by Adia Hearns ~
The lights were dim and the poets, including myself, had just reappeared from the back room. All of the rules had been stated and reiterated, we had shaken our nerves out, and we had done the traditional WORDS chant. We were ready to slam. We had been told that there would be three rounds and since there were only five of us, we would all make it through. Our cumulative scores, which would be calculated at the end of all three rounds, would decide our ranking. The energy was electrifying–I could feel it coursing through my veins. Each of us retreated to our separate corners of the room and conversed with our friends who came out to support us, at this second slam of the season in mid-October.
WORDS is a spoken word/poetry club at Pennsylvania State University. The acronym stands for “Writers Organized to Represent Diverse Stories.” The mission of Penn State Writers Organized to Represent Diverse Stories (W.O.R.D.S.) is to create an environment that is conducive to the sharing of personal stories and experiences, and to promote the expression of those stories through creative writing. WORDS was created with the intent of banishing self in art and creating community.
Three poetry slams occur bi-weekly throughout the fall, usually from the end of September until Halloween, These slams are put on by the events manager of WORDS to select a team of spoken word poets for the annual CUPSI competition. The College Union Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI) is an annual poetry tournament put on by the Association of College Unions International (ACUI) in which four or five-person teams from different universities compete against each other. Its location changes every year. The first CUPSI tournament was organized in 2001 by Robb Thibault, it was held at the University of Michigan Ann-Harbor. CUPSI 2020 will be held in April at Virginia Commonwealth University.
The general body of WORDS supporting the CUPSI team during the competition.
While I previously stated that the energy in the room was electrifying, I also felt at home. There was nothing keeping me from expressing myself through my words. Haniel Tracy, the Events Manager for WORDS also agrees: “I’ve always loved slams! I feel as though they are a way for people to come together to see expression and also express themselves. It’s very much so a safe space for everyone to just be.” WORDS is also a space that cares about mental health. They require every poet to announce trigger warnings about sensitive topics that may be in their poem(s). They also have a cute, gigantic emotional support bear named Stanley that you can hold if the emotions get to be too much.
The five contestants at the second slam–Saphora, Gabriel, Neven, Trae, and me–covered a plethora of topics, including Islamophobia, queerphobia, racism, and depression. A key feature of spoken word tends to be the one-liners embedded within the poem. Speaking of one liners, one of the highlights from the slam to me was Trae’s poem, specifically the one-liner at the end of his poem dedicated to a one night stand. When asked the monumental question “What are we?” he replied, “We are Penn State.” The audience roared with applause and the five judges promptly held up their score cards, mostly nines and tens. Another one of my favorite lines was from Saphora. When challenged about where she is from, due to her articulate speech, she answers snarkily with a smirk, “I’m from Philly.” Saphora’s poem was just one example of how the poets that performed in the second slam used humor to tackle serious subjects in a way that made the poems and the message accessible.
Overall, I feel privileged to have performed with such talented poets and also to just have heard their poetry. Even though this was a competition, I truly felt welcomed by the other contestants. This is one of the times that the numbers truly didn’t matter. There is nothing like performing on a WORDS platform, they truly do become your biggest fans. In the words of Angeliya, the WORDS photographer and the host of the event, “I felt blessed to have been able to have been able to have and share this experience with the people I care about.”
Contestants left to right: Adia (in red), Trae, Nevin, Gabriel, and Saphora.
Adia Hearns is not only poetry editor for Klio 2019 but is also competing this fall in WORDS slams. Top poets from each slam will perform at the Grand Slam to compete for a spot on the 2020 CUPSI team. Come check out Adia and her fellow WORDS contestants at the Grand Slam, Friday, November 15, at the Cybertorium from 7-10 pm.
To keep up with WORDS news and events, visit their Facebook page.