MSC Townhall will be presenting their 4th annual “Anything but Common” slam poetry event on Saturday as part of the MSC Birthday Celebration.
Eleven poets will compete for cash prizes and audience votes in several rounds of slam poetry, each judged by randomly selected members of the audience.
Whitney Wicker, senior business major and the MSC Townhall member responsible for the event, wants to make this slam better than those in previous years.
“We have partnered up with Mic Check out of Bryan, Texas who puts on regular slams, WBAC and the MSC Birthday Celebration to make this slam bigger than any one we have done in the past,” Wicker said.
Slam poetry, a form of performance poetry that originated out of Chicago in the 1980s, consists of poetry reading competitions where ordinary people have the opportunity to perform their poetry to the public and have their work judged on a scale of zero to 10.
“The competitive form of slam is intended to be a simple game, a fun gimmick designed to bring a wider audience into the poetry scene and for communities to form around poetry,” said Bill Moran, Class of 2010 and president of Mic Check, a nonprofit that promotes poetry and art. “It is another attempt to put poetry back in the hands of ordinary people, operating under the principle that everyone has something important to say, and that you don’t need a Ph.D to create worthwhile work.”
Slam poetry has found audiences on a national and international stage at competitions such as the National Poetry Slam and the Individual World Poetry Slam, which are held annually.
“Slam poetry is a lyrical boxing match,” described former MSC Townhall member Amir Safi, Class of 2009, and a competitor in Saturday’s event.
This particular poetry slam will see competitors from all over Texas and even some from out of state.
“This event will allow students to see very talented performances from poets from the area, Houston, Austin, Killeen and even as far as Baton Rouge,” Wicker said. “There will also be Texas A&M student participants.”
In past years, the poetry slam had been held in the commons, but will now be held in the MSC.
“Our event was usually held in Studio 12 below the commons, but now that the MSC is open, we want to utilize it as much as possible,” Wicker said. “The event used to be called ‘Anything but Common in the Commons’ playing on our old location but this year we have shortened it to be the ‘Anything but Common’ poetry slam.”
Wicker said the event is an opportunity for students to see something unique.
“It is important for A&M students to come because they will have the opportunity to see and participate in a diverse event on campus,” Wicker said.
The event will be held in the Bethancourt Ballroom in the MSC at 5:30 pm this Saturday after the Crawfish Boil.