05 February 2009
Young Belarusian Poets Impress at First English Language Slam
Slam seen as a symbol of free expression
Ithaca, New York — The written word came alive as young poets from across Belarus participated in the first English Language Youth Poetry Slam in Minsk on December 10, 2008.
Writing about love and her desire one day to have children, Kate Nuprejchik, an English teacher, won the Grand Finale special prize. “Love is something very magical,” Nuprejchik said. It’s also the subject of her poem, Comes and Leaves, about a one-sided love, which she wrote when she was a teenager.
“The years have passed more than ten/No need to cry — he’ll come again. And nothing’s left for her but wait/To open him her wide soul-gate,” she wrote in the poem.
For Nuprejchik, performing the work was a new experience. “The poetry slam was really something very exciting and thrilling. I’ve never participated in such a competition. It was full of interesting and unknown emotions,” she said. And although it was a competition, Nuprejchik felt comfortable getting up in front of the hundred or so audience members who had gathered to hear 42 poets perform their work. “It was carried out in the spirit of partnership and cooperation,” she said.
VISITING POET IMPRESSED BY PERFORMANCES
The poetry slam is seen as a symbol of free expression, and was held at the American Embassy in Minsk in honor of International Human Rights Day.
“Such a slam gives voice to students, who seldom if ever are given a stage in Belarus, and a place in which they can freely express their concerns, fears, issues, and ideas,” said Caroline Savage, vice consul for the embassy. “Holding this event on International Human Rights Day was the perfect forum to showcase the significance of participants and their poems.”
The slam was part of a seven-day poetry program by Nebraskan poet Matthew Mason. During his trip to Belarus, he visited libraries and universities, speaking about contemporary American poetry.
Mason, who performs his poetry in the United States, was impressed by the slam performances. The participants “were reading in English, which is not their native language. I can’t even imagine writing a poem in another language, much less performing a poem in another language,” Mason said. “They performed better than any group I’ve ever seen for a first-time poetry slam. They had movements, they read them expressively — used their faces, their voices, their hands. It was so much fun to see it.”
FREEDOM TO SLAM
According to Poetry Inc., slam poetry’s governing body and host of the National Poetry Slam, Marc Smith pioneered the first slam poetry reading at a Chicago jazz club in 1984. He was looking for a way to give some new life to an open-microphone night. Two years later, Smith started a weekly poetry competition at another Chicago jazz club. (See "Poetry Slams Rock Literary World.")
In a slam competition, participants perform for a set amount of time, usually three minutes. A panel of judges scores the performances.
The judges give the official scores, but they aren’t the only ones who weigh in on a performance. Slam poetry is designed to elicit a response from audience members, who are encouraged to let the poet know whether they like the poem by snapping their fingers, stomping their feet or calling out. It is the freedom to express, both for the poet and the audience, and changes the way a poet approaches the writing process.
“It encourages poets to realize the audience is important,” Mason said. “It matters what we read and how we read it.”
Though slam’s roots lie in Chicago jazz clubs, it has spread throughout the globe. Belarus, with its appreciation of poetry, was a logical choice for a slam poetry competition. “There is a strong history in this region, particularly the newly independent states, of love and esteem for poetry,” Savage said.
Poems submitted for the competition can be found on the Web site of the U.S. Embassy in Minsk.
