Friday July 11, 2008 - D.C. 11th Hour Slam

The Langston Hughes room was absolutely packed at Busboys and Poets. I arrived more than half-an-hour early, and I waited in the bookstore, as before. However, when no one appeared for the next half-hour, I asked the hostess if the slam was still happening. She pointed me towards the backroom, and a waitress outside warned me that there were no seats. She suggested trying to go on stage, so I peaked through the doors. My breath was taken away by the sight of not only a packed room, but also a packed stage. I decided I didn’t want to spend the evening in the spotlight anyway, so I slipped to the main portion of the room to see if I could find anywhere to sit. Fortunately, I managed to squeeze in at a table of high-schoolers.

Twain of the Baltimore Slam team featured at the D.C. 11^th Hour Slam. He opened the evening, performing prior to the slam and following 2 Deep’s introduction of the venue and the history of the Langston Hughes room. Twain started with a poem/speech about his name, and he incited audience participation. He gave a preface before each poem, and was extremely personable all around.

His next piece was one of my favorites, the “D.C. Love Poem,” which described love in vivid terms derived from experiences in the Washington D.C. area. For instance, he told how “my heart skips like the Green Line” an dit will last “As long as the politicians’ lies”. His line telling how his “love is as tenacious as parking enforcement” particularly won audience approval. Twain continued on this romantic vein, and his next "poem was about how he cannot be a poet anymore because of his lover. Now, his “muse rolls her eyes and walks away”, and he gives examples of the mushy writing he is inclined to produce.

Twain described his subsequent piece as his “second angriest poem”, and it had suh great lines as “the pot called the kettle a racial slur”, a vivid description of how the teapot blows off steam, and numerous other kitchen-related references to describe the current state of the nation.

This he followed with a haiku:

“If grass is greener

on the other side there must

be some more shit there”

Twain’s second-to-last work, a poem about names was a poignant and powerful piece about how children ultimately have to develop their own identity. He started with a discussion of Apple, Blossom, and other strange celebrity names, and proceeds to describe the dilemma in choosing a name, because the child’s name will become what he makes of it: “Will it be inmate 60203 or ‘Your Honor’? I’m hoping for ‘Your Honor’”. “He’s gonna have to make a name for himself”.

The concluding poem was a patriotic poem that relied heavily upon gesures to add meaning to the lines. For instance, when describing his hands on a woman’s hips, he extended his arms shoulder length apart, then widened it, to the crowd’s delight. “Dance like there’s no tomorrow cause we’ve got to,” he advises. Twain ended, afterwards, with an advertisement for the Fringe Festival in DC.

I especially enjoyed Twain’s performance because you could see in it elements of both slam and literary reading. Especially notable was his comfort on stage and his ability to produce a good dynamic with the audience.

After Twain left the stage, 2 Deep gave the rules of slam and then offered herself as the “sacrificial lamb.” Judges had been selected from the audience prior to my arrival. 2 Deep delivered her mother poem, opening with the song. She told how, “sometimes, when I look in the mirror, the only person I don’t see is me”, and how her mother’s friends tell her “you should do this because that’s what your mother would have done”. “It’s had when you’re not allowed to be you”, and she tells how it’s been 9 days and 11 hours since her independence day. “You’d better look at me…I am Felicia’s child”. She followed this piece with her background, and the story of how she went to the same school as her mother, looked like her mother, and she only feels free of her mother now that she’s lived past her mother’s 27 years. This poem was absolutely beautiful, and even more powerful the second time that I heard it. It still brought tears to my eyes, and I was able to pick up more of the nuances in her gestures and tone the second time around.

As energetic and amusing as ever, 2 Deep presented the audience with her jeopardy re-mix while we waited for the scores. As at SLAMicide, I decided to pick one judge and track her scores to see if I could observe score creep. The judge that I selected was a woman sitting in the back corner of the room. She was the only judge whose board I could see.

10, 9.2, 7.0, 7.8, 8.5

Then, we began the Slam. Seven poets performed in the first round, and this was narrowed down to the top four for the second round.

The first poet called himself EZ Danger. He was actually 2 Deep’s cousin. He received a great, enthusiastic greeting from the crowd, and he gave a preface about how he was a godfather and had promised to dedicate this piece to his goddaughter. He mentioned that he likes to write about writers, as he waved aside 2 Deeps warning that the clock was running. In this poem, EZ danger told about how “my style is priceless” and he tells how he thinks it devalues his work to sell it. He had a hip-hop cadence with strongly syncopated lines and a very overt, four-beat lines. “There’s something special about the dude who gives you a cd, it’s the only way he can be heard”. EZ Danger read from a paper, but he made good contact with the audience. “My words are more essential than hydration,” he argued, but 2 Deep pointed out that, without charging for CD’s, it’s hard to keep a stock.

6.8, 7.0, 6, 6.2, 7.2 for a total of 20

So Many Styles read next. His piece was fast-paced and heavy on the end rhyme. He had a strong hip-hop baseline, and a refrain (“Rhyme for righteousness”), but it was hard to make out the individual words. Ultimately, it seemed to be an angry political rant, an “us against them” call for revolution against the current political powers.

7.4, 6, 7.2, 6.9, 5.8 for a total of 26.7

Princess then delivered a poem, “Praise” about her Grandmother and faith. She relied heavily upon internal rhyme, and she had that requisite swear-word…“forgive me, Lord, for cussing…shit.” The overall piece seemed to be a call to awareness of self and one’s place in the world. “Royalty is a trained process,” Princess mentioned, and she continued to tell how “I’m Nubian by birthright, but I’m also a God-damn American”.

9.2, 7.8, 8.4, 10.0, ? for a total of 32.6

Ah-Ny-Esse, who spelled her name out phonetically, read her poem from a book. She used accents and internal rhyme, talking about her position as a customer service employee. She challenged the no-props rule by removing one shirt to show a Howard Alumn Shirt, and she ended with “Peace,” as the first poet and numerous others tend to do.

5.5, 7.0 6.8, 8.0, 5.2 for a total of 24.7

Ronan, a Lakota Poet, read next. She wore a plain black shirt and skirt, and she frequently referenced such pieces of Native American history as Sitting Bull and Crazy horse. She rhymed frequently and had very short lines that gave her poem a feel that was wholly different from the Hip-hop rhythm. She got lost in the lines, but the audience was very supportive.

7.7, 5.4, 5, 6.3, ? for a total of 22.7

Melanie read next. “To the cool kids and my school, I am not cool”, she began. “I’m just that one girl that does poetry”. The rest of the piece went on to give her complaints against the cool kids and her pride in herself. She had three main points she wanted the cool kids to understand. First, “no part of the suburbs will ever constitute ghetto.” Secondly, “N—is still a slur”. Finally, she discussed her pride in her hair. “If only private school kids went to poetry readings without being offered extra credit,” Melanie lamented. Her ultimate message was, “be you,” be true to yourself.

10.0, 9.3, 8.5, 8.1, 10 for a total of 35.9

Roscoe performed next. His t-shirt was red on the left, green on the right, and had the continent of Africa in black on the front. He relied on couplets and had that hip-hop cadence. His piece was a call to action, to self improvement rather than blaming society or the man for one’s problems. “The block is not a job,” he critiqued.

8.5, 9.7, 9.7, 8.5, 9.0 for a total of 35.7

This concluded the first round. During the intermission, 2 Deep delivered her piece Hungry. The top scoring poets were Melanie Clay, Roscoe, Princess, and So Many Styles. They performed in order of lowest-score to highest.

So Many Styles was easier to understand this time, though he spoke incredibly quickly. He relied on end rhymes, and stressed the internal rhymes. His lines were long and syncopated.

8.5, 7.1, 8.8, 9.8, 8.5 for a total of 30.1

Princess performed next, and her piece was about how she told her parents she wanted to Slam because God gave her this gift. She makes puns out of the many meanings of slam, from doors to bullies, for “poetry is my only defense”. She sang for part of the poem, and she ended by telling how her parents “gave me a standing ovation”.

9.5, 8.7, 9, 8.5, 8.9 for a total of 33.8

Roscoe then tells of how he was proselytized after a performance one time. With “borderline blasphemy”, he tells how “The Bible may be a great place to find love and morality, but you aint got to look that far to find sacrifice.” In this beautiful, moving piece, he tells of a mother who prostitutes herself to buy food for her family, and relates this to the miracle of the bread and fish. He also talks about how Jesus cried on the cross, and relates this to the problems in the American justice system.

10, 10, 9.9, 9.8, 9.6 for a total of 37.5

Melanie performed last. She had short hair, and a lovely, Gerber Baby face. She read from a book, and she talked about working at Borders. Her whole poem culminated in eight points that she would like to make to customers. First, put things back properly. Second, don’t dump things on the floor. Third, “if you don’t know the author, title…then why the fuck are you in my face?” She ends by instructing the customers not to be assholes.

10, 10, 10, 10, 9.7 for a total of 37.8

2 Deep then performed Dead on Contact, which I love more every time I hear it. She did get a little tongue tied.

Finally, after the scores were tabulated (I don’t know what they did with the numbers), the winners were announced.

3. Princess

2. Roscoe

1. Melanie

Judging by the sharp rise in scores between rounds, score creep was quite evident. While I’m disregarding the overly small sample size of four, the scores rose notably over the course of the first round too. Finally, while my scorer was not afraid to give 5’s or 10’s, she consistently gave higher scores later in the evening.