Poetry Slam 2nd Literary Event

I arrived home for summer with one last assignment to complete. With perfect timing, A friend of mine invited me to a poetry slam at one of the clubs in downtown Minneapolis. I realized I could kill two birds with one stone. Complete my literary assignment, and have a good time with my friends as well; I’ve been to one other poetry slam in my life, and I loved it. The energy the performers bring to the stage leaves an electrifying tingle lingering in the air. I went with the intent to have a blast.

The club was dimly lit, and cool colors shone off the walls. My friends and I melded with the drunk mass, as we tunneled our way through to nab a good spot. The lights pointed towards the stage come on as the first performer comes out. A short girl with a short haircut, glasses, and a bow tie steps up to the mic.  She performed an original poem that detailed her struggles coming out as a lesbian. Her performance was astounding. She really drew the crowd in and had an amazing stage presence. To paraphrase her poem,  She first talked about her realization when she was a young girl. She realized she was a bit different than the other girls, because she never liked the same things as them. All of her friends wanted to play with dolls, but she was never into those kinds of things. She told us that growing up was sort of a struggle for her, as her mother was deeply religious. She details a few discussions she has with her mother, that were very intense.

The next guy that came on the stage was tall and broad shouldered with a jet black pony tail and olive toned skin. He had a button up shirt with the top button left open and a silver feather necklace gleaming from his neck. He performed a poem about his Native-American heritage. This guy had an awesome use of imagery in his poem, I could vividly picture a lot of what he described. He detailed the loss of his culture and language over time and how it affected his family. He also talked about the general poverty of his community, and gave us a description of living life in a Native-American project. It was extremely deep and emotional. I was starting to love this poetry slam.

The rest of the night consisted of a couple people continuing the trend of original poetry pieces, and then a couple bands played a song each. Finally, the event ended with someone reciting Shakespeare’s My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun. This piece I found particularly beautiful. The poem was extremely fluid and pleasant to the ears. It has made me want to read a collection of Shakespeare sonnets this summer. Maybe memorize one or two. I hope there are more poetry slams I can attend this summer. I left that performance with even more appreciation for poetry slams than when I walked in.