The slam poetry team took first place last weekend at the Regional 12 tournament after only having competed in last year’s tournament. Last year the team finished in fourth place at the competition at the University of Houston.
The Region 12 gathered poets from schools in Texas, Louisiana, Mexico and Arkansas to present emotional, humorous, political and spiritual poetry. Their first place finish solidifies their place in the national tournament and paves the way for all tournament fees.
The team members that traveled to competition were Grace “Jourdan” Ekeke, Even “Anomie” Carpenter, Christopher “X.P. Cal” Bailey, Emmanuel “O.nly M.iracles E.xperienced G.rant A.ptitude” Onwuchekwa, alternate Brandon Jackson and the team’s coach Shabrika Coleman. In addition to the team, several supporters who frequent the poets lounge each Wednesday, traveled to show support for their fellow artists.
Slam Poetry is a competitive event in which poets perform their work and are judged by members of the audience. It is the art of performance poetry.
The host usually selects the judges who rate the contestants on a one to10 scale. The judges vote higher for the poets that they would like to hear more work from.
It puts a great amount of emphasis on writing and performance. In order to be successful, poets must focus on what they are saying and how they are saying it.
The rules vary from competition to competition but there are some that remain constant.
Each poem must be an original piece and the poet has three minutes to recite. The poets are allowed to use props to enhance their performance. The highest and lowest scores are dropped out of five total scores, and the middle three are added to score from zero to 30.
The Slam Team will be participating in the Association of College Unions International, which is held at the University of North Texas in Denton. If you can’t make it, you can always catch Poets Lounge.