Craig Cady
Solo Slam host Jesse Parent speaks to performers and the audience at Genna's after the Wednesday night bouts.
With eyes full of inspiration, amateur poets got a chance to test their spoken word mettle in the presence of friends and many of the competitors in Performers at both locations were as varied as the audiences, meanwhile, as were the poems themselves, which ran the gamut from a confessional "nerd" piece about pornography addiction and quantum physics to an alcohol fueled rant against the rising suicide rates of young girls. One performer chose to dance, letting go of shyness and speaking unrehearsed, while a wild-haired poet named Dane took the fiery crowd at Mercury on a trip to Israel, hushed them with her quiet words, and then departed with the simple appreciation of a small yellow flower. Admittedly, some of the Solo Slam performances were borderline terrible by most peoples' standards, but for every naysayer there were at least five others shouting encouragement, snapping their fingers, and booing the judges' low scores. Without fail, every experienced team participant in the National Poetry Slam was nothing but supportive. They showed that slam poetry is not only about the poem itself or the arbitrary scores. Rather, it is about generating a supportive community where people are free to express themselves without fearing scorn. The hosts of the slams prompted the judges before the bouts not to be too hard on the poets for the reason that it takes courage to even sign up for such a competition in the first place. Audience members at both Genna's and Mercury all clapped for the hopefuls and not the score at the end of his or her individual performance. Though the judges were essential to the Solo Slams, there was no sense of competition between poets. Of course, the $100 prizes were more than graciously accepted by the winners, with Nuyorican performer
