The Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies Auditorium was graced with the spoken word on Friday, February 20. Hosted by Lambda Upsilon Lambda, RPI’s 12th Annual Poetry Slam brought high-quality slam poets and student performances to the campus-stage.
The event began at 7 pm, with Lambda Upsilon Lambda member Michael Gonzalez ’11 giving an introduction to the rules of the contest. It would be a three-round slam under the theme of “Armageddon:” Round one would be “The Economic Recession,” round two, “Global Chaos,” and round three, “82 Cents of Hope.” Gonzalez explained the idea was to “give a sense of urgency and importance to three issues and events taking place right now,” those being, respectively, the nation’s financial state, the mid-east crisis and global warming, and the recent election of President Barack Obama. Each competitor would be rated on a scale of one to four, with four being a perfect score. After each round, half of the contestants would be eliminated until there was only one left. The winner of the event would receive a Nintendo Wii.
The competition was open to anyone, including people outside of the Institute. Although a couple of RPI students tried their hand at the contest, they did not last against the more experienced poets from outside the Rensselaer Community, including Anarkist Kryst, Diabolical, Devin the Poet, and Sean Gallagher, who made it to round two.
Throughout the evening all of them instilled unique voices in their performances. Every one of the top poets had a different style: Diabolical had a comedic voice in his poetry; Gallagher recited with a lyric, story-esque quality; and both Anarkist Kryst and Devin the Poet possessed a hip-hop approach that many associate with slam. There was a good variety between the four, including an angry piece against drug corporations (by Anarkist Kryst), a poem of nostalgic value about growing up in the ’90s (by Devin the Poet), and a humorous speech from a post-election Sen. John McCain (titled “No We Can’t,” by Diabolical).
However, Diabolical did not make it to round three after a momentary loss of memory during his recitation in the previous round. Due to a rare tie, three poets participated in the final instead of two. Although all the finalists delivered strong performances, Gallagher came out on top with an imaginative poem—drawing a David and Goliath reference toward life—that gave a positive outlook toward hope. When asked what he would do with the Wii, Gallagher amusingly commented that he already had one and would treat his new one as rent money.
While the scores from each round were being calculated and compared, various students performed in the slam’s open mic. It was refreshing to see RPI students recite their own written works, since the Institute does not frequently host literary-related events.
Overall, the slam competition was quite a success. “RPI has one of the most receptive, supportive crowds I’ve seen on a college campus,” Gallagher stated in a post-slam e-mail interview. It was great to see a poem come to life in an oral expression instead of sitting as text on a page.
