My Poetry Slam Experience Part 1
I am not a poet or a spoken word artist, I am merely a web designer. My name is Abel, and for the last few years I have updated and maintained this website for Matthew "Cuban" Hernandez and the Shattered Thought team. I've posted updates, venues, new poetry and videos both here and in YouTube but I've never seen a poetry slam before until July 19th, 2007 in San Jose, California. So what this article will entail is my own personal account into what I saw, heard, and experienced.
I awoke early the next morning eager to get to the venue as early as I could. I wanted to scout the location's, see the places and, of course, meet the Shattered Thought team. Driving to the venue proved to be trickier than I had expected as the road soon turned to a one way street. I had to navigate my way around to the venue. I soon found the venue but decided it would be best to take the train instead as parking was extremely limited and would required me to have plenty of quarters ready for the meter.
I drove back to the hotel and hopped on the train to head back downtown. Once there I went to the venue where team Shattered Thought was set to compete for their first bout. I called Matthew "Cuban" Hernandez and told him to call me when he got close by. A short while later we finally got to meet and I was introduced to the team.
I was impressed by all of them, they were all polite, nice and thanked me for my hard work on the website and for helping them get to their hotel once they landed ( I arranged for the transportation). They were well prepared for the competition and eager to perform. We watched an earlier bout featuring another Florida team (Miami) to see how they did. Although they did not win there bout, they still performed very well. It was now time for their bout, so we headed over to another building called "The Stage." In this building team Shattered Thought was set to compete against teams from New York, San Jose, and Kansas City (Missouri).
The stage was very nice, the seating was great and no matter where you sat you were sure to have a good view of the performers. Team Shattered Thought wanted me to sit with them, but at this I had to object. They were there to compete and didn't need to worry about entertaining me. I also wanted to sit away from them so I could take pictures from a particular angle and record there performances. I was, after all, there on business. I captured some pictures of the team preparing, the team having fun, and mingling with other poets. What truly amazed me about this competition is how it didn't really look like a competition. Allow me to explain what I mean by that.
The teams were very supportive of each other, booing judges that gave low scores to competing teams, and encouraging other poets if they lost their place, or forgot the line they meant to say. It was a very positive and encouraging environment for all those competing and performing.
I was really excited to hear the pieces done on stage by all the performers. I was moved by a piece done by the San Jose team done by a young woman and her experience in a psyche ward after being labeled with a mental disorder. It was also touching to see that other teams wanted to hug her and offer her support as she made her way back to her seat, crocodile tears flowing down her face. I loved the piece done about love by Kansas City (Missouri). A young team who has a bright future ahead of them. I sat right behind them and I watched how this young woman on their team encouraged her teammates on all there pieces (she performed first for her team). She did this for other teams as well. I was angered by the piece done by the New York team about racism and trying to catch a taxi in New York. And those were just a few pieces from the other teams, but believe me I could write a whole lot more on the other teams and their pieces if I wanted to, they were all very good!
Team Shattered Thought far exceeded my expectations! All the pieces were powerful, moving and uplifting. DéTyme's piece was amazing, I had heard some of his poetry before but none with the passion I saw as he performed his piece "Contemplate." It was the first time I had heard poetry from Asia and I was really impressed with her piece "He Loves Me." Cuban went up next performing a piece on the horrid state of the music industry that had the MC and all other in attendance agreeing that hip hop is in a dire state. The last piece by team Shattered Thought was an amazing team piece involving almost the entire team. Peanut and Cuban did pieces while the rest of the
team provided background music. The fusion was amazing, the atmosphere was electric, but a mistake was made by Peanut of Shattered Thought. The mistake was not bad in and of itself, it was what happened after the performance as the team walked away, a little flash of anger by Peanut at himself that may have hurt in the scoring.
Team Jacksonville did not win this bout and instead placed second to New York. San Jose would get third and Kansas City (Missouri) would get fourth. The teams mingled around at the venue and outside, congratulating one an other, talking to each other and getting to know each other. After the bout all the poets were treated to a free lunch. I stuck around for a while and captured some more pictures of the team, Peanut was visibly upset by his performance but veterans Cuban and DéTyme tried to calm him down. Talking to him and letting him know it was okay to make mistakes, to acknowledge them and move on. The mood was quickly lightened as some teasing was going on about their own performances. At this point I parted ways to get my own lunch, and to prepare for the next bout they were set to compete in a few short hours. This is where my next article will continue.
| Abel Garcia |
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