Article Contributed on: 7/7/2007 5:33:44 PM
The Greek Pavilion at
Cheesman Park at 11th Ave and Franklin became a squatting ground for poets and fans of poetry July 7 for
Denver Poet's Day.
It was an easy bike ride and it was a fine occasion for hugging old friends who I seem to run into only at citywide poetry events.
I arrived in time to catch a few performances from the Denver Youth Slam Team ...
And maybe I'm just getting old (ha ha ... at 27), but, with all due respect to slam poetry, I feel a bit weary of being yelled at.
Still reading? Thank you!
I'm a budding slam poet and have closely studied the form online and through DVDs of
Def Poetry Jam and the occasional live performance for a couple years. Because of that, I know what I like and have opinions (more a reflection of my taste and not anyone else's talent).
I like a story. I like fresh language. I want to hear a line that I wish I had come up with. I want to hear phrases that make me want to talk about how kisses are like snowflakes (that's a morphed translation of part of an
Alyssa Kelly song -- met her at the
Vermont Studio Center). I want to hear something I want to hear again and again and take home with me and show my parents.
Maybe it was too hot and I was too tired. No matter what, I respect people for sharing their passions, but as I sat in Cheesman Park, I began writing a slam response (take it or leave it and if you rate it, please comment, too):
I know the world is serious,
I know there's pain and death,
corruption and sorrow
but give me something I can laugh at, dammit.
Give me something I can sing to, melody with.
There's only so much that art can make from
complaints and protest ... what's wrong with
surrendering to a chuckle, a story for a story's sake,
every now and again?
(and so on .... then
Chris Ransick, Denver Poet Laureate, got to the mic and he had a lot of serious poetry, verse that aired a few complaints ... but I also heard narrative and saw imagery that I felt I could get close to. For me, that's so much of what poetry must be, what it is called to be -- words which everyone can get close to. I guess that's why I don't like to feel as if I am being yelled at).
It's easy to criticize performances when you're only in the audience. Here's a list of the poets who were scheduled to perform on Denver Poet's Day:
CHRIS RANSICK (DENVER POET LAUREATE)
WAYNE GILBERT
ISIS
SUZI Q.
OXYGEN
ROB C.
PANAMA SOWETO
MATT Z.
KT WIRSING
BOBBY LEFEBRE
AMY EVERHART
YOUNG AMERICAN EDDIE
JOHNNY MUNSON
S.A. GRIFFIN
BIANCA MIKAHN
KEN ARKIND
IAN DOUGHERTY
PAULIE LIPMAN
DINO
KARA FERN
JEN RINALDI
JAKE YORK
EIREAN BRADLEY
LUCIFURY
JAI HARRIS
DON BECKER
THE MINOR DISTURBANCE SLAM TEAM
There were also musicians:
COYOTE POETS OF THE UNIVERSE
NICOLE TORRES
JEN KORTE/THE PARADOX
WORD MECHANIX