Hundreds of Wesleyan students poured into Crowell Concert Hall Thursday night to hear poetry Def Jam performances by Beau Sia and Suheir Hammad. Hammad mostly recited heartfelt, serious poetry that commented on issues such as discrimination and the war in Iraq, while Sia’s performances mixed social commentary with comedy.
Sia is an original member of Def Poetry Jam, a Tony award-winning show of slam poetry founded by rap artist Russell Simmons. Both Sia and Hammad have performed with the show on Broadway as well as television.
Sia, who has written several poems about rejection that combine heartbreak and humor, began the night with a poem about how he would no longer allow someone else to dictate his sense of self-worth. He then went on to recite “Haiku 809”:
“I really have like
Eight hundred and nine of these
Haiku things that suck.”
In a poem entitled “Disposal,” he got worked up and angrily shouted, “I will not let unicorns be played out by urban outfitters!”
Sia also recited one of his better-known poems, “Love,” which included reflections on love, music and war, as well as the anatomy of Asian men.
“You just want to hear the part where I talk about my small dick again!” Sia accused the audience. “Because the Asian man will always be plagued by this rumor until he is brave enough to fling it out and say, ‘Ha! We are gigantic!”
Staying on topic, Sia shared a short poem entitled “Miracle.”
“All pussies in the universe suddenly only fit me,” he said.
He also had several memorable quotes in a poem entitled “Deep,” such as, “I’m so deep my anus leaks the words of the prophet in the form of a fart” and “I can find the corndog in the platinum rap single of your mind.”
Sia moved on to more serious societal topics such as racism, saying that people from the “third world” will “colonize the first world until [certain people in the first world] stop seeing the third world as a different place!” and mixing in humor by threatening, “We will beget your son-in-law!”
Sia concluded his performance with a huge round of applause, and Hammad took center stage.
Hammad began her performance with a poem about how she is always the one who is randomly chosen for airport security checks, and several of her poems reflected her Palestinian heritage. Hammad also recited a poem entitled “Eve’s Tale.” Spoken in the voice of Eve, the poem got her banned from a college where she previously performed, when some fundamentalist Christians found her material offensive.
One of her most personal poetry performances was “My Father After,” which is about her father’s life as a worker in a store and “when his dreams became anchors.”
Hammad added some comedy of her own between poems.
“You’re in America, so speak Spanish, goddamn it!” she said.
In other poems she commented about the war and how she is discriminated against and has always loved “criminals” because “it is a love of self.”
Hammad also repeated over and over, “I will not dance to your war drum!”
She ended with a poem that asked, “What is it about us they hate so much? This face? These eyes? This obstinate refusal to die?” and concluded, “I know somehow, love will save us.”
A brief question and answer session followed the performances. Hammad shared that she performs Def Jam poetry because she believes it to be God’s work, and Sia said he decided to write when he was fifteen because of a girl.
Sia has written books, appeared in movies and released CDs of his spoken word poetry. Hammad, who hails from Brooklyn, has written books, and has been featured in various periodicals and on the radio. Both poets have performed on HBO. Several groups, including the host Writer’s Block, made it possible for these two Broadway performers to perform at Wesleyan.
Sia and Hammad stayed to talk with several students after the show had ended.
“It was a sincere performance by amazing people who can put their thoughts into words and their words on stage,” said Stephanie Schwartz ’08.“Anyone who missed it because they were studying for a biology exam is a loser.”