SLAM

The Resurgence of Orality through Spoken Word

Poetry
by Dillon Stambaugh
JOUR 370 - News II: Advanced Journalism
Fall 2015

Empire Street

Without access to a basket there is no Jordan or Chamberlain

Without access to a pencil there is no Tupac or Chomsky
Without access to pain there is no growth and we are stagnant
Without love, we are merely flesh with distant eyes

Its fall in New England. Somewhere, miles from Empire Street, leaves transform
from luscious greens to crispy browns and the sun dips behind the jagged cliffs of
Jamestown and the wanna-be skyscrapers of Providence earlier each day. But when the
sun sets in the largest city of the smallest state, there is nothing left to illuminate the
stained glass of AS220 but darting flashes of blue and red. The echo of passing
conversation and womens heels on cracked pavement gives way to the crescendo of
crime. It is fall in New England, and Providences poets are competing with sirens for a
chance to be heard.
It feels like lately in poetry and music and art and life
Love has been given such a bad reputation
Through its immeasurable expectations
Its shattering heartbreak and resentment for that motherfucker that cheated on you
Its been synonymous with fairy tale notebook-like corniness, and should-haves, and Whatcould-haves, split halves, tragic endings and failed mending

Jesse Ramos is an outsider in a community of outsiders. The 23-year-old stands

alone near the bar of AS220, Providences premiere poetry slam venue, donning a tight
thrift shop T-shirt and even tighter skinny jeans. Hes 6-foot-4, yet he feels invisible. The
seemingly unwashed hair that he buns haphazardly doesnt turn heads like it did when
he was in college. However, Jesse isnt a minority. There are no minorities at AS220.
Jesse is white, but the seedy downtown poetry community does not judge race. They
judge character, regardless of skin color, background or gender identity. Behind the bar
is a black man with a storybook of tattoos crawling up his neck, ending before a trimmed
beard. At an adjacent hightop, two tan women in clashing flesh-toned clogs and
matching septum piercings chat about racial injustice on college campuses. The seedy
downtown bar more closely resembles a hipster coalition of United Nations
representatives than a Thursday night poetry crowd. Jesse doesnt belong to a nation.
And we're so terrified of conversing about it, like it's a ghost story
Or masturbating, or shitting in public stalls
Or at the off chance that we come off as vulnerable or sappy or soft, or human
How horrifying, to be a human
And Ive been scared as hell to touch this topic that touches back like venus fly traps
But the longer I wait, the longer hate keeps scoring on my basket
The longer I wait, the less I will be able to say

Every first Thursday of the month, AS220 holds an all-ages poetry slam. Jesses
name is on the list, scribbled in barely-legible pencil. He moves from the venues
restaurant area through the threshold of a wood-framed door and sits in a black
spraypainted folding chair. There are 100 chairs in the dimly lit performance room and,
one by one, an eclectic group of audience members, staff and poets fill the room. Jesse
clutches a Mead Black Marble composition book littered with an array of
indistinguishable drawings, rap lyrics and poems. A week later, he would lose the book.
I dont think we can give up on love just yet
When I was 6 I had this dream that my kindergarten teacher came to my birthday party
And kissed me on my Cheetoh covered cheeks and I thought about it for weeks
And I knew from that point I would be a hopeless, helpless fuck of a romantic, as I fell in love
With any woman, anything that breathed in my direction, planning our futures
Down to our wedding song playlists and looks of validation

This place is packed, Jesse observes. Shit, man.

All he can do is wait. He is performing fourth, following an open mic round of
poets, comedians, hip-hop artists and a feature reading by Individual World Poetry
Slam placewinner and Providence native Marshall Gripp Gillson.
Hes going to be nuts.
And ever since it has spread through me like the most beautifully unwavering disease, causing
Me suffering and reddening of the cheeks and throats coated in lumps and shakiness of the
knees Quivering of the lips and dryness of the mouth
Love has existed before existence
Was a word before moon shoes and bread and Jesus
Dinosaurs fucked, why does nobody talk about that its crazy

Jesse squirms slightly in his seat, often contorting his long neck to better analyze
the local art covering nearly all of the chipped white wallpaper at 115 Empire Street.
Sturdy support beams are spray painted the black of his char but speckled with juvenile,
yet enchanting gold glitter. Set in front of the red curtain backdrop on the makeshift
stage is a novice comedian. Jesse lets out small, obligatory laughs. An hour has passed
since he signed his name to the list.
The comedian ends his act mimicking a previous rap artist. He sings in jest, Im
the realist nigga alive! Silence. Uncomfortable, eerie, leaky silence, followed by boos of
disgust. Emcee Franny Choi read the AS220 Community Values prior to the event. The
comedian violated most all of them.
Love, is the way our bodies strangely fit together when we sleep at night making this bizarre
Anamorphic figure with enough limbs to pick six mangos at once
2

Love, is the way my cousin Derek looks at his two children with eyes I had never seen in his
Previous 19 years of him being alive
That would engorge an entire beehive to keep them from being stung
Love is when in 5th grade she asked me to be her reading partner, and the butterflies turned
Into every chicken nugget I ever ate and hurled themselves out of me back into their dinosaur
shapes

I feel sick, said Jesse, curling over his boney, shaking knees. His head shook
back and forth. He just moved to Providence, yet even as an outsider to the inherently
open, yet complexly exclusive ASS20 family, he knew this was wrong. I gotta get some
air.
Jesse reentered gripping a can of Narragansett beer during the end of Marshall
Gilsons set. He snapped along to the three poets performances before his, denouncing
patriarchy, racism and rape culture. Its his turn now, and he barely touched his beer.
Jesse walks with gangly strides down the narrow aisles. He takes the stage. His marble
notebook shakes noticeably, trying to jump into the crowd. He takes hold of the mic.
Love is when seas of people line city streets and scream I cant breathe
Its middle fingers extended stiffly towards the patriarchy
Its the way the man at Dunkin Donuts called my mother honey
In an unassuming non intrusive heart consuming pitch that made her feel at home
Its the way you buried the needle in dirt instead of your skin
For me, its recovery

Hey, whats up guys? Im Jesse Ramos.

Poetic Revival

Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.

Carl Sandburg
During the last few decades, slam poetry or spoken word poetry has seen a
resurgence in popularity. Social media and online video sharing has increased interest of
the poetic genre in the United States and around the world. Slam poetrys democratic
nature has helped shape the discourse as inclusive, rather than scholarly and exclusive.
The competitive aspect of poetry slams has driven in crowds. For the five years HBO ran
Def Poetry Jam, spoken word entered the homes of millions, effectively advertising the
genre as not only a form of poetry, but a vehicle for social activism and change.
The newfound popularity of spoken word poetry and the ever-increasing
establishment of poetry slam venues across the country is a product of cohesion
numerous factors working together in a poetic symbiosis to promote an art form. And
while these entities are separate, they share one specific, uniting characteristic: voice.
3

Spoken word poetry gives a voice to the voiceless. Poetry slams allow for artists to
speak their truths in a democratic setting, allowing audience feedback in the form of
snaps or stomps, applause or boos. It is a breeding ground for social activists who use
poetry as a form of protest. And while slams began years before HBOs Def Poetry Jam,
hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons television series that ran from 2002-2007 provided a
national platform for both established and up-and-coming poets to address pertinent
issues through the vehicle of spoken word.
Def Poetry Jam, hosted by rapper Mos Def and produced by Simmons, was not a
competition. There was no scoring, as would be evident in a poetry slam, but rather a
simple assimilation of poets and rappers combining to share ideas with an audience
and, at home, a constituency. Many of the poems were politically charged. Racial
injustice, poverty and crime, all with the underlying desire for change, were typical
themes tackled in an episode.
Simmons show also demonstrated the hip-hop roots that helped shape the
genre. The same use of alliteration, consonance, repetition and other literary techniques
are evident in both rap and spoken poetry. The main differences are tempo, background
accompaniment and voice inflection. Both genres evolved out of the concept of being
heard and conveying a message, and Def Poetry Jam paired the extremely popular genre
of hip-hop music with the growing art of spoken word poetry. Ultimately, by marrying
the two genres and fusing them into one show broadcasted to millions of families
experiencing the same human conditions, spoken word poetry experienced a resurgence
that is continuing to date.
Spoken word is not for the scholar. While many slam poets have went on to earn
doctorates and garnered other distinguishing accolades, what drives poetry slams is the
aurora of democracy and openness that illuminates venues. Anyone can participate and
contribute. Spoken word scholar and poet Susan Somers-Willett writes, Although a
good number of slam poets have gone on to achieve academic credentials and
institutional praise, many competing slam poets and their audiences have claimed their
independence from such institutions, figuring themselves as populist underdogs
countering the cultural hegemony of the literary canon and academic practices.
The social media sharing network has similarly contributed to spoken word
popularity. YouTube channels have shopped around videos of highly-regarded spoken
word poets performing at the national level. Button Poetry, the most popular spoken
word channel, has 425,470 subscribers. Its most popular poem, OCD performed by
Neil Hilborn, has been viewed over 10 million times in two years. The Minnesota
organizations mission, according to their website, is to develop a coherent and effective
system of production, distribution and fundraising for performance poetry. We seek to
showcase the power and diversity of voices in our community. By encouraging and
broadcasting the best and brightest performance poets of today, we hope to broaden
poetrys audience, to expand its reach and develop a greater level of cultural
appreciation for the art form. Button Poetrys reach is growing with intensity and a

curiosity from outside of the discourse. It is making poetry relevant for the youth, who
have shied away from Whitman and Poe in high school English courses. The poetic
subgenre is now a multi-media, performance based art form targeting not only social
issues, but also appealing to the young minds of the nation.
Surpassing the Ear

The air is an organic farm

for the practitioners of Paradise.
Vincent Ferrini (The Theory of Poetry)
Deriving from the Greek word poiein meaning to make, create or compose, a
poem can be defined as a piece of writing that partakes of the nature of both speech and
song that is nearly always rhythmical, usually metaphorical, and often exhibits such
formal elements as meter, rhyme, and stanzaic structure. All poems are based on
pattern. The literary techniques of meter and rhyme were often used by ancient cultures
as cognitive devices to remember the following lines of a poem. By implementing such
structure, poetic fables of oral nations were able to transcend generations.
Poetry predates literacy. Prior to Homers theories of rhetoric, Shakespeares
lyrical sonnets and Frosts diverging roads, Western oral cultures of the Before Christ
Era applied the art form as a means of storytelling, governing and recording oral history.
However, the genre was not definitively established until Aristotles Poetics.
The rise of literacy in ancient cultures yielded a focus on literary theory. Poetry
was no longer an exclusively oral genre it could be written and analyzed. In Poetics
(c. 335 BCE), the celebrated Greek philosopher narrows a previously all-encompassing
genre of poetry. Hymns and songs of pre-literate cultures the genres Ground Zero
could be defined using Aristotles three sub-genres: dramatic poetry, lyric poetry and
epic poetry. The triad differs extensively from contemporary poetry and the
contemporary understanding of poetry. In accordance to Aristotles theory, Sophocles
Oedipus the King, modernly understood as a play, is an example of dramatic poetry.
Homers The Odyssey characterizes epic poetry. It is lyric poetry, however, that has
outlasted its counterparts and manifested into the closest concept of contemporary
poetry.
Poetry, in essence, is reliant on pattern. Ancient lyric poetry relied on the
accompaniment of music, usually from a lyre an archaic Greek string instrument
for rhythmic pattern. Unlike dramatic and epic poetry, oral recitation in lyric poetry is
vital. The written word has a symbiotic relationship with the accompanying melody.
Without one, the poems theme can not be conveyed successfully. This sub-genre was
similarly popular in Rome and Asia in the Aristotelian era, with highly regarded poets
Catullus and Qu Yuan, respectively, composing and reciting classical lyric poetry.

At this time, poetry was indifferent to mediums it existed as prose in epic

poetry, was recited in acts of Greek drama and was performed with an accompanying
tune is amphitheatres. The written word was cherished, but without a means of mass
reproduction, oral poetry flourished unintrusively. It did so for centuries following the
Greeks and Romans. Medieval lyric poetry thrived in the form of Persian ghazals. In the
14th century, Petrarch began formatting the first sonnets. Poetrys oral medium was
alive and well, breathing rhythm and feeding off the advancements in literacy that is,
until Johannes Gutenbergs monumental and destructive invention.
In 1439, Gutenberg, a German blacksmith, improved upon the printing press by
invented movable type and, singlehandedly revolutionized mass communication. Text
could be printed, bound into books, and shipped across the world, inevitably
compromising the oral medium of poetry. With this shift, poets began writing to be
read, rather than heard. The eye had surpassed the ear, ultimately creating a longlasting contemporary stigma that poetry is strictly a written art.
Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) lived through the birth of competitive poetry.
And while not a poet, the Canadian philosopher and communications theorists ideology
is directly applicable to the rise of spoken word poetry. McLuhan theorized, The
medium is the message. The basic five-word theory explains how the vehicle through
which art or literature is conveyed ultimately connotates the message. With respect to
McLuhan, written poetry and spoken word poetry carry a similar weight and are equally
purposeful, but the artists choice of how to present the material determines the
resonation it will have. Poems received visually have a different effect and, according to
McLuhan, a different message than those received auditorily.
The printing press had a profound, contradictory effect on the poetry. It provided
a platform for poets to share their work while concurrently annihilating half of the
genres medium. From the 14th century to the 17th century, Renaissance poets like
Shakespeare arguably contributed more in defining and narrowing the genre than
Aristotle. Petrarch and Shakespeare, benefiting from the press, invented and shared a
sonnetic system for writing poetry. Using stressed and unstressed beats, strict syllable
counts and a consistent rhyme scheme, sonnets were formal lyric poems born out of
Aristotles subgenre. While form poetry was prevalent in ghazals a lyric poem with a
fixed number of verses and a repeated rhyme, typically on the theme of love and other
Western styles, Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnets redefined societys aesthetic and
literary concepts of a poem.
Below is a Petrarchan sonnet written by poet English William Wordsworth. The strict
rhyme scheme is denoted parenthetically by letters at the end of each line:

London, 1802

MILTON! thou shouldst be living at this hour: (a)

England hath need of thee: she is a fen (b)
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, (b)
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, (a)
Have forfeited their ancient English dower (a)
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; (b)
O raise us up, return to us again, (b)
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power! (a)
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart; (c)
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: (d)
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, (d)
So didst thou travel on life's common way, (e)
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart (c)
The lowliest duties on herself did lay. (e)
Poetry remained a primarily written art form from the Renaissance throughout
the American periods of transcendentalism and realism, engulfing a period of over 500
years. Oration was not lost, but merely an afterthought to poets like Emily Dickinson,
who almost never left her home. Poetry scholars would spend hours deciphering the
voice of celebrated poets that they could not physically hear. Thus was born the
distinction between poetic voice and the voice of the poet. It was not truly until the
1950s, some thousands of years since oral cultures used poetry as a means of storytelling
and Aristotle penned Poetics that poetry regained its voice.
From Homer to Howl

The weight of the world is love. Under the burden of solitude, under the burden of
dissatisfaction.
Allen Ginsberg
They are referred to as the Beat Poets. Can you hear them howling social
activism, snapping to the beat? It is referred to as the Beat Movement. Can you feel
them? Brave, anarchic, resurrecting an eclectic group of poets, outcasts and druggies
that revitalized poetrys oral tradition.
The Beat Generation blossomed out of dissent. Renowned author-poet Jack
Kerouac coined the phrase and is largely responsible for heading the movement, along
with Columbia University classmates Allen Ginsberg and Lucien Carr. Beat poets
snapped to the rhythm of their poem, sometimes shouting verses, but usually calmly
reciting them. Regardless of tone, they were radical. They were obscene. They spoke
their truths, tackling themes of human condition and materialism, loud, rhythmically

and unapologetically. And they understood that poetry can be used as a vehicle not only
for self expression, but to challenge authority.
As the movement grew, its poets needed somewhere to perform. It was not
enough to challenge mainstream culture. It had to be barked at. If someone reads a
poem, they pick it up and put it down. But to hear it that is an experience that
resonates and excites. Beat poets sprung up wherever there was dissent but most
notably in New York City and San Francisco. They performed at seedy, underground
bars, coffee shops and in the streets and to anyone who would listen. In the mind of a
beat poet, it was time for the ear to surpass the eye.
If Kerouac is credited with spearheading the movement, Ginsbergs face would be
on the fliers. His radical compilation of poems titled Howl was the centerpiece of
California v. Ferlinghetti, an obscenity trial brought about after Ginsbergs publisher,
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, was jailed for selling Howl at his San Francisco bookstore. The
collection of poems contested government control explored themes of drug abuse,
homosexuality and mental illness.
Excerpts from Howl (1956):
who bit detectives in the night and shrieked with delight in policecars for committing
no crime but their own wild cooking pedastry and intoxication,
who howled on their knees in the subway and were dragged off the roof waving genital
and manuscripts,
who let themselves be fucked in the ass by saintly motorcyclists, and screamed with joy

who copulated ecstatic and insatiate with a bottle of beer a sweetheart a package of
cigarettes a candle and fell off the bed, and continued along the floor and down
the hall and ended fainting on the wall with a vision of ultimate cunt and come
eluding the last gyzym of consciousness

Before its publication, Ginsberg recited illustrative poetry throughout San

Francisco, snapping to the rhythm of night and delight with an erect poignancy. He
married masterful diction with social activism and public comment. His writings were
nearly journalistic the media serves as an unofficial fourth branch of the government,
acting as a watchdog for the people. The Court, which views prior restraint as an
intolerable injustice in accordance with the First Amendment, sided with Ginsberg and
Ferlinghetti, deeming his poetic collection of social importance. Although Ginsberg
was afforded protection due to the First Amendments freedom of speech clause, the
political undertones of Howl equally lend themselves to protection under freedom of the
press.

Ginsberg and his accompanying beatniks revolutionized poetic culture. Sharp yet
eloquent, untamed yet poignant, this generation of poets gave way to a new medium
that is now commonplace in the poetic genre: slam poetry.
Nuts & Bolts

Poetry is one of the most fugitive arts: it can be assigned to memory, taken and hidden
in the mind, smuggled into smoky cabin back rooms, recited there and then conveyed
only by speech to another person.
Eavan Boland
It usually starts something like this: A sign-up sheet is taped crookedly to the
venues door. Eight, 10, 12 poets illegibly sign their names, entering the competition. Six
random audience members are given scorecards. Each poet performs original work for
no more than three minutes without props, gimmicks or distractions just verse.
The random judges award a score from 1-10, the lowest and highest scores are dropped,
and a few advance to a second round. The cycle continues, and a winner is declared.
Shallow knowledge and a Wikipedia search would define a poetry slam as
competitive poetry. And, in essence, that is correct. However, the literary competition of
spoken word is far more than a ranking of poets and poems. It is not about crowning a
champion. Marc Kelly Smith, a Ginsberg or Kerouac in his own right, is credited with
establishing the slam movement at Chicagos Get Me High Lounge in 1984. In the slam
poets joint novel with Joe Kraynak Take the Mic: The Art of Performance Poetry, Slam,
and the Spoken Word, Smith outlines the five things [that] are clear about slam
poetry, no matter what hilltop youre crying from:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Slam is poetry
Slam is performed
Slam is competitive
Slam is interactive
Slam is community
Ginsberg and Smith may rest atop different hilltops in different generations, but
their work howls and cries nonetheless.
Poetry slams, embedded in the roots of the Beat Movement, are typically held
anywhere and everywhere. Somewhere in a Louisiana laundromat a poet is using his
three minutes to outline modern de facto segregation with Jim Crow allusions. In
Minnesota, a mother is being scored by a random audience member inside a summer
camps dining hall. In every corner of the nation, Smiths poetry slams are used to give a
voice to the voiceless, build a sense of community and repel the poetry stigma he
believes schools are responsible for creating.

Six years after the Get Me High Lounge slam movement in 1984, poetry found its
way back to the beatniks. In 1990, The first National Poetry Slam (NPS) was held in San
Francisco, the same city where Ginsberg first recited Howl and down the street from
Ferlinghettis City Lights Publishing House. The event was held in accordance with the
Third Annual Poetry Festival, and poets from Smiths hometown of Chicago and all over
the country flocked to compete in the first ever national event. Since growing in
popularity and trending on YouTube through subscription accounts like Button Poetry,
slams have since become a worldwide phenomenon. The Individual World Poetry Slam
(iWPS), held annually in October, features highly-regarded spoken word performers
from North America and across the globe.
What drives competitive spoken word poetry and differentiates it from written
prose or simple recitation is the weight performance carries. Smith writes, Slammers
strive to invigorate poetry by giving as much weight (sometimes more) to the
performance as they gave to the text when they wrote it. While accurate, different slams
have different standards for judging poets. Often, judges are told to calculate their score
based 60 percent on content, 40 percent on performance, thus highlighting the
importance of poetrys oral nature. While the Beatniks recited their socially and
politically charged poems, the emphasis remained on content. Ginsbergs poems were
not the center of an obscenity trial for his hand gestures and tonal inflections. By
promoting performance, the poetry slam movement expanded the genre of poetry from
the intellectually elite to anyone with a message and a voice.
Beat poetry encapsulates only two of Smiths five slam tenants: slam is poetry,
slam is performed. However, the element of competition in literature is an entirely new
concept. While Ginsberg may have been competing against other poets for recognition
(or ultimate notoriety, or the love of his mentor Kerouac), squaring off poets in a
tournament-style format is an innovation never-before-seen in the realm of literature.
Smith writes, Competition may not be the core aesthetic of the slam movement, but it
has been a major factor in its success. Its what draws a great many poets and
performers to it. After all, competition is basic to the human spirit and an integral part
of our daily lives and history. It identifies ability and celebrates achievement. Its
exciting to participate in and fun to watch. He identifies the competitive nature of slam
poetry as responsible for revitalizing an exclusive and stigmatized genre. Poets no longer
have to submit to eminent literary publications and reviews to be celebrated. They can
be heard and championed in a Louisiana laundromat.

The Voice

10

Poetry, even when apparently most fantastic, is always a revolt against artifice, a
revolt, in a sense, against actuality.
-

James Joyce
Jesse Ramos is the poster child for the inexplicably human. He is timid but
confident. Some days he is happy, embracing life and valuing the crisp New England air
he has breathed since birth. Other days he is cluttered and stumbling, introverted and
afraid. Jesse is lost, but he has direction. He is human.
The product of vagabonds who took to living off the Earth as a means of
simplicity, Jesse has a unique view of the world. His father spent a vast majority of his
life living isolated in a tent in Arizona. His mother was born in Washington. Constantly
uprooted, she traveled across the country seeking shelter underneath the oak and
sycamore. She made her way to Arizona, where she met Jesses father. The nomads
finally settled in Rhode Island, where Jesses father founded an organic farm in Jesses
hometown of Bristol. His mother, also a farmer, is currently in school with hopes to
become a social worker. And although the product of nomads, Jesse has found his
grounding. With poetry, he is stable. He no longer wanders.
My parents dedicated themselves to an outsider life, Jesse says. Theyve always
tried to live natural and live free. I was always envious of that. Its helped me find myself
and create with personal freedom. They are both compassionate people and instilled in
me that I need to treat people well and not be a dick. We always try to fight against what
is wrong as much as we can.
Jesse began creating early in high school, inspired by the selflessness of his
family. He always had a fascination with words and rhymes. Before attending his
hometowns Roger Williams University, he would write rap lyrics on loose-leaf paper.
He was infatuated with 90s hip-hop. Nas album Illmatic was just poetry with a beat,
and Andre 3000s lyricism was second-to-none. He wanted desperately to be a musician
and produce rap music but was discouraged because he could not learn to play an
instrument. He then connected the undeniable dots between hip-hop and poetry, as
demonstrated on Def Poetry Jam. After further exposure to poetry, he realized the
literary merit of hip-hop. He could shorten the songs he was writing, focus the content
and still convey his message through performance poetry.
The Roger Williams University semesterly poetry slam will always have a soft
spot in Jesses heart. He came to RWU alone, unsure if he would be accepted. After
involvement with the slam his freshman year, he was asked by Slam Director Karen
Bilotti to take over responsibility as the events emcee. Jesse hosted for three years six
poetry slams and attracted crowds of over 300 to the event. He would perform at
intermission and crack jokes between contestants poems. He was the face of the slam,
and it was out of the poetry slam that he found a second family.

11

After high school I definitely felt like I was in search of a new community. I had a
lot of things I wanted to say, and I wanted to hear other people. I wanted a community
that wanted to make change.
And it is change that drives the poet.
Ive always wanted to convey social issues and social justice issues. Just trying to
write for voiceless communities, the inferior people, the underdog and the underserved
populations.
When Jesse speaks, it is poetic. His calm demeanor is smooth and convincing.
When he denounces patriarchy and capitalism in conversation its as if anyone in favor
lacks sanity, but there is no condescension in his voice just passion. His poetry
reflects deeply-held, heartfelt beliefs, cultivated from Arizona tents and the tall trees of
Washington.
Im just trying to fight through my words, he says of his content, to bring
justice to the communities that arent getting any. Just trying to fight the bullies of
society.
His subject matter, while personal to him, is typical of the poetry slam
movement. It is what clearly differentiates written, scholarly poetry from spoken word
poetry. His poems are fueled by injustice. His voice is loud, clear and intentional.
However, there are poets like Jesse spread throughout his distraught new home of
Providence he is just a part of the movement. His voice is part of a New England choir
preaching change. His instrument is his voice. His audience is the nation.
While Jesse is motivated by enlightening his audience on the necessity of change,
the outlet of spoken word poetry has, in turn, transformed him.
I used to consider myself very, very shy and insecure. I wasnt very confident,
but I just wanted to give [poetry slam] a shot and feel empowered.
Its been lifesaving for me, really, Jesse says. [Spoken word] has made me
accept myself more and work on myself. Hearing people with relatable poems and
finding pieces of those poems inside me made me realize I had a lot of growing to do,
and I still do. But by accepting peoples words and my own words, Ill become the
individual I want to be through the passion of learning.
Jesse views performance poetry as a form of therapy. Standing in front of a crowd
and speaking personal truths is powerful and rewarding.
Slam poetry brings that adrenaline rush. Whether its in front of five people or a
huge audience or your mirror, you are completely vulnerable. Everyone is just quiet and
listening. Theres not that many forms in life where you can be so honest and so
yourself.
Jesse describes the experience of slamming as a complete anxiety attack
combined with the reward of finishing a marathon. Its reenergizing, and makes him feel
like a new person afterwards. Now, Jesse encourages others to embrace the
accompanying vulnerability and try on the life vest of poetry.

12

Its great for people who feel insecure or quiet and want their voice heard but
dont know how to do it. It helps you blossom.
Between his job as a teachers aid for students with learning disabilities,
attending slams at AS220 and performing poetry and hip-hop at other venues, Jesse
returns frequently to his alma mater to conduct workshops for the poetry slam
contestants. It is his hope that by returning he can influence the students of RWU and
help them grow as poets and, most importantly to him, as people.
I feel some sort of duty inside me to speak up. I really want to do my best to offer
a helping hand and, if its through my words, thats the best way to scratch the surface
for people who may not know about these things.
Jesses poetry tackles a variety of complex, deep-rooted societal evils with a very
basic, human approach. His poems are not overly wordy. He uses relatable diction that
services his audiences understanding. Common themes in his work are the ills of rape
culture, racism, poverty, capitalism and patriarchy. Regardless of subject matter, Jesse
approaches a topic the same way with love. He is a proponent of unwavering equality
through compassion and finds it disgusting and inexplicable the way some members of
society are treated and ostracized.
I want to takedown a lot of stereotypes, he says, that are dismissed in a culture
where men perpetrate bad things towards women and where the people in authority do
the same thing to people they think are inferior.

The Text

A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a

lovesickness.
Robert Frost
Poetry as written text is not typically interactive. It is exclusive and, while it yields
imaginative thinking and critical analysis, it is written most often for a singular
audience. Slam poetry, however, is theatrical. It is interactive and begins as such from
the first moment when a judge is selected randomly. A common citizen, maybe on
Friday-night date, maybe with nothing better to do, is immersed in the production with
a scorecard and a pen. Even those who were not selected as judges heavily influence the
event. Audience members are encouraged to snap during a performance (as the beatniks
did) when feeling inspired. They are encouraged to cry out in agreeance with subject
matter or jeer in disapproval. Somers-Willet, author of The Cultural Politics of Poetry:
Race, Identity, and Performance of Popular Verse in America identifies the theatrical
aspects of poetry that influence ones experience of a slam poem as vocal dynamics,
physical dynamics, appearance, setting, [and] hoots and hollers from the audience

13

itself. It is out of the setting of hoots and hollers that slam poetry venues promote
interaction and build a sense of togetherness.
[Poetry] creates a sense of community immediately, says Rick Benjamin, Poet
Laureate of Rhode Island. Benjamin, a professor at Brown University who splits time in
his native New England with his new home of Santa Barbara, Calif., appreciates the
teachings and bonds that are formed out of poetry. His three college-aged children, a
daughter and two sons, are infatuated with the genre. Benjamin has been published in
literary magazines across the country and delivered the inaugural poem for
controversial Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo in January of 2015. And, unlike
some of his intellectually elite colleagues, he says, values spoken word poetry.
Im not a spoken word poet, he says, but I say every poem. I speak them all. Its
important. Homer wandered from city to city and claimed to be the city poet. And
people followed him around. He wasnt an academic, he was vagabond. They would
follow him because he would spontaneously speak poems. There was a tradition of
wandering poets, and it doesnt get any more bad-ass than that people just wanting to
hear you.
Benjamin, a fellow of the New Urban Arts program in Providence, R.I. an
organization promoting artist-student mentorship explains that Homer, Aristotle and
the like were the original slam poets.
But what makes a good spoken word poem?
I like all poetry, honestly, says Benjamin. But Im often struck by the agility of
the delivery [of spoken word poems]. Fast all by itself isnt worth it. You need fast and
deep, and its hard to go deep if youre going too fast.
He references work of late African American scholars as examples of poignant
recitation. Lucile Cliftons rich voice inflection is incredible. And Toni Morrison, she
used to cry in her readings. Thats how visceral her characters were.
In comparison to the new wave of spoken word poets, Benjamin is a
traditionalist. He gained fame through publication, not proclamation. But as a
professor, the State Poet understands the importance of poetrys oral nature as it relates
to reaching an audience.
It is easier to reach someone through recitation than text, he says. Benjamin
recognizes that all students have different learning styles. However, at every event he
speaks at, seminar he attends or classroom he conducts, he begins by reciting poetry.
The art of performance and oration is critical in conveying poetic messages.
Benjamin was raised in Los Angeles public schools and was a self-described
horrible student and wanna-be underachieving bad-ass. His introduction to poetry was
born out of love, but in an entirely different love that Jesse speaks of in his poetry.
Benjamin, an undersized, disinterested youth approached poetry with severe distaste.
His seventh grade English teacher, however, was gorgeous a young woman with
model qualities that somehow found herself in one of the most diverse school systems in
one of the nations largest cities. As a means to impress her, he plopped a poem

14

assignment onto her desk after class one day. He made sure his classmates had left, as to
not embarrass himself. As most recently pubescent children are, he was concerned more
about what his peers would think of poetry rather than the value of academics.
She was constantly talking about how she loved poetry, he says, but I was
trying to keep [my writing] a secret.
A few weeks later, Benjamin had his first poem published in the since
discontinued Scholastica Literary Journal. It was a monumental event that would shape
the rest of his life, career and family.
[My teacher] came in and told everyone Ricky had a poem published. It was an
excruciating moment of humility. The secret was out. Benjamin sat huddled in his desk
with hands shielding his face. It was the most humiliating and rewarding moment of his
life.
It was good to have that experience early, he says. Later, I understood it was a
way for me to see clearly in thinking. The medium offers clarity.
Benjamin has grown considerably since the days of Los Angeles public schools
and remedial English classes. His writing process has similarly grown, as well. Every
poet approaches a poem differently. Benjamins routine differs immensely from Jesses
process because they are two different people, but also because their work is conveyed in
different mediums. Poets who write mainly to be read delve deep into revision,
understanding that each written word will be carefully dissected on the page. Poets who
write mainly to be heard usually approach the writing process conversationally. On the
page, a spoken word poem will have contractions, conjunctions and often read as an
informal dialogue. Both types of poets are concerned about voice but utilize different
conventions to make sure their voice comes across through their work.
Benjamins writing and revision process is rigorous and particular. For the
renowned poet, the process is almost divine. For me, writing is very fluid and I try to
keep it that way. Its not unlike my spiritual practice. I do not enter any piece of writing
without a sense of thinking. I want to follow, and I dont want anything to stop me. I
have to cultivate a non-judgmental attitude. I cant think its any good and I cant think
its too good. Any thought of judgement or salutation will stop the thread. With this
approach, Benjamin writes three to four poems a week. Before mastering his craft and
developing the non-judgmental attitude conducive for his writing, he would only write
three to four poems in a month.
There are distinct differences among the genres of written and oral poetry. Even
with those differences as a scholar who values the art form and all its sub-genres,
Benjamin frequently attends slams to study the developing spoken word culture.
I love going to spoken word events, he says. He encourages his students, the
audience members at his shows, his children and the elderly citizens of Providence that
he Skypes to use poetry a tool to revitalize life to find their voice, whether it be through
his preferred medium or spoken word poetry. He confesses, Sometimes I prefer hearing

15

poetry than reading poetry. But I feel bad for the people who cant hear the voice inside
their own heads.
John S. Hall, graduate of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and front man
for the versatile band King Missile, is a poet like Benjamin. He is not a professor at
Brown, he is not the state poet of neighboring Massachusetts, but simply a regarded
poet. In the poetry sphere, all poets are colleagues, building off each other and
continuously harnessing the craft. John S. Hall also shares similarities with Jesse. The
two are poets but similarly perform music and poetry, intertwining the two in shows
across the country. However, Hall, who appeared on Def Poetry Jam, actively combats
the poetry slam movement. His performance on HBO was not a spoken word poem but
rather a rant, and he claims to be the only poet on the show who did not slam. His views
on the establishment of slam are critical, denouncing the ideology and purpose of
competitive poetry. Hes similarly found that in diverse places, like his home of New
York City, the democracy of slam is infected. For non-whites like Hall, there is an
intimidation factor and an underlying segregation that deters similar poets from
competing.
In a 2005 interview by Cristian OKeefe Aptowicz, author of Words in Your Face:
A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam, Hall spoken
candidly about the ills of poetry slams. He equated poetry slams to sporting events,
explaining that the reason many people get into poetry is because it is the antithesis of
sports. To Hall, slams lacked stylistic diversity and promoted a macho, puffed-chest type
of poetry that was harmful to the genre. His views directly combat those of Jesse. While
Jesse nearly founded the RWU poetry slam and spends time traveling from Providence
to Bristol to head workshops for his protgs, Hall believes the implementation of slams
in schools will alienate the shy, closed-journal type of writers by appealing to those who
are naturally outgoing and popular.
Hall, however, admits that his views of poetry slam have changed some since he
initially spoke out. His near change of heart is reflective of the momentum competitive
poetry has gained in the ten years since he was quoted in Aptowiczs book.
I guess all I'm saying is, [slam poetry] is what it is, Hall said. It's one kind of
poetry, and it's legitimate, and if you like it, that's fine. I don't particularly care for it is
all. I'm no longer against it.
However, some of his initial critiques are still apparent a decade later.
If you like slam poetry, you're going to say that the environment creates good
poetry, even if you may also acknowledge that it tends to encourage a handful of styles.
That it's not as artistically diverse as, say, written poetry is. To a slam fan, that's fine.
And it's fine with me too. And you could even say The existence of slam poetry doesn't
stop anyone from writing a sonnet if they want to. And I agree. You could even say, And
if it gets more people interested in poetry, isn't that a good thing? And I'd have to agree
again. So, to answer one of your questions, I don't think slams decrease the value of
spoken word--they are just one aspect of it.

16

Despite being a proponent of poetry slams, Jesse has felt the alienation that Hall
offers critique of. After one of his first performances at AS220 he found himself alone in
the corner of the venue. Emcee Choi, a regarded slam poet with multiple videos
circulating on Button Poetry, and her colleagues on Empire Street huddled near the
shabby stage. They were talking about Jesse, and he could feel their quasi-polite,
piercing glances.
You should have gave a trigger warning, one of them said. Poetry slams are
extremely vulnerable, a quality of which Jesse holds dearly. Often before reading a
poem, poets give a trigger warning if their poem tackles a touchy theme. This preface
serves as a tip or warning to the audience so they can prepare for the upcoming
material. That night, Jesses poem denounced rape culture and the diction associated
with it. He alluded to the experience of his sister, as he usually cites family in the
majority of his poems. To explain the unconscious use of language associated with
sexual assault, Jesse recited:
Yo man, the Patriots raped the Jets last night or
Dude, I totally raped that midterm
It is not that the subject matter was inappropriate for AS220 poets delve deeper
and are often more explicit than Jesse. Regardless, as a newcomer to the Providence
poetry scene, he was scrutinized by his new associates. Maybe he was stepping on their
turf. Maybe they were jealous of his talent, or maybe they were genuinely concerned for
the audiences mental health. Jesse is unsure. All he is sure of is the complexity of poetry
and the often cliquish nature of humans, even in the democratic and inherently open
venue of poetry slams.

Qualifying
Love is lying bare boned balled breasted and mind exposed staring at ceiling fan
oscillation
Its the way my father stared at me as I graduated
When I swear our souls spontaneously combusted and melted
And began again infinitely like the millions of flowers he's grown
Every year, AS220 sends a team of poets to compete at the National Poetry Slam.
The Providence representatives won the event in 1996, earning the title as national
champions. Four years later, Providence hosted the competition, which relocates
annually. Most recently in 2011, the poets from AS220 placed third in the national
competition. The upcoming 2016 National Poetry Slam will be held in Atlanta, Ga., and
Jesse Ramos may soon be booking a flight to the Peach State.

17

Its long self-deprecating drives to Tiverton with you,

Reassuring each other that we are doing the best that we can
Its existential conversation in cemeteries
Its holding you closely when your organs feel like they're falling out
Hypersensitive ventricles becoming tentacles
Its the way my sister carried her heavy dog who aged quicker than she
Inside, outside, inside until he died
AS220s fall and winter poetry seasons are spent determining who will represent
the the city of Providence on a national level. On the first Thursday of every month, the
competing poets have an opportunity to qualify for the Grand Slam Finals, where the
top place winners punch their ticket to nationals. On that brisk Providence night, with
the sun hiding as to not blind the existential poetics of Empire Street, Jesse placed
second in one of the venues first qualifiers. Come spring, the small-town Bristolian will
compete against the eclectic, sharp-tongued city poets for the opportunity to have his
voice heard on the national level. He is one step close to his dream.

Its freeing yourself from cycles of abusiveness

Its the way you rest your big ass head on my beating chest
Its the adrenaline feeling like heroin
The dopamine the Serotonin Vasopressin Oxytocin overdosing
Comatosing chemical feeling that runs through your veins like runaway trains
Theres a part of Jesse that feels the need to give back. Whether it is to his family,
friends, mentees are Roger Williams or society in general, he is driven by selfless-ness.
But he is still human. Jesse recalls giving a homeless man in Providence twenty dollars,
only to watch him sprint into a liquor store. He recalls helping change one of his
mentally disabled students after she accidentally defecated in her pants. He most
recently attended the 14th Roger Williams Poetry Slam, of which he helped build,
offering advice to the students who are now in his worn-down shoes. From Jesse, every
poet received a hug, hi-five or smile after their performance. After the first round, he
took the stage during intermission to recite a poem about racial violence in the wake of
the University of Missouri protests. After, he chuckled, thanking the university for
welcoming him back for the eighty-fourth time.
Its the weightless collision of making consensual sensual love, like finger painting in
Earthquakes, like hip-hop when the beat resonates and ripples like skipping rocks on
the surface Of saturn until we surrender with our eyes in the back of our heads to the
most passionate Victory greater than any game winning touchdown

18

Its out of your way, out of your mind, out of line, not in time, it rhymes, its monstrous
Disgusting and contradictory hypocritically vividly implicit spiritually exquisite
twiddling Thumbs fidgeting cum
Its timid its space
Its the way perry loved his green bike
Jesse Ramos understands that he cant change the world by himself the way
poetry and the world synergistically changed him. If he makes it to nationals in the
summer, hell be happy, but relatively unphased. Its not the personal accomplishments
that drive Jesse. If there was a poetic, non-competitive outlet to promote social activism,
he would most likely pursue that route. However, poetry slams are the perfect vehicle
for which he can do his part, speak his mind and influence the people around him to
focus on the most important aspect of life:
You beautiful stardust motherfuckers
Its love.

19

Note to the reader:

The italicized, untitled poem alternating graphs in the Chapters Empire Street and
Qualifying was written and performed by the subject of the story, Jesse Ramos. It is
one of many poems he has performed at AS220, Roger Williams University, and other
open mics in the surrounding New England area.

Works Referenced:
20

1. "Ancient History Encyclopedia." Ancient History Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web.

02 Dec. 2015.
2. Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe. Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour through Twenty
Years of the New York City Poetry Slam. New York: Soft Skull, 2008. Print.
3. Aristotle, and Gerald Frank Else. Aristotle: Poetics. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan,
1967. Print.
4. "AS220." AS220. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.
5. Durham, Meenakshi Gigi., and Douglas Kellner. Media and Cultural Studies:
Keyworks. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2001. Print.
6. Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. The Printing Press as an Agent of Change:
Communications and Cultural Transformations in Early Modern Europe.
Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1997. Print.
7. Ginsberg, Allen. Howl. Sacramento, CA: 24th Street Irregular, 2001. Print.
8. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 2004.
Print.
9. "Poetry Fellows Portfolio." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 02
Dec. 2015.
10. "Poetry Slam Inc." Poetry Slam Inc. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015
11. Smith, Marc Kelly., and Joe Kraynak. Take the Mic: The Art of Performance
Poetry, Slam, and the Spoken Word. Naperville, IL: Source MediaFusion,
2009. Print.
12. Somers-Willett, Susan B. A. The Cultural Politics of Slam Poetry: Race, Identity,
and the Performance of Popular Verse in America. Ann Arbor: U of
Michigan, 2009. Print.
13. "Store." Promoting and Producing Spoken Word & Slam Poetry in the Twin Cities
Since 2011. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.
14. Web log post. Prov Slam. N.p., n.d. Web

21

15. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.

22