By Bob West, Photo Editor
Poetry is a misunderstood form of expression. When most people encounter the word “poetry,” they tend to conjure up images of Victorian women musing over a book of poems beside a lake or beatniks with bongos in the 60s. Poetry is sometimes dense and abstract, but contemporary “slam poetry” shares more in common with rap music than it does with more classical stanzic forms. Put simply: Don’t expect anything like the stylings of Geoffery Chaucer or Shakespeare when doing a YouTube search of “slam poetry.” If slam poetry is foreign territory, I suggest searching online for videos of well-known slam poets to get some grounding in the form. Anis Mojgani, Buddy Wakefield, Mighty Mike McGee and Andrea Gibson are a few names that are well-known in the slam poetry world.
“Slam Club” is a new student-run poetry group on campus which focuses not only on student generated poetry but also on its performance. Scott Stelter, a senior English major and organizer of the group, said, “we would like to focus on writing and performing poetry. The two go hand in hand, and we would like to tap into the vein of the creativity in our student body. We think that some students might be spectacular at performing, if only they had the chance.” Slam Club is anything but a stereotypical poetry reading group. It is a group dedicated to enabling the student body to showcase its creativity on paper as well as through performance.
The group is open to the entire college community, at all levels of ability and experience. The current membership includes poets ranging in experience from novice to well known in the slam community. Lee McKinstry ’13, one of the founding members of Slam Club, has participated in Cleveland’s “Brave New Voices” and has performed at numerous readings. McKinstry commented on the Slam Club, saying, “One of the goals of the club is to improve our writing and performing abilities, whether it be for someone who maybe has not performed before, or for someone who has won a few slams.” Slam Club will be meeting on a regular basis, with dates and times to be announced. In the meantime, feel free to email Scott Stelter with any questions at SStelter12@wooster.edu.