About 70 students gathered in BU Central Tuesday night for an open mic night and slam poetry competition hosted by Speak for Yourself, a spoken word poetry group at Boston University
For one hour any student could volunteer his or her poetry. Following the open mic performances, four experienced slam poets competed in the club’s first slam poetry contest of the year.
The four poets challenged one another in a bracket-style tournament with a face-off to determine the winner, Alabi said. Three judges scored each performance on a scale of 10. The poets had three minutes and 10 seconds to “pour their souls out for random judges.”
Slam poetry is now in its seventh year at BU, said Speak for Yourself president Kemi Alabi, a College of Arts and Sciences senior. Initially it had just seven members, but now about 20 students regularly attend the club’s meetings.
The group has performed at numerous events, including at Martin Luther King, Jr. Day festivities and at this year’s First Year Student Outreach Project, Alabi said. She said she hopes the group remains open and inviting so that others receive the art.
“I want people to be inspired by us,” Alabi said. “I don’t want to seem like stuck up writers.”
The 16 open mic poets and four competitors performed to a backdrop of a murmuring and snapping crowd. The listeners supported poets who stumbled over their words with a chorus of snapping.
CAS junior Tino Bratbo performed a piece titled “F—— My Wife” to comment on the nervousness surrounding the chase of a longtime crush, he said.
Dani Galloway, also a CAS junior, said she took the chance to be at every open mic night despite not having enrolled in the club.
“This is a way to allow my soul to exist outside my body,” Galloway said. “I always spoke about my emotions, but never saw it as poetry.”
After more performances, the club selects one winner to be eligible for the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational, Alabi said. In April, California will host teams from throughout the nation in a four-day tournament.
“You can flesh out feeling about the world around you,” said Michael Bruffee, a senior in CAS. “It’s a cathartic experience.”
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