tones of anger in my voice," Seto said. "My voice knows pain, and that's how I perform and convey the messages in my poems."
Similarly, Lei says she often writes when she is angry, channeling this anger into her pieces and performing her pieces as something of an emotional release.
"You pour everything into your performance. You have to have a level of intensity. No matter whether you're whispering or you're screaming, you have to have every bit of your emotion behind that and that's a difficult thing to do," Welch said, about the generalized emotion that runs through every slam poet during his or her performance.
Youth in revolt and the future of slam
Young slam poets like Welch are ready to have their voices be heard and have high expectations for the evolving slam poetry scene.
"I'm part of the first generation of poets that has been doing this since they were little," Welch said. "I have more training than most national champions, and that's not to say that I'm better, but that's a hope that by the time our generation gets to their age, we'll be better than what anyone has ever seen."
Luckily for those interested in slam poetry, there are little pockets throughout Boston where poets can get their open mic fix. Some of the best places in town are the East Meets West Bookstore, the Lizard Lounge (21 and over) and The Cantab Lounge.
But slam poetry has yet to really hit Tufts, and Welch is hoping to change this with the Jumbo Poets Society. In its first year running, the group has held four slam poetry events and is hoping to work with groups who have held open mics in the past like the Asian American Alliance, the Association of Latin American Students and ONYX, to co-host future events.
"If you go to Emerson or Brandeis, their slams and open mics are college-wide events the same way we do a cappella shows," Welch said. "We don't have that here, and I'm hoping that by the time I graduate to at least start building it."
