Poetry Slam Man
A couple of days before their Refreshers Week Poetry Slam Studentpunch met with the president of the Edinburgh University Literature Society, André Petheram, to find out a bit about the event.
Studentpunch: What is a poetry slam?
André Petheram: A poetry slam is essentially a competitive way of reading poetry. The structure will generally involve heats, semi-finals, rounds etc. and it will be judged. I’ve been to one which was judged by the audience; they randomly gave out score cards to people and asked them to hold up their scores. When I first introduced the idea, I suggested it to the Literature Society a couple of years ago, and people asked what a slam was I’d have to say, “Well it’s kind of like a rap battle” which put people off a bit, but it does have that connection to competitive hip-hop. Some slams have much more of that connection than others, it depends on the style of the poets you’ve got involved.
SP: There are quite a variety of formats for poetry slams, what is the general idea behind yours?
AP: We’ve got about fifteen poets. We’ll divide them into about three groups, three heats of five each, and then we might have two from each heat going into the semis and then have three semi-finals, which is a bit contradictory. Then two from each, or maybe one...I’m not sure, this is something we’ll have to work out on the day, it basically has to divide and even out. Last time we did it we had to improvise because poets don’t show up, or more poets show up and want to perform, it really depends on what happens.
SP: Apart from yourself who is responsible for this slam?
AP: So many people. The whole committee really helped, everyone really comes together. That’s forgetting the actual compare, the poets and the judges who are giving up their time and preparing for it, they do much more work than we do, we’re just giving them the stage. It’s great to have so many people getting involved and helping out.
SP: How many poets are taking part so far and are they all students?
AP: Last time we had ten poets and it divided very neatly so we had five non-students in one heat and five students in the other heat. So we were able to have a student vs. non-student aspect in the semi-finals. The winner of that slam ended up being a student, against some very experienced slam poets, and it was her first ever slam, so that was a great result. This time I’m not sure what the ratio is, but I think it’s higher in favour of students than last time.
SP: How did you choose the poets for the slam, is ay previous experience needed if you want to get involved?
AP: Absolutely not. We’re very keen on getting new poets, who have never performed at a slam, involved. As I said the winner of the last one had never performed at a slam, I think she was slightly nervous at the beginning and she was maybe a bit wary of it, and ended up being this fantastic poet, I thought she was absolutely brilliant. The slam format, given that it’s competitive and given that there can be a strong crowd element involved, can be quite intimidating, if I was to perform I would find it intimidating. So I’m very keen to say to new poets that we’re trying to tone down certain things. The crowd will be really warm and welcoming, as they always are, the judges won’t comment on things or read out their marks, so it’s not like you’re actually being tested. The idea is for the competitive aspect to be there to introduce people to slams without being brutal.
SP: Who is judging the slam?
AP: So far we have Aileen Ballantyne, who is a p.h.d. student in creative writing and a former journalist, and she writes poetry herself. Matt Oldfield I think will do it, who is the president of PublishEd (http://publishedinburgh.weebly.com/), and performance poet Sophia Walker.
SP: Young Dawkings is comparing the slam, can you tell Studentpunch a little bit about him?
AP: He’s an absolute legend. I can’t remember what position he is, but I think he’s the vice principal of the university. He’s a great beat poet and I think he’s quite well renowned. He was very successful at the festival, he was a slam champion. There are videos of him online playing with jazz bands and he’s very much in the beat poet, jazz kind of area. He’s got some good stories about performance poets back in the day. I think he’s been on stage with someone who’s been on stage with Jack Kerouac or Allen Ginsberg or something like that, which in my mind is close enough to being quite extraordinary. His poems are exciting, very lively, sensuous and as a compare he’s absolutely fantastic, really brings in a crowd. His poetry is equally fantastic and gets everyone ready for the slam. Last time, as soon as you heard him you knew it was going to be a good night, and I’m hoping it’s going to be the same this time.
SP: What makes a slam different from a poetry reading, apart from the competitive element?
AP: The competitive element is very strong. I think it maybe makes the crowd a bit more interactive, knowing that there’ll be surprises along the way. Depending on the criteria the crowd can have varying degrees of impact. The three criteria for judging a slam, generally, is the poem itself, the actual performance of the poem and the crowd’s reaction. So if the crowd knows that its reaction is very important to the judging then it might be more intensive in its reaction. We tend to tone that down a bit, but their knowledge of their power will definitely feed into it. It makes it more interactive and livelier. In terms of the style of poetry, slam poetry tends to be more quick fire, snappy, rhythmic, often a lot more theatrical and performance based and a lot more humour can be involved. Of course this doesn’t have to be the case, the styles can vary depending on the slam itself, there’s no specific style you’ll hear.
SP: If you haven’t had much interest in poetry before do you think a slam is a good place to begin, as a performer or audience member?
AP: Absolutely yes, I think it’s an absolutely brilliant way of bringing people into it. It’s quite a sad thing to say, but the representation of poetry is often, and I don’t want to characterise too many people’s opinions of poetry here, as it being something a bit dusty and old, and quiet and as something you just sit and read. Poetry slams remind you that it can be very interactive, can be very public. Poetry starts off as a communal activity and of course poetry originally is oral. One of the things I’m always reminded about at a slam is that poetry is meant to be read, it’s meant to be heard and that its sound is so important, you often forget that when you’re reading it. The elements of hearing and reading poetry are really showcased at slams, it’s really fun and it’s really enjoyable. There’s a great pleasure, a natural pleasure, in hearing rhythmic sounds, rhythmic words being spoken to you, and people immediately pick up on that. As for reading, some people are wary of it, they may not think it’s the right environment for their style of poetry. They might think it needs to be directly entertaining and directly funny and theatrical, but as I said before it depends on the slam and the perception of the slam. I think it can be a great way of getting into reading poetry, especially if you win.
SP: In general what sort of a poetry scene does Edinburgh have? Are there any other events or groups that you would recommend?
AP: Edinburgh’s got a fantastic poetry scene. I think there’s a night on at the GRV every last Sunday of the month and there was a night called ‘Is this poetry?’, but I’m not sure if it’s still going. There’s a great slam scene, the Chemical Poets are very prominent in it, they’re absolutely brilliant, they organise a lot of stuff, they get a lot of other poets involved and often rappers as well, I’d definitely recommend seeing them. It’s very interesting to see them with music behind them as well, the flow and the delivery is absolutely stunning, they’ll go on for twenty minutes without a break. That’s another way to open up a different kind of poetry.
SP: Are there any particular poets who you particularly enjoy or tip for success?
AP: I think that everyone who performs has got a great amount of talent and I really hope that anyone who performs will keep writing and developing. It must be so hard, I can’t write poetry myself and I definitely couldn’t perform it, it amazes me to see these people developing their talent. The winner of the last slam, Lucy Linforth, I thought was absolutely brilliant. The style wasn’t what you’d necessarily associate with slam style poetry, which for me made it all the better. The tone was mature, really highly developed, there was a kind of real authority behind it, we were just blown away by it. So I’d keep on Lucy, but everyone who performs will definitely, if they keep on writing, have a lot to give. It would be really great if a humble literature society poetry slam can be a development in someone’s writing.
SP: Finally, when is the next slam and how can you get involved?
AP: We’re thinking of doing one later on, we have got the venue (Pleasance Cabaret Bar) booked for an event, which could well be another slam, on the 17th of March. It’s not certain yet, but if we do decide to confirm that then that will probably be the date for the next one. As for getting involved, we’ll send messages out on Facebook and our mailing list, so it’s joining the mailing list, joining the Facebook group and waiting to hear from us, or getting in touch with me or anyone else on the committee (euenglitsoc@googlemail.com).
The Slam: Studentpunch arrived at a packed out Pleasance Cabaret Bar just in time to see Young Dawkings start the night off with his usual charm, wit and poetic prowess. As promised there were three primary heats before the semi-finals. Jennifer McGeeney, Chris Young, Annie Phetamine, Joel White, Lucy Linforth, Tim Anderson and Claire Askew were the seven poets who made it to the second stage. The different styles and subject matter of each performer made for an interestingly varied competition. The audience was treated to everything from quick fire comic storytelling to sombre musings on life’s ups and downs. Some poets were undoubtedly better performers than others, but each held the audience’s attention in their own way. Four poets got through to the final, Joel White, Claire Askew, Annie Phetamine and Chris Young. These four are worth keeping an eye on, they are all brilliant performers and there is a great depth to their poetry. There was no clear winner, all of them were equally deserving, but Claire triumphed with a witty and insightful poem about the dangers of opening up to a poet, namely that you will probably end up as subject matter. As a whole the night was great fun, it was well organised, with lots of breaks to nip to the bar, and the standard of poetry was generally very high. If you have an interest in poetry then you should definitely be at the next slam and if you don’t then I would still recommend it. It’s a nice alternative to the usual night out and with the diversity of the performers you’re bound to hear something you like.
Tim B-G
