Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash
By Kayla Brown, Arts and Entertainment Editor
On Oct. 31, the SU Slam Poetry Club hosted their first Slam-O-Ween poetry competition allowing students to perform original poetry.
“SU Slam is meant to allow writers and poets to improve their writing and performance, all while providing a safe space to do so,” senior SU Slam Club President Ava Stanski said.
Slam-O-Ween, which began at 7 p.m., was held at Isaacs Auditorium in Seibert Hall, but was also available on Zoom. In attendance were the poets themselves, Susquehanna students and friends and family of the poets.
The competition consisted of 10 contestants, three rounds and prizes ranging from medals to cash and even a manuscript consultation with the Slam Poetry executive board for the winner, first-year Nala Washington.
“Performing in front of others is exhilarating. I always look into the crowd and am reassured that they feel what I’m saying and trying to convey… I find that being on stage is my second home,” Washington said.
For some poets, such as senior creative writing major Cassidy Ayers, this was their first time standing up in front of people and performing.
“It was interesting to try and learn my work, not only, through the words I was saying but how I was going to perform them. It was definitely a new experience for me, but I had a lot of fun with it,” Ayers said.
In the first round, contestants were given a time limit of one minute to complete their poem. In the second round, participants had two minutes, and those who made it to the third round had three minutes.
After each participant performed their poem, the five judges scored them, the highest and lowest scores were dropped and the remaining scores were added together to give the participants their round score.
Five participants were eliminated after round one and two participants were eliminated after round two, leaving three finalists for round three. The winner was determined from totaling the points of all three rounds.
Stanski explained, “It was an honor to be able to host, and I feel an immense sense of pride knowing that I will be graduating next semester having taken part in a new Slam Club tradition.”
SU Slam Poetry Club will continue to host monthly events and give students the time to showcase and hone their abilities.
