The Bishop has hosted the Bloomington Poetry Slam for twelve years. September 11th was the first slam of the season, and the first slam I’ve attended!
Co-host Andrea M. Sterling opened the show by directing the audience to interact with the artists. She led us through stomps, claps, snaps, cheers, and chants. The audience echoed slam-culture chants back at her.
The event began with an open mic. Several poets stopped up and read gut-wrenching, comedic, and somber works to an audience full of snaps, come on!s, and whoops. The hosts then turned to the audience and asked for judge volunteers– telling us that you don’t have to know a thing about poetry: you just need to be able to handle being booed out of the venue.
The first three competitors performed, spitting their words into the microphone with such passion that even their shouts felt insanely intimate. One artist in particular opened his poem with such a comedic scene that the entire crowd laughed along with him, and with just one verse, flipped the tone entirely on its head. The listeners groaned like the words had hit them physically. I had tears running down my face by the time he had finished his story.
The featured poet of the night was Wesley Frazier Keys, a famed artist in the world of spoken word. He performed several poems between rounds, with wordplay so intricate and quick, we barely had time to react. Between his own poems, he laughed with the audience, twisting his out-of-character stories into his poems so seamlessly our applause was entwined with his art.
The room echoed with hums and groans when the words hit them closely. The floor shook with stomps as applause. The noise of the bar next door had nothing on the supportive screams coming from the lively crowd. I live for arts-centered events with passionate attendees. I can’t believe I’ve missed out on attending slams for my whole life. I will always recommend that everyone supports the arts! Supporting local events like slams can bring so much life to communities, and so much inspiration to every attendee.
