Raise It! for the Capital Slam Semi-Finals
A poet slowly approaches the microphone on an empty stage.
On the count of three, the audience throws their clenched fists in the air, shouting “Raise it!”
This is not your average coffee-shop turtleneck-wearing finger-snapping poetry reading.
This is slam poetry.
If you’re not familiar with slam poetry, it’s a competitive form of spoken word that started in Chicago in 1984, and quickly spread to other parts of the world. As a reaction against the sedate academic tradition of poetry reading, slam poetry is a more visceral, outspoken performance style, the content often political or intensely personal. Most people are rendered speechless after seeing slam poetry live for the first time; the emotional intensity and skill of the performers is unlike anything they’ve experienced before. Ottawa boasts Canada’s second-longest-running slam poetry series, Capital Slam.
Sean O'Gorman, slam poet
The way a slam poetry competition works is simple: poets present a spoken word piece that must be three minutes or less in length. They are judged by five audience members on the basis of content and performance, on a scale from 0 to 10 (much like you see in Olympic figure skating, for example). To calculate the score for a performance, the highest and lowest of the five scores are removed, and the remaining three scores are added together to give a score out of 30. The poet is penalized if they run over their allotted time.
The release on the Capital Slam website promised performances by Open Secret, Truth Is…, Chris Tse, D-Lightful, Brad Morden, Loh El, Thomas, Prufrock, Brandon Wint, Greg “Ritallin” Frankson, John Akpata, and Sean O’Gorman. (Like musicians, spoken word performers often choose a stage name.) Also slated to perform in a non-competitive capacity was Rusty Priske, who had been a Capital Slam finalist for the previous three years.
When we arrived at the Alumni Auditorium on the University of Ottawa campus, the lobby area was crowded with people waiting to get in; I recognized well-known spoken word artist Marcus Jameel (who live-tweeted the event) and Jessica Ruano, in a smart red dress taking the official pictures.
Truth Is… addresses the microphone
Like our theatre community, Ottawa’s spoken word community is very tight; the same people crop up at every event. Handing money to Danielle K.L. Grégoire in exchange for live poetry performances is becoming somewhat of a monthly ritual; there she was at the door taking our ticket money and stamping wrists once again.
The sight of Rusty Priske moving through the audience looking for volunteer judges was familiar. A year ago, when I first attended a Capital Slam event, I too was given a whiteboard and a marker and the daunting task of rating the performers. It’s a bit stressful, because the audience will heartily boo what it considers unjustified low scores, as I quickly learned—the hard way. One of the judges selected this evening was local entrepreneur Jen Butson, who I had invited to attend; she didn’t know exactly what to expect going in, but you can read about her experience on her personal blog.
Nathanaël Larochette, our host for the evening
Nathanaël Larochette, director of Capital Slam, opened the sixth annual Capital Slam semi-finals by explaining how the evening would proceed; each of the twelve poets, in random order, would perform one piece, there would be a short intermission, then they would perform in reverse order. The scores would be averaged, and the top eight would advance to the finals.
It’s traditional to start a poetry slam with a “sacrifical poet”—a first performer who is not actually competing, but is still scored by the judges, to “calibrate” them. Before inviting arRay of Words to the stage, Nathanaël explained another slam poetry tradition: to welcome each performer to the stage, to encourage them, and to provide a sense of unity, each audience member is supposed to make a fist. On the count of three, they are to throw their fist into the air, shouting “Raise it!”
Yes, it feels silly the first time you do it. After the first couple of times, it comes naturally. Twelve poets later, you feel like a Black Panther.
Sacrificial poet arRay of Words stepped to the microphone with a single sheet of paper in his hand, and began to read his piece. About a minute in, he crumpled his paper, threw it to the stage behind him, and confronted the microphone with renewed vigor and threw his whole body into the performance.
Sacrificial Poet ArRay of Words
The audience was hooked. The judges gave him scores of 8.7, 8.0, 8.7, 7.5, and 7.9, for a final score of 24.6 (don’t worry about doing the math; all the final scores for the evening are at the bottom of this article).
Chris Tse, a young Asian man with a thick, bushy head of hair, was the first poet to compete, presenting an optimistic piece about his identity and hopes for the future. He was followed by the nonchalant, casual Sean O’Gorman, whose poem about laughter was well-received by the audience, but not as well by the judges. Greg “Ritallin” Frankson followed with his highly metrical, hip-hop style poetry. It seemed to me that the performers were exceptionally nervous; I guess that’s to be expected given the unprecedented size of the audience, and the importance of the semi-finals.
Graeme "Loh El" O'Farrell
Next up was Brad Morden, in a pale, crumpled fedora. His piece about searching for his birth mother was delivered perfectly, and won a long round of applause. Truth Is… took the stage with her soulful, musical voice and varied tempo. Open Secret took the microphone and broke into a fast-paced, thoughtful political piece. His performance was met by a standing ovation from half of the audience, prompting Nathanaël to comment “this ain’t no hush-hush live library poetry reading” before introducing the next performer, John Akpata.
John stated “this poem contains words by Rusty Priske” before launching into a powerful piece decrying child abuse, echoing the sentiments and words of Rusty’s A Conspiracy of Shame. “You’re going to die” were the grim opening words of Prufrock’s first piece of the evening, a poem about losing sight of the basics of survival as human beings in our current society. D-Lightful attacked the microphone with a passionate exposition of the conflict of love.
A cry of “Ezra Pound Lives!” from the audience welcomed Loh El to the stage, where his very personal poem about white privilege seemed entirely at odds with his outwardly sunny disposition. Crowd favourite Brandon Wint melted more than a few hearts with a poem about love, truth, and illusion. To close off the first round, Thomas McKinley took the stage; an older gentleman with clear diction, he presented a piece that was as thought-provoking as it was humorous.
John Akpata
Nathanaël called for a “thirteen minute intermission”, during which I bought the Capital Slam 2009 CD from Danielle at the merchandise table.
The second round opened with a second sacrificial poet, Hyfidellik, whose passionate poem describing an uncle being killed for political reasons, with its haunting refrain “There’s a war in me” drew scores of 9.2, 9.1, 8.9, 8.0, and 9.6 from the judges, for a total score of 27.2.
Starting with Thomas, the poets performed their second pieces; Loh El’s poem about his infant son garnered applause from the audience and a personal congratulation from John Akpata. The clear crowd favourite was Open Secret’s poem commemorating the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre. Chris Tse ended the second round with a lighthearted, fast-paced piece about girls, ending with his phone number to a wave of laughter and applause.
Brandon Wint melts hearts with his words
For the last performance of the evening, Nathanaël called Rusty Priske to the stage. Rusty took a moment to mention that Ottawa would be host to the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in October; “so I don’t have to follow the rules.” He beckoned, and Danielle K. L. Grégoire walked onstage. She looked up at the audience.
“There’s a lot of people here,” she said.
“You took our money!” joked a voice from the crowd.
Together, Rusty and Danielle performed a piece that was grafted together from two poems they had written on the same subject; the terror felt by someone walking alone at night who thinks they are being followed. These were two poignant pieces to start with, together they present the same situation from two different perspectives, in a telling commentary on how society has changed the way we live and interact, from two of the region’s most experienced poetic performers.
Danielle K. L. Grégoire and Rusty Priske wrap things up
After Rusty and Danielle’s performance, Nathanaël took the microphone again to announce the eight poets who would be moving on to the final round: Loh El, Brandon Wint, Brad Morden, Prufrock, John Akpata, Truth Is…, Chris Tse, and Open Secret.
The eight finalists will face off against each other on June 5th, at the Alumni Auditorium; doors open at 6:30 pm. Arrive early.
And get your fist ready.
Andrew Snowdon is a theatregoer, concert attendee, and writer living in Lowertown, Ottawa, sandwiched between a MacBook and a typewriter, with a cup of coffee.
Photography by Jes Lacasse.
FINAL STANDINGS:
Finalists:
Open Secret: Round 1: 9.7 / 9.9 / 9.2 / 9.7 / 9.9 | 29.3 Round 2: 9.6 / 9.2 / 9.1 / 9.8 / 9.9 | 28.6 Final: 28.95
Chris Tse: Round 1: 9.2 / 9.7 / 8.3 / 9.4 / 9.8 | 28.3 Round 2: 9.7 / 9.9 / 8.9 / 9.4 / 9.8 | 28.9 Final: 28.60
Truth Is…: Round 1: 9.3 / 9.2 / 9.2 / 9.5 / 9.7 | 28.0 Round 2: 9.6 / 9.0 / 8.9 / 8.8 / 9.5 | 27.4 Final: 27.70
John Akpata: Round 1: 8.9 / 9.0 / 9.5 / 9.3 / 8.2 | 27.2 Round 2: 9.5 / 9.2 / 9.4 / 9.3 / 8.7 | 27.9 Final: 27.55
Prufrock: Round 1: 8.4 / 9.3 / 9.6 / 9.1 / 8.7 | 27.1 Round 2: 9.3 / 8.9 / 9.4 / 9.2 / 9.7 | 27.9 Final: 27.50
Brad Morden: Round 1: 8.9 / 8.9 / 9.5 / 8.5 / 9.4 | 27.2 Round 2: 9.7 / 8.5 / 8.7 / 9.3 / 9.2 | 27.2 Final: 27.20
Brandon Wint: Round 1: 8.8 / 8.7 / 9.0 / 9.3 / 9.7 | 27.1 Round 2: 9.7 / 8.8 / 8.2 / 8.5 / 9.8 | 27.0 Final: 27.05
Loh El: Round 1: 8.8 / 9.2 / 9.2 / 8.9 / 8.9 | 27.0 Round 2: 9.5 / 9.5 / 8.6 / 8.8 /8.9 | 26.7 Final: 26.85
Runners-up:
D-lightful: Round 1: 9.6 / 9.8 / 8.9 / 9.1 / 8.9 | 27.1 Round 2: 8.7 / 8.7 / 8.8 / 8.9 / 9.3 | 26.4 Final: 26.75
Greg “Ritallin” Frankson: Round 1: 8.0 / 8.4 / 8.2 / 9.0 / 8.5 | 25.1 Round 2: 9.4 / 8.9 / 8.7 / 9.3 / 9.0 | 27.2 Final: 26.15
Thomas McKinley: Round 1: 8.8 / 9.5 / 8.7 / 8.6 / 8.8 | 26.3 Round 2: 8.6 / 9.0 / 8.3 / 8.2 / 8.3 | 25.2 Final: 25.75
Sean O’Gorman: Round 1: 8.5 / 8.2 / 8.8 / 8.2 / 8.3 | 25.0 Round 2: 9.2 / 8.7 / 8.7 / 8.9 / 8.9 | 26.0 Final: 25.50
Tags: Capital Slam Poetry, poetry, slam poetry, spoken word
May 2nd, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Great article…you even had me in suspense as I recalled my first Slam event with Urban Legends lead by MArcus Jameel…This is a remarkable form of expression. The passion is always so raw. Sorry I missed it.
May 3rd, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Don’t even worry about it, rebeccahappy, just be there for the next show at uOttawa Alumni Auditorium on Saturday, June 5. Finals will be extraordinary!