This past Saturday at Alpha Delt, WeSlam and QueerWes cosponsored “The Short Poem Slam with Cam & Sam!” In a completely different format than the standard three-minute-and-10-second poem time limit, Wesleyan poets were challenged to perform in rounds of one-minute, 30-second, and 15-second intervals. This seemingly slight change resulted in an entirely different night of poetry from a normal slam.

“[The slam] allowed a greater degree of freedom for poets,” said competing poet Zachary Sporn ’15. “Poets could write about subjects that wouldn’t fill out a full-length poem. New student artists decided to perform because they wouldn’t have to write as much.”

Many poets took the night as a chance to perform more experimental or nontraditional work.

“I have been working on a rap album now for the past six weeks, and the short slam gave me an opportunity to perform my lyrics,” said regular slammer David Stouck ’15.

The slam wasn’t only beneficial for the writers; the audience got to see completely fresh, new poetry performed.

“The fun thing with the short poem slam is that almost everything you see is nothing that you have ever heard before,” said performer Jason Reitman ’15. “Everyone came with a high level and very fun vibe to the slam.”

“The more condensed [the poetry] was, the more power each individual word had,” said competing poet Mads O’Brien ’16. “It’s mind boggling. I’m amazed by what my own peers can create.”

The slam was broken up by performances by the featured team of poets, a self-proclaimed Gay Pride Poetry Tour that consisted of Wesleyan alum Cam Awkward-Rich ’11 and his poetry partner, Sam Sax. The stylistically and vocally diverse duo weaved a few comical poems in with their emotionally evocative pieces. Awkward-Rich and Sax used metaphor and narratives to weave heart-wrenching poems that tackled assault, abuse, gender, and queer issues. As a queer poet myself, it was amazing to see the success of fellow queer poets, especially that of a former Wesleyan student. Their work inspired me to look inward and face uncomfortable topics about my own sexuality in my writing.

After a night chock full of concise, powerful poetry, the final scores were announced, and two fantastic poets were tied. Rhys Podell ’16 and Alex Heyison ’15 advanced to square off in a spontaneous haiku tie-breaker. In a night of new and old poets alike sharing fresh material in a cool atmosphere, this sudden burst of competition was unexpected and enticing. Both poets spouted witty, comical, and self-referential pieces that brought the audience to hysterics, with the judges ultimately declaring Heyison the Short Poem Slam Champion.

Presently, Wesleyan’s slam team is at CUPSI, the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational, where it is competing with 58 teams across the country. Hopefully the team can carry the energy from the short poem slam to the competition.