Five poets representing the Clayton Valley Charter High School Slam Poetry Club performed at the SF Public Library Auditorium, competing in the Teen Poetry Slam, a competitive slam poetry event organized by the group Youth Speaks.
The competition aims to connect and celebrate young poets while creating a healthy competitive environment. The event has been running for over 25 years. In the preliminaries, each poet performed one poem they wrote, then the judges scored it. Nineteen poets performed in the event, and twelve moved on to the semifinals, more than usual for the event.
One member of the club who competed, Arwen Singh, outlined the general atmosphere and energy of the competition.
“Preliminaries were a really positive experience. I don't think anyone on the team was really expecting the magnitude of the SF public library auditorium, but it was the perfect space, both grand and intimate,“ Singh said. ”There was such an incredible array of talented poets as well, making it one of the best slam events I've ever been to. Everything from coping with mental illness to calculus to cultural identity was spoken on, and I was simply blown away by how evocative every single poem was.”
One poet, Lilith Kelly, described how she chooses the topics for her poems.
“I choose topics that mean something to me,“ Kelly said. ”The poem I did at prelims was about dating as a trans woman, but I have poetry on social skills and my experiences with suicide and mental health.”
Singh, when asked about how she writes her poems, explained the process.
“Poetry topics are often very personal. To practice we'll sometimes pick a general prompt from which everyone takes certain ideas and kind of runs with it, but these are just as often scrapped as they are further developed. Many poems are based on significant experiences in a poet's life, or strong emotions felt in the moment.”
Kelly, when asked if slam poetry can be a good creative and artistic outlet, described her point of view: “I feel like slam poetry is a good creative outlet, but also a good way to get your stories and values out there. A lot of slam poetry talks about serious topics like politics and mental health. I’ve heard a good few poems about Palestine in my time at slam.”
Lian Blaisdell also performed in the preliminaries. She described how slam poetry has inspired her to consider other poetry and literature related careers and hobbies.
“I hope to continue doing poetry in the future, whether it be competitive or just for fun. I’ve always loved writing, but poetry is something I only really got into because of the Ugly Slam that I competed in during my junior year,” Blaisdell said. “It taught me a lot about writing and performance, and it helped me gain confidence in myself.”
Kelly also shared more about the impact that performing and writing poetry has had on her: “Slam poetry definitely has me thinking of writing in different ways. I'm really interested in fiction writing, and I've heard you can make your messages better if you add poeticism. I also plan on going to the semifinals.”
Singh also gave her thoughts about the outside perspective and stereotype that poetry has.
“I think there is also the perception that poetry is supposed to be deep and loaded with trauma and negativity, and while this is the case, there are so many weird and hilarious and joyful poems too. On our little stage, we've seen pieces about pirates and fried chicken and Godzilla and beavers and all sorts of glorious tomfoolery that all comes from a very personal place.”
Photo Credit: CVCHS Creatio Veritas Slam Poetry Team
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