Author: Ronald McTrump

This is a student event ran by UM Slam Poetry club and is at the Kalamazoo room in the Michigan League at 7pm on Thursday, December 6th.

Slam Poetry is a writing style that has taken off in popularity in our generation. The only poetry recitals/shows I ever see (or hear of) are slam poetry shows. Come watch U of M’s best performers and be part of a generational literary movement. No matter how you are feeling: depressed, angry, happy, remorseful, forgotten, there will be a slam poem for you.

If you enjoy writing slam poetry, any one can perform at this event. You can perform in a judge-free open mic or be an actual competitor and get some direct feedback.  If you don’t want to read but still want to be involved, anyone in the audience can volunteer and be a judge of the poems.

Because I am so excited I attached my two favorite slam poems. Performed and written by college students.

The poetry slam started out with a couple of open mic slams, then an experienced sacrificial slam to help the judges, then six or seven actual slam poems for the competition, before ending with a poem read by the President of UM Slam Poetry.  My favorite part of the night was the opening mic slam poems, I think these students should have competed. Two of these poems talked about separating from old high school friends as they left for college, and how they know their relationship will never be as strong. Something I was able to relate too. These poems were told with strong imagery, one using Mario Kart and the other using the idea of a house falling apart. The other open mic was a very long but courageous poem about suicide and strength using strong imagery of fog and sinking ships.

Because this is a UofM sponsored organization the event was held in the Kalamazoo room of the Michigan League. I understand that space is hard to get and compared to most rooms at Michigan the Kalamazoo room is quite pretty with an older more traditional feel that can be quite nice.  Still, I am not a fan of the space for slam poems because it doesn’t feel intimate or have any way of highlighting the speaker reading the poem. There is no feeling of a stage present and no way of altering the lighting which has the room dimly lit throughout. I feel that the space makes a big difference to students reading slam poems, space can make them feel more important and emotional, and space can allow the audience to focus on the reader and get more enjoyment from what is being performed.

The President’s poem at the end was about growing up biracial and the disconnect she feels with Japanese people even though she speaks Japanese fluently. It was extremely well written (my favorite poem of the night), and it sounded like it has been performed many times. Being biracial myself I was able to connect strongly with what she said. However, the poem was also touching upon isolation we feel from our heritage and the cultures of our parents. Which I know many second generation Americans feel, multi-racial or not.

There were very few students attending the slam outside of people actually performing, their close friends, and club members. Because there were so few performers this meant that there were like 20 people in the room. Maybe Monday night isn’t very good, or everyone was busy getting ready for break. Regardless, I plan on attending the next slam December 6th, and I hope to see a full audience.

I really appreciated the format of Audra’s performance. Listening to Broadway songs out of context from the actual musical can be very difficult because we don’t understand the story that the character singing is in.  I didn’t understand the humor, naiveness and sadness in the songs because I don’t know the personality of the character and what the character is longing for. My favorite aspect of musicals is the interaction of the songs with the story, but in this performance, there was no story. That is why I appreciated Audra giving the background and context before she sang every song. She not only gave the context of the story and character but she told us about her personal relationship with every song. How this song has played a role in her life-story. Some of the songs she sang she has been singing since a young girl. I believe this is how she was able to still have so much emotion and character in her voice even though she wasn’t acting the parts as well. She is so familiar with the song that she doesn’t need the role to understand how it should be sung.

Audra was only accompanied by a pianist, percussionist, and bassist, not a full orchestra like many musicals will have. It was interesting to hear the musicians do some background singing for one of the songs. I didn’t mind the minimal instrumentals because it allowed more focus and emphasis on Audra. Audra has incredible variety in her voice. In one performance I was able to hear and feel multiple characters and musicals because of the different ways Audra would sing.  My favorite was when Audra would use her falsetto. Especially when she sang “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess.

I didn’t recognize many songs because the music was only from American musicals, but I was happy to hear “I could have danced all night” from My Fair Lady. I was even happier that she invited us to sing along with her. Usually, I hate this part of concerts, but it felt refreshing with Audra because she didn’t stop singing while the audience sang. Her microphone was also loud enough that she wasn’t drowned out by the audience and I could still hear her singing.

This isn’t really a criticism, but I found all the songs to sound very similar. I wonder if the lack of variety is because of how they chose the setlist or if it is because all American musicals sound the same.

The most interesting part for me was hearing songs from modern musicals. I think that musicals were all written a century ago because the style of music is showtime music, which isn’t modern at all. It was interesting to hear songs, in the showtime sound, but mentioning facebook pokes and twitter.

She closed the night singing two classics. “Climb Every Mountain” from The Sound of Music and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from the Wizard of Oz.

This is a student event ran by UM Slam Poetry club and is at the Kalamazoo room in the Michigan League at 7pm on November 19th.

When you go on YouTube and look up great slam poems to watch, 90% of the time it is college students. This is because unlike music or theatre slam poetry doesn’t have a large professional field. This means that the pinnacle of talent is with amateurs at college slams! I’ve attended these slams in the past and have always been blown away by the talent. If you enjoy words spoken strongly backed by emotion, then Slam Poetry is for you.

If you enjoy writing slam poetry, any one can perform at this event. Just show up a little early.

I attached a slam poem, performed by a college student (although not at the University of Michigan).