News
Nicholas Root
Buddy Wakefield, an acclaimed slam poet, performed Sunday evening in Collis Common Ground.
He is the second nationally renowned slam poet to perform on campus in the past two weeks and was invited by the spoken word ensemble Soul Scribes.
Last Saturday, Soul Scribes brought Anis Mojgani, a two-time national individual poetry slam winner to perform at Common Ground.
Simone Wien '16, a group member who attended Mojgani's performance, said the event was well-attended and speculated that many students found these events to be unique and exciting, given the fact that poetry narration is a different venue than what she said a lot of the campus has to offer.
"People who I know who may never have had an interest in writing anything or doing anything of this nature look forward to coming to these events," Wien said.
She added that for some people whose voices may be the most silenced, spoken word poetry may be the only way they are heard.
Wien said Mojgani excels at engaging audience members.
"The first poem he did, the first line was come closer' and he was literally trying to mentally drag the entire room into what he was feeling and what he was sensing and you could literally see people pulling themselves forward in their chairs," Wien said.
Slam poets who visit the College often hold workshops, where students perform and receive feedback.
Wien said many students are startled by the depth of emotion that many of these writers can bring to the stage.
"For a lot of people, it's a very emotional experience because this doesn't happen every day," she said.
Christoper Drew, a Hanover resident who watched Wakefield's performance last night, said slam poetry demands a higher quality performance because it is not usually set to music.
"Spoken word and language are so crucial to how we convey meaning and it isn't the end all, but I think it's something really important and has real potential," he said.
Poets like Mojgani and Wakefield attract diverse audiences.
Miranda Stein '16 said Wakefield's show exposed her to high-quality slam poetry.
"If more people watched slam poetry, they would get more interest in the campus wide poetry events and would probably get more students interested in performing," she said.
Naomi Lazar '17, who first attended a slam poetry show earlier this month, said she found the performances honest and the artists' intentions clear.
"I think slam poetry is a magical art form," she said.
