Last Friday in the MPR, a small group of Wesleyan students congregated to participate in the explosively hypnotic rhythms of WeSLAM, a poetry slam competition. The seven students who participated came prepared to read two poems, vying for four spots in Round Two of the competition.
A judging panel of three Wesleyan students on the Campus Center Activities Board and Visiting Instructor of English Chuck Baraw determined the fortune of these student poets, who were competing for cash prizes redeemable Middletown venues.
An open mic for students who did not choose to participate in the competition followed.Marc Arena ’07, Michael Chandler ’08, Jennifer Celestin ’07, Jeffrey Haynes ’07, Jane Charles-Voltaire ’07, Zakia Henderson-Brown ’06 and Mike Berger ’08 participated in the competition. The poets’ words evoked powerful images. Chandler focused on how much his life has changed since childhood and Haynes alluded to socio-economic injustice, while Charles-Voltaire intricately wove together obscure and fantastical sensual images.
Every student who performed gave the impression that his or her poems had been composed with ease, reciting as if the words just fell out of them. The provocative poems spoken in fast-paced rhythms were received with applause and cheers from their student audience.
“When I come to something like this, it makes me want to write more,” said Megan Lollie ’07. “I was floored.”
After a short but tense break in which clips from Def Poetry Jam appeared on the hanging screen as the judges deliberated, the evening’s host, Andre Charles ’07, announced that Arena, Charles-Voltaire, Celestin and Chandler would all go on to compete in the second round.
Charles preceded this announcement, however, by imparting his widely shared view that due to the remarkable talent displayed by all the participating student poets, the idea of choosing winners shattered the very concept of the universality of spoken word poetry.
Celestin, or The Poet Formerly Known as Jennifer, opened Round Two. Celestin wove together spoken rhymes with clips from song to convey a richly melodic poetic composition about self-expression. Her performance exuded confidence and had much dramatic appeal.
Chandler came next, performing his poem with a fast-paced rhythm and strong rhyme sequence. Chandler stood out as not only a poet, but a performer as well, directing his words with intensity and emotional integrity to the audience. Chandler expressed his excitement to participate in such an event.
“I’ve been waiting for open mics since I got here,” he said.
Charles-Voltaire followed, delivering her poetry in a full voice, landing gently on every word. Her poem contained lush imagery and well-executed figurative language, and her modest yet confident presence in front of the audience received well-deserved attention.
The final poet to perform in Round Two of the competition was Arena. Arena delivered his poem with extraordinary conviction and confidence, his lips moving at the speed of lightning as if playing a musical instrument. An experienced performer, Arena has appeared at several spoken word poetry venues since arriving at Wesleyan.
“I don’t really get nervous,” Arena said. “I try to sit still to keep the jitters in [before I perform] so when I’m on stage I can let the jitters out.”
At the end of Round Two, the judges again met to deliberate on who would take home the cash prizes. Following a longer break in which clips from Def Poetry Jam again played on the hanging screen, André announced the evening’s winners: Chandler came in third place, Celestin came in second place, and Arena took home the first place prize of $50 certificate to a Middletown store of his choice.Natalie Coleman ’06 had one comment that was indicative of the general response to the student poets.
“I thought everyone was f—ing awesome,” she said.
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