Thursday night the Lawrence Public library got a little rowdy, which would seem out of order for a library. But, the Lawrence Public Library is known for it’s variety of events it hosts including this slam poetry night. The competition was held in the auditorium, which is a giant room with a small stage set up front and plenty of space to pull chairs out onto.
Before walking into the auditorium, a big whiteboard greeted me screaming “Slam Poetry 7-8” with little stars accentuating it. It directed me into the auditorium where I scanned the audience, taking into account the amount of ages that filled the room. Up front (beside the stage) sat a list of performers that anyone could jump into and join, or decide to not go up at all. I took my seat and waited for the show to begin.
The first contestant was an 9
-year-old girl with whom I had the pleasure of talking to after the event. She performed a piece about foxes (her favorite animals) using vivid description that she said her mom taught her how to do. After her, a man of about 40 years of age went up and performed a piece about the first love of his life. Performances afterward included a couple of different women, a teenage boy, and myself after being inspired to go up.
Each piece of work was completely different from the last. It was as if everyone got to peek inside each other’s minds a little but it also felt completely safe to do so. Slam poetry gives people the opportunity to talk about what doesn’t get talked abou
t. And yet, it allows us to hear about what personally affects us as humans or any personal experience in a person’s life. At the end of it all, the 9-year-old girl won.
Slam poetry definitely catches a person’s attention, and I enjoyed the event thoroughly!