After winning SCAD’s Event of the Year and Club of the Year and gathering a packed out audience, SCAD’s poetry club Poets with Passion presents the second annual Poetry Slam on Thursday, May 12, at 8:30 p.m. in the Hub.
The Poetry Slam began after Kelvin Parker, fourth-year fashion design student, started Poets with Passion. “I felt the need to start it here, because I saw a need [for SCAD students] to speak and get in front of audiences,” said Parker. He said that because SCAD is known as a visual arts school, writing is sometimes ignored. “I wanted to get the word out about writing and using writing to express yourself. Writing is so artistic — arranging words isn’t exactly easy.”
Those who missed the deadline to participate this year, can begin preparing for next year. Poets with Passion meets every Thursday at 8 p.m. in room 321. The club accepts anyone interested in writing or poetry and prepares members to write and perform poetry; however, performing in the contest is not a requirement. Parker described the club as a very nurturing environment, which helps each poet to embrace their personal writing style.
To those interested in performing but not with the club, Parker gave some advice: “Go to Java Monkey, watch YouTube videos and see how they do it. And tape record yourself. That’s the best thing.”
The poetry slam is judged by non-SCAD members to keep the competition unbiased. However, three SCAD members judge the audition process. Each judge makes notes on scorecards, which are handed to the poet after the audition. Parker said some poets feel discouraged if they receive a low score, but he encourages them to look at it as a way to improve before the event. In fact, Parker said he auditioned for the competition in his hometown during high school and didn’t make it. “Seeing the actual judging sheet let me know what I needed to work on for the next year, and I won first place. So it really helps to see it.”
Parker described the performance as nerve-wracking, because there is pressure to express emotions to the audience. “I tell each poet to just do it for the experience to even get up there and express yourself,” said Parker. “[Audience members] get the feel of those emotions, and may take a different perspective on moments in life, because of what the poems are related to.”
As for the future of the Poetry Slam, Parker said that they hope to expand the club’s horizons in the future. “We started with members only competing, then opened it to the SCAD community. Hopefully, next year we’ll compete with other colleges. We want to keep growing.”
