On Thursday, Mar. 5, The Max Bar and Grill will be hosting its 52nd Poetry Slam at 7 p.m. Chad Christensen, a professor at Wayne State College, helps put on the Poetry Slams. The Slams started at WSC around 2000 to 2001, according to Christensen. Christensen explains that a Poetry Slam is “a competitive event with poetry.”
“The idea is that we made it a little competitive to get students excited, rather than an open mic where you show up and just read your stuff,” Christensen said. “We are going to try and have surprises, people pay five bucks to enter and the top four get the cash prizes.”
In some Poetry Slams, the judges are in the crowd, whereas at this one the Judges sit at a table in front of the stage. The Poetry Slams are often tied to the Plains Writers Series. This week, the Plains Writers Series is on Thursday, Mar .5, at 2 p.m in the Humanities building. This Plains Writers Series will feature Tyler Jacobs. Since the Plains Writers Series is tied to the Poetry Slam, Tyler Jacobs will be one of the judges. Christensen explains that judging at these Poetry Slams is pretty relaxed.
“The judging is loose because a lot of people are reading for the first time, where others are really competitive,” Christensen said. “Ours is pretty low-key, it’s supportive and we just want people to get up there and have an excuse to read poetry, but it’s kind of fun in a competitive format.”
The attendance in the Poetry Slams has been on the rise.
“The students, for whatever reason, really love the slams,” Christensen said. “It kind of keeps feeding itself, even as students move on, new students will kind of come in as those older students leave. If there’s low attendance more times more often or not, it’s the weather that affects it, then anything.”
Each Poetry Slam has its own theme to personalize the Poetry Slam and make it memorable. This year’s theme is “Jousting Snails.”
“We started doing themes to kind of give each one a personalization type of thing and students really feel it adds something to it,” Christensen said.
The Poetry slams focus more on the poems than on the presentation of the poem, which helps newcomers feel more comfortable. Cassie Bates is a new participant at the poetry slams and she plans to participate in this year’s slam.
“I’ve been to one poetry slam, I love writing poetry and so going to listen to how other people present their poetry is so interesting to me,” Bates said.
As a new participant, Bates recommends newcomers not to be nervous.
“I think everyone should come, don’t be afraid because there are people there that are also nervous,” Bates said.
