Poetry is not always read in quiet contemplation in a forest — sometimes it is shouted into a microphone in the Union Den.
Eight poets slammed to snaps, claps and other audience encouragement at a poetry competition Monday night. The competition was hosted by USpeak, a group that spreads the spoken verse on campus. However, only four poets advanced to the final round.
DeAnn Emmet, who is not a U student, took first place and the $30 cash prize. Carey McComas, a junior in English, swept in second for $20.
RJ Walker, who also is not a U student, took third. Nick Nebeker, a junior in film and media arts, took fourth.
Organizer Kari Lindsey, a senior in English, said that her group opens its monthly campus slams to the public at large to get a wider crowd.
“We invite poets from around the Salt Lake area to come and present poetry pieces to us,” Lindsey said. “It has evolved into this huge safe space, where people can express whatever their opinions are.”
Each poet had three minutes to read an original poem. After each poem, randomly selected judges in the audience wrote a score of 0 to 10 on white board. The highest and lowest scores are dropped before the scores are added up. Traditional slams are three rounds long, with poets with the lowest scores being eliminated after each round. Before the competition begins, a “sacrificial” poet reads a work to calibrate judging. The “sac” poet gives the other poets a practice round to determine how the judging process works.
Nebeker said that although he’s new to poetry slams, he’s been embraced by the community. After seeing a poetry slam performance at the Utah Arts Festival last summer, Nebeker was inspired to write.
“Here I am, with amazing people that are just spewing pure love and brilliance into my mind,” he said. “I’ve never been to an environment where everyone is so supportive and so constructive, and where everyone brings each other up so much. It’s really cool to be around.”
Niki Harris contributed reporting to this story.