texasgrandslam2014

[texasgrandslam2014]

Competitor Profile: Outspoken Bean

"My influences are always creating new work in sense or another. I want that for my life and as a performer/writer. Time is my greatest invest to myself and I am my great asset." 

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B.Z.A.T. (Before Zuckergerg; After Twitter)

"A squirrel dying in front of your house may be more 

relevant to your interests right now than people dying in Africa"

-Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and Founder of Facebook 

I have been wired to miss people 

lately i have been missing the coding of flesh

when I was younger, i felt smarter than a computer 

now, I spell-check my first name 

This digital timeline makes it easy for chat 

but, it is stretching our fibers of humanity

In the land of BZ ...

Before Zuckerburg

We savored memories rather than consumed them

Until we upgraded to A.T...

After Twitter

Where quality time is too slow to download

we sacrifice fingerprints for interface

  BZ, Outside with the mosquitoes was your socail network 

At, We are broken missed placed connections

lost by a simple change in our network

BZ, small talk was texture that felt like woven fabric

AT: small talk is skyping on plasma screens 

Borders Bookstores couldn't machete the Amazon jungle 

And with e-books 

We’ll soon need an app to feel the pages

  we were once scared to share our feelings

because people could tell if they were genuine

When I post my heart and 5 mins goes by and there's

still no comment, it's proof!

That all 3,000 friends 

Don’t even Love me,

Let alone Like me

  Fragile faces attached to true emotion

and detach with artificial emoticons

Like those are sustainable bridges

But, the human landscape too often shifts rigidly

By our unstable feelings and faults

BZ, our bodies were wired for pressure

AT, now we crumble into the waves beneath us

So as you Google;

You're making body language obsolete 

Reach for you because

I don't want to lose the algorithm of us

You are Instagrammed to my memory

Our interface bleeds human

Before Zuckerberg, we forged genuine friendships

After Twitter, we friend expecting a follow. 

Don't let this tool become a crutch 

let go, and experience 

who you've missing 

Before they become just a squirrel in front of your house.

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Name: Emanuelee Bean  Stage Name: Outspoken Bean Age: 28 Years Active in Slam: Since 06 Teams You’ve Been a Member of: Prairie View Productive Poets 08, Houston VIP 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 Place from which you are traveling to get to TGS: HOUSTON  Top 5 influential poets: Suzan Lori Parks, Buddy Wakefield, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Sunni Patterson, Queen Godis Have you been to TGS before, & if so, what are you hoping is the same/different from your previous experience? I have.  The first year I hosted.  The second year I made it to Semi-Finals and beat myself out of it.  I am making it to finals but, from there it’s all wishful thinking.  But, I will do well.  If not, what are you most looking forward to at TGS this year?  I love individual competitions so the all the poets that I am going to see is always great!  How would you describe your writing style?  Conversationist.   Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer? I am a performer first.  Who are you looking forward to/nervous as hell to compete against?  The slam in general.  I’ve seen the roster and it is no walk in the park.  What is your goal for this competition?  Competition wise: To win, first and for most or at least to make it to the 3rd round of finals.  Socially:  To converse with poets I have not seen since National Poetry Slam in Oakland and just being in Bryan, TX.  BCS has really invested so much into me as a writer and a performer.   What is going through your head before you get on stage?  Don’t mess up.

What do your influential poets teach you?

They taught me in way or another to keep performing. Keep writing. They taught me to keep doing. My influences are always creating new work in sense or another. I want that for my life and as a performer/writer. Time is my greatest invest to myself and I am my great asset.

  How does your approach to slam differ as an individual poet and as a youth team coach?

When I am competing all I have to worry about is me. Whereas, when I am coaching all decisions in way or another fall in my hands.

  What is your writing process like, from idea, to writing, to performance? Since you are a performer first, how does your poem change once you performance workshop it?

That is a long process for me. But, most of my poems that I end up internalizing and memorizing come from conversations that I've had previously. Writing them takes a while but, ultimately I want it out of my head on some form of medium whether that's paper, my phone, etc. It may stay there for awhile or it might find it's way being changed and edited and revised and reviewed and that process repeats itself until I am satisfied. I start working on the performance as I memorize really.

What made you write B.Z.A.T. (Before Zuckergerg; After Twitter), and do you prefer to use it in slam, or do you only use it at open mics or non-slam events?

I wrote BZAT because I was just trying to be funny about social media.  I was in conversation at coffee shop and I made the timeline reference of Before... to After...  I thought it was clever so I fleshed it out.  At first it was a group poem with my teammate/homie Thasia Madison then after the 2012 slam season, I made it an indie and gave it a character, name Sheldon.  I do that poem really anywhere I can.  I love performing BZAT and I love being Sheldon for those few minutes.  BZAT is really just a fun poem to do. 

[texasgrandslam2014]

Competitor Profile: Chris Formey

"I feel responsible for the effect my words can have on people's thought and emotions; uplifting art has been a tremendous ally in the daily war I fight with the part of me that wallows in negativity, so it would be remiss of me to create anything that didn't help people win their own inner battles."

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My name is Chris.

I am addicted to gambling.

My game of choice is playing self-esteem like a slot machine,

Pulling myself down and hoping to see change.

This is how I was born,

Where my neighborhood park was a canvas for Wade in the Watercolor bullets;

I learned to play for keeps and swim shackles deep in bloodstreams.

  Raised by 3 queens and a pair of Jack asses,

So I always knew a Full House could still echo.

These are Savannah, Georgia memories

But even all the way in Austin,

I struggle to Texas Hold 'em all in.

I was taught money is strength,

So I see casinos less as gold mines

And more like Gold's Gyms:

Places you go to increase the burden you can carry.

It's not as simple as mental exercise,

Where I'm from,

Our tread meals are crumbs and burnt rubber,

That money in the middle smells like roadkill and Goodyear

And it's been a while since January 1st was more than a big metaphor for me dropping the ball.

You think I've made something of the chips on my shoulders,

You don't know I'm just waiting to plant them on the table,

In hopes they will grow to greener pastures worth a pilgrimage,

Because at this step in my life as a bottom rung bonfire,

Even Dante wouldn't tour my insides.

My Mom says, "Boy, you’re playing with your life"

I say, who can fault the man who plays four corners with the Bermuda Triangle in a quest to square his situation.

100 dollars lost from 4 side bets, and I see I will never have all the right angles.

I gotta stop playing my self-esteem like a slot machine:

Pulling myself down and hoping to see change,

It ain't that easy to line things up.

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Name: Chris Formey

    Age: 22

Years Active in Slam: About a year and a half.

Teams You’ve Been a Member of: 2014 Austin B-Sides and slammed in the first Austin Poetry Slam Duet Slam with Julian Copado

Place from which you are traveling to get to TGS: Austin, TX

Top 5 influential poets: Tupac Shakur, Christopher Michael, Outspoken Bean, Good Ghost Bill, My daughter (Her poem "Crunchy Boobs" is next level. And she freestyles poetry on request. It's amazing.) And Kevin Burke. Can I add Kevin Burke? I know that's 6 but I have to put him in there as 3.5 or something.

Have you been to TGS before, & if so, what are you hoping is the same/different from your previous experience?

I was fortunate enough to qualify for a paid trip to TGS through Austin Poetry Slam last year. The experience was a blessing and pivotal in my growth as an artist and member of the poetry community. My journey in slam poetry wasn't even a year old; I believe last year's competition was around my 6 month anniversary of participating. Being exposed to different styles of poetry from around the country and audiences from outside of Austin helped broaden my horizons of creativity. For that, I am forever thankful, and I hope to get that from this experience again. As far as what I hope is different, I hope that I can put on a much more inspirational, and refined performance for the audience.

    How would you describe your writing style? Embracing Struggle. Making the best of what we have and loving it.

Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer? Categories scare me. I'm just a person who's trying to maximize the abilities/time I have been blessed to share with the other growing souls I have the pleasure to encounter.

  Who are you looking forward to/nervous as hell to compete against? I'm looking forward to competing with and cheering on everyone. Most of the people I listed on my favorite poets are registered to compete, so I know this is going to be an amazing show that I am honored to be a part of.

What is your goal for this competition? My goal is to remind everyone that we are blessed to be alive.

What is going through your head before you get on stage? Let's do it! You got this! Remember why you do this. Remember how you felt when you wrote this poem.

  How do you think Austin Poetry Slam has shaped your poetry in a way that another home venue might not have?

The people there have really taken me in. Everyone who has ever performed there has inspired me in some way, but the veterans of the slam, like Danny Strack and Christopher Michael were especially supportive very early on. I always knew that I wanted to do something with writing, and the warmth and friendly competition at Austin Poetry Slam encouraged me to push myself to discover my inner voice and how it can help others.

Since you strive to embrace struggle and to inspire, are you ever in the wrong mood to write an uplifting poem? And if so, what do you do?

Yes, when that happens, I choose not to write until I can get my mind under control. Sometimes, I will freestyle alone in my car. This gives me a straightforward way to vent some of those difficult feelings until I'm ready to articulate them in a constructive way. I feel responsible for the effect my words can have on people's thought and emotions; uplifting art has been a tremendous ally in the daily war I fight with the part of me that wallows in negativity, so it would be remiss of me to create anything that didn't help people win their own inner battles.

What is it about slam that keeps you coming back?  

The desire to grow through healthy competition, the rush of the stage, the amazing people I have met; my fiancée: when I'm looking for ways to avoid work; the hope that my daughter will be molded into something even more awesome than she already is by rubbing shoulders with all of the self-love, honesty, and creativity of the members in this community; Thinking about where I've come from, shedding tears over all of the time I've wasted; Confidence that the universe has shaped each of us for a specific path, and this is part of mine.

Do you have a pre-performance ritual?

I do boxing warm-ups, walk around, drink lots of water, go to the bathroom(from all of the water), and I say encouraging phrases while all of this is going on. Everything except for the going to the bathroom. I try to keep my mouth closed in there as often as possible. But yeah, I'm a strong believer in the powers of visualization. I constantly picture myself succeeding. It's a good way for me to ensure that if I do not achieve my goals, I know I gave myself the best to and probably put myself in a good position anyway. You can only have a chance if you believe you do.

    What is the best thing that your poems have taught you?

 Perspective is everything. Two people can honestly write about the same event and have completely different tones/opinions. The world is only as ugly or beautiful as we will allow ourselves to see it. I don't believe in mean people. Or nice people. Or bad guys. Or good guys. I believe in people. I believe that people should feel responsible for the well-being of other people. And part of that is never forgetting that we are all trying to live our truth. I can't constructively criticize a person's bad decision if I jump to label them a bad person. What would be the point if I decided their quality as a human being was set in stone? A lot of people have judged me because of where I come from. But look at me now. It upsets me to think of where I'd be if I didn't fight so hard to allow myself to suspend my prejudices about myself and the world around me. Perspective is everything.

[texasgrandslam2014]

Competitor Profile: Armando X. Lopez

"Working with these young poets is quite the privilege and we have all grown as writers and performers. I am in awe of their fearlessness and of the pursuit of their craft in a community that needs their insight. They have encouraged me to let it rip. And I try to oblige them."

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Passing the Baton Enlightened By The Fluent One’s Poem  “The Hug” November 14, 2012 “They say that if poetry hasn’t change your life, it’s cause you haven’t heard the right poem.” At the Southwest Slam 2012 I heard Jeremiah read about poem about how someone saw the pain that he was hiding about his abuse as a child.      His poem changed my life and when he came down to Laredo, I wrote this for him. As a thanks.

Growing up, I never got invited to run in any races where a baton was handed off. I’m a marathon man, a long distance runner, convinced that endurance was my gift. In other words, I run slow. No fast twitch muscles here except for that smartass mouth that gets me in and out of trouble every day.   There is no fluidity in my movements, no graceful embrace of space by stubby appendages.    On this warm night in Tulsa, most of my slam poetry, was still inside of me. On this night of my transformation stood in front of me this Houstonian. Tall, lanky, sauntering onto the stage like a cat enjoying all of his nine lives. Emanating a cool that I envied as a young man, and lamented in this older shell. He was Something that I could never be.  At this age I am an accordion to his cool saxophone.   He had my attention, and as he glided on stage he told the story of passing the baton from one tortured and liberated soul to another.  Every word, every verse, every metaphor,  every light but leaded step pried open the pain that others thought was covered by scar tissue, ripped open the wounds, so that they could be finally cauterized.   The fluent one, in three minutes laid out the agonizing, baton-passing, soul-lifting message, that this experience, this unspeakable horror, this invisible burden, fuels a spiritual rawness that artists embrace and then set free.   I learned that one hug from a liberated sufferer, can pass the baton to another, now free to heal what only they can see and what we are blind to.   That night in Tulsa, they who felt similar pain jumped into your arms, your truth fluently told, in motion and in verse.     And I knew that I was in the right tribe.

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Name:  Armando X. Lopez Stage Name:  AXL Age: 56 Years Active in Slam: 3 Teams You’ve Been a Member of: Laredo Border Slam Place from which you are traveling to get to TGS: Laredo, Texas Top 5 influential poets: Daisy Zamora,  Joaquin Zihuatanejo, Jeremiah The Fluent One Payne, Damien Flores,  Carmen Tafolla. Have you been to TGS before, & if so, what are you hoping is the same/different from your previous experience? Nope.  This is my first trip to TGS. If not, what are you most looking forward to at TGS this year?  For the opportunity to hear the art of other great poets and learn to let it rip! How would you describe your writing style? Free association from inspiration.  Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer?  A writer. Who are you looking forward to/nervous as hell to compete against? Every single poet.   What is your goal for this competition? To provide another voice in this great panorama of the world we call Slam. What is going through your head before you get on stage?  Reward the curiosity of any listener in the crowd.

Where does your inspiration come from? Is it your daily life? Is it, in the case of the poem you sent me, the stories of other poets?

  My inspiration comes from the respectful notion that “cada cabeza es un mundo”. That is the concept that every mind is a universe unto itself. I am in constant wonder of the unique perspectives that people bring to this universe and how each mind captures the circumstances of the world in diverse and captivating perceptions. With a background in sportswriting and news reporting I claim to see stories everywhere. My law practice also provides me with day-to-day contact with people in immense personal strife and their tribulations and triumphs spark much of what I write. I am also blessed with three wonderfully talented and artistic children who amaze me now as they are in their 20’s. I recently became a grandfather and that experience has further heightened the amount of love that I feel. I also come from a political bent. Like most poets the injustices of the world infuriate me and hypocrisy fuels much of what I write in that vein. Though I rarely write about romantic love, the notion of love filters its way into my poetry.

  The art of other poets magnifies the “cada cabeza es un mundo” inspiration that I seek in the world. Like musicians who enjoy the virtousity of fellow musicians, I am enthralled by the views of the youthful poets in the slam scene. At 56 I am usually the senior voice at many of these events. The poets keep me young.

  How has the Laredo slam community affected your poetry?

  Chibbi Orduna, LBS founder signed his chapbook for me and added this wonderful inscription to his autograph. He wrote, “You don’t know how important you are to these young poets”. The reality is that the Laredo Border Slam scene has given me eternal youth. Working with these young poets is quite the privilege and we have all grown as writers and performers. I am in awe of their fearlessness and of the pursuit of their craft in a community that needs their insight. They have encouraged me to let it rip. And I try to oblige them.

  How do you decide which poems you are going to use in a slam?

  I love to write. For every slam I try to write at least one new poem. Our slam master Julia Orduna helps the process by have thematic slams. This tactic forces the writers to bring new poetry instead of reciting older poems. My release comes from writing new poetry that processes the life events that have occurred since the last slam. Unfortunately my computer crashed this week and I may have lost all of the poetry that I wrote during the time that I have been slamming. I will probably write new material for this slam.

    What is your all-time favorite line of poetry?

  “Maybe it’s time we embrace our differences like they were our children and just

Let them be” Joaquin Zihuatenejo—“Speaking In Tongues”.

[texasgrandslam2014]

Competitor Profile:FreeQuency

"What I've found is that there are people who are willing to challenge and beat me down when I present a political or social argument, but for some reason, when I take the same damn argument and put it into poem form I have been able to reach these folks."

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An Anonymous Letter to White Feminism

Dear White Feminism,

You keep asking

Why we cannot bond over womanhood

But history has shown

This is not a bond you consider

Until convenient

You must think us women of short memories

and no questions of our own

But did you think we would not question your motives when you made our bent backs bridges to your limited

liberations?

Did you think we would forget whose shoulders you stood on when you tried to stand eye to eye with your

oppressors, who suffered for your suffrage?

We

Women of the margins

demand more than an occasional invite to a table that we built

and were forced to serve you on

We demand our questions be answered

the same ones we’ve been asking them for centuries

White Feminism

You keep asking

Why we cannot bond over womanhood

But

You have yet to answer my first question

Ain’t I A Woman?

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Name: Mwende Katwiwa

Stage Name: FreeQuency

Age: 23

Years Active in Slam: 1

Teams You’ve Been a Member of: Slam New Orleans

Place from which you are traveling to get to TGS: New Orleans

Top 5 influential poets: Decline to answer

Have you been to TGS before, & if so, what are you hoping is the same/different from your previous experience? Yes I went last year and made it to finals stage and then got a time penalty...sooooo basically just do like last year but no time penalty :p

If not, what are you most looking forward to at TGS this year? I'm looking forward to reconnecting with poets from last year's tournament and being in a competition where there is love between competitors

How would you describe your writing style? Spur of the moment...I gotta feel to write

Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer? Both I suppose

Who are you looking forward to/nervous as hell to compete against? Looking forward to all, nervous about all (don't know all :D)

What is your goal for this competition? To bring new work to the stage, to connect with other poets, to win

What is going through your head before you get on stage? "What poem am I doing again?"

How does poetry function in your life? Is it a hobby? Church? Job?

Well I was introduced to spoken word poetry through a group called Project 2050 in middle school when my mom took me to one of their shows. Based on what I learned poetry was in school up until that point, I definitely didn't think poetry was the way for me to articulate what I was going through as a young black immigrant who, until boobs grew on me at age 12, everyone thought was a boy, until I saw that spoken word show. Poetry, specifically spoken word was introduced to me as a safe space for Queer youth and for Youth of Color to learn and grown in their identities and activism through art based expressions (poetry, hip hop, Djing, breakdancing, stepping) Through this program, I became a youth activist and found that my greatest tool was my tongue (it was definitely not my two feet dancing), and I began identifying as a poet and activist. This was a crucial stage of my life when I discovered that activism was really what I felt passionate about.

  After high school, I took a year off and moved down to New Orleans to work at a local high school. It was overwhelming and I would write my way through my struggles sometimes that year, but I felt that I had found a home in NOLA so I started college there the next year. I attended Tulane University (class of 2014) which was really REALLY hard for me even though no one really knew it. On the surface, I was one of the University's most decorated graduates, but inside I was miserable. Tulane Univeristy was a very white space. A very rich white ignorant space. It was the literal definition Ivory Tower and I felt like a dredlocked Rapunzel whose locks was too short to escape. I made friends, but overall, I felt really alienated and disconnected from the campus, so I went into a very well hidden depression and basically just existed for my first 2 years of college. I didn't write for that whole two years. 

  I decided how I was existing on campus was probably not sustainable or good for me, so I decided to make a change and explore what was going on with myself. The fall of my junior year I went to Study Abroad in Kenya which is actually where my family and I emigrated from so it wasn't really a "traditional study abroad" it was a "study-while-not-having-to-deal-with-the-overwhelming-ignorance-and-whiteness-at-Tulane-and-connect-back-to-yourself-so-you-can-start-to-heal-abroad. I had a very interesting time there because even though my mom, dad and brother (and the rest of my extended family) were living in Kenya and I had been there since moving to the US, it was the first time I had gone to Kenya without my family and did things that weren't based on what my immediate or extended family was doing. I really grew into myself as a Kenyan and also as an American (since 2012 baby) during the 6 months that I was there and I felt a fire that I hadn't since high school. When I came back to the US with my one of the first significant things that happened was that my co-worker (white dude from the South) called me a 'Nigger'. Mwende in the first 2 years of college would probably have gone off on him them gone back to my room and cried or something, but this time, and every other time after on campus after that when some suspect stuff happened, I refused to back down and internalize it and instead began demanding that people and the institutions around us be accountable. It was like I was in high school all over again. I don't think its any coincidence that this was also the exact time I began exploring the Spoken Word scene in NOLA. That spring (2013) was really when I began realizing and remembering how much poetry was a part of myself as an activist and as a human being who sometimes struggles to articulate why I am so pessimistic about the world. For lack of a better word, poetry is my church. I see it as a healing space, a community gathering space, a safe space to confess my sins and all those other churchy connections that I can't remember because I haven't been to church in a long time.

  That was a little over a year ago. Right now, poetry still very much functions in the same way for me, but it also has gone back to being what it was introduced to me as which is a processing tool for me for the personal/political and social interactions I have. Usually I have no urgency to write poems until I feel myself becoming overwhelmed with feelings (I HAVE ALOT OF FEELINGS). Then, I disappear and I can't be bothered or concentrate on anything until my poems/feelings are out, which is when I reappear and life gets in the way of my poetry.

  How do you mix your politics and your poetry? For instance, in the poem you sent me, you refer to a classic feminist text for women of color (Ain't I a Woman? by Sojourner Truth). Is poetry a vehicle for activism in your life?

I have two answers to this.

  1.

I don't really know how to separate my politics and my poetry because of how spoken word was introduced to me as a political art form. Also, I don't want to/think I can separate my politics from my poetry because as Claudia Jones told us long ago in her dope piece "An End to the Neglect of the Negro Woman" (1949) the personal is political:

"This means ridding ourselves of the position which sometimes finds certain progressives and Communists fighting on the economic and political issues facing Negro people, but 'drawing the line' when it comes to social intercourse or inter-marriage.  To place the question as a 'personal' and not a political matter, when such questions arise, is to be guilty of the worst kind of Social-Democratic, bourgeois-liberal thinking as regards the Negro question in American life; it is to be guilty of imbibing the poisonous white-chauvinist 'theories' of a Bilbo or Rankin." 

2.

Since I've always been interested in and studied politics and culture (I graduated with a dual degree in Political Economy with International Perspectives and Africa & African Diaspora Studies), I've grown up knowing how hard it is to have these conversations with people who don't actively think of them or don't have to because of their identities. What I've found is that there are people who are willing to challenge and beat me down when I present a political or social argument, but for some reason, when I take the same damn argument and put it into poem form I have been able to reach these folks. I remember when Trayvon Martin's verdict came out (I was still at Tulane) and I was having the craziest conversations with (white) people trying to explain how messed up the whole thing was from Trayvon's death to Zimmerman's trial and people really pushing back against me. I got to a point where I wrote a poem called "The 7 Deadly American Sins" about his death and the verdict and people who I had vowed never to speak to again because our conversations left me so bewildered were messaging me like "Wow this really made me think in a way that I wasn't when we were talking"

  ...I don't understand it, but I'll take it.

  How does the atmosphere of your home venue shape your writing and performance?

I'm just getting into the second year of my home venue/scene so I'm not sure if it has had too much time to shape me. Being on Team Slam New Orleans (Team SNOOOOOO) has made me alot more in tune with the editing and performance process in spoken word which I have no training in, but the larger New Orleans poetry scene which I am a part of (the WHODAT Poets) is like a family to me. A few of them even refer to me as their little sister...but I think that has more to do with me looking like a 17 year old than anything. 

  When I first entered the scene a little over a year, every single poet I met was nothing but kind, generous with the stage, and encouraging to me. They put me on their shows even though I was a noob, they came out to support my shows once I started putting them on, and they voted me the Rookie of the Year at their 2013 awards ceremony the Golden Mic Awards. It's a beautiful scene and some of my most treasured relationships in the city were borne it it.

  What is your all-time-favorite line of poetry?

This can't be a real question. One line?!?! That's messed up, I can barely even settle on one poem -_-

  Right now though, Sunni Patterson has really been speaking to me. It's funny, she's been the only poet who I've known and followed since I started, and she has kept speaking to me for years. She is still the one that comes to my mind when people ask me what poets I admire and those kind of questions because I think her poetry is where I want mine to be someday - beautifully written, unapologetically black and woman, and with messages not just stories. I had the chance to open up for her as part of a showcase in New Orleans last year and really got back into her work after that.

  Currently, I'm having alot of trouble with being vocal about issues and folks in dominant cultures and identities pushing back on me and me being all in my feelings and feeling like they're not even being affected, so this line from one of my all tie favorite Sunni pieces We Know This Place has really been speaking to me to trust that the universe/the ancestors/SOMETHING more powerful and better hidden than oppression and pushing back against them for me

  The silent cries of the keepers are louder than the booms that come from the guns they use to occupy the space

[texasgrandslam2014]

Competitor Profile: Gloria Adams

"In these spaces we hold each other up. We hold up the truth. We don’t shy away from things just because they are hard to carry. And in doing so, I think we lighten our load. We walk the earth less encumbered though we carry great burdens. That’s the magic. We have more hands."

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There is no simple metaphor

for the way our eyes do not meet.

I have tried everything:

ricocheting bullets,

uncooked spaghetti slipping down the wall,

trains from Chicago and New York

traveling at different speeds on tracks

that, it turns out, do not actually cross.

You said, “It’s a shame.”

I looked at my hands, and nodded.

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Name: Gloria 

Stage Name: Glori B

Age: 27

Years Active in Slam: 2.5

Teams You’ve Been a Member of: Neo Soul 2013, Austin Poetry Slam 2014

Place from which you are traveling to get to TGS: Austin, Texas

Top 5 influential poets: Barbara Hamby, Carrie Fountain, Naomi Shihab Nye, Martin Espada, Adrienne Rich, Gertrude Stein. That’s six. I have a hard time picking favorites.

  Have you been to TGS before, & if so, what are you hoping is the same/different from your previous experience? Yes, I was in Texas Grand Slam in 2012. I was woefully unprepared for it that year; I’d only been doing slam for six months, and in the span of a month I went to IWPS and TGS- these were my first two times doing poetry outside of Austin and I was shocked by how different the audience was- how they respond differently than the home crowd, and how unfamiliar the spaces were. I hope that now, as I’ve gained experience, that I’m better able to read a crowd—which is all about being more concerned with the way you are received than what you are transmitting. So often we perform in a bubble and forget to invite the audience into the poem. I hope that this year, I feel people up there with me. I hope I keep, however, that same gut wrenching nervousness. I don’t ever want to feel totally confident; I want to shake in my boots a bit.

  How would you describe your writing style? Anxious. I have two modes of writing: practice and inspiration. In practice, I set aside time for writing. I sit in a chair and don’t get up until something is written. It’s like brushing your teeth: you hate to get out of bed for it, but you feel so much cleaner and complete once you’ve done it. There the anxiety is in the turning over and over the same line, obsessively, knowing there’s a facet that hasn’t caught the light yet. Inspiration is differently anxious—the call to write interrupts my day. I compose while driving or while grading papers. I scribble things on post-its at work or record a voice memo on my phone. Then when it’s time for practice I gather the strings and try to make sense of them. Sometimes "practice" is spending three hours researching sushi or thermodynamics so I can get the metaphor right. I wouldn’t say that inspiration is always there when I want it, but I’ve never sat down to write and not had a half dozen or so memos or ideas to choose from. It’s like harvesting wildflowers.

  Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer? I have been, at different times, one or the other. I have a background in theater and spent years performing and directing in plays and a couple short films. Then in college I stopped performing and started writing. And about the time I graduated from college I found slam, and now I do both.

I’d say that my background as a performer certainly helps me be comfortable on stage, and helps me to think like a performer once I’ve written something and want to showcase it.

All that being said, I consider myself much more of a writer these days. If I go a few days without writing, I get tense and disrupted. Performing is a game I like to play. Writing is essential to the way I live in the world.

  Who are you looking forward to/nervous as hell to compete against? New Orleans poets! I have been blown away by these poets every time I’ve seen them and also they are nice and cool and I want to be their friends and hello and I’m not awkward, you’re awkward. What?

Also! Outspoken Bean from Houston. He’s been a friend and an inspiration for years. He’s so precise and on point, always. I’m a fan.

  What is your goal for this competition? To have a smile on my face when it’s announced that I’m not moving on. Also! To hug everyone that wants to be hugged, in general or also specifically by me.

What is going through your head before you get on stage? This is actually, magically, one of the only times in my life that my head is not exploding with anxiety. Adjust the mic. Take a step back. Breathe. Step forward. Breathe. Look up. Everything melts away. My mind goes totally blank. I have a hard time, later, even remembering what happened on stage. There’s no there there. It’s probably why I keep coming back. I have such a hard time quieting my brain, and an even harder time feeling comfortable speaking up. But that moment when the music stops, once the crowd stops calling out random things, you can feel the room waiting for you to engage it, and all you can see is the halo around the microphone… That’s the only place in the world that feels truly peaceful.

  What do you think were your strengths and weaknesses were at TGS 2012? And how do they differ from your strengths and weaknesses this year?

In 2012 I had the strength and relative weakness of being totally new at slam. I knew exactly which of my poems I would do because at the time I only had two or three that were really any good. I didn’t understand how to read a room, but that was also a strength in that I just did what I was going to do. When I try to point to my limitations, I see also how those things made it all easier.

What I do know now that I wish I’d learned sooner is that there is no such thing as a ringer in slam. At this point I’ve been to so many slams that I know on any given night anyone can win. I hear a lot of people, especially people who have been in the game a long time, say things like “slam isn’t fair” when the person they thought should win didn’t.

But the way I see it, slam is fair. We all know what we’re getting into: random people off the street judging. An unpredictable room. You rarely know who you’ll compete against, or what they’ll do. You can plan, you can prepare, you can write poems that are more accessible, hone a performance style that invites people into your poems, you can win slam after slam and be generally regarded as one of the best… and then get last place in the slam one night because the random, unqualified judges found you too esoteric, or too rehearsed, or too anything. It can happen to any of us. It can elevate just as easily as it destroys. While that looks like a lack of fairness to some, I think that is a great equalizer, and that the slam is as fair as any sport.

It’s hard not to feel crushed when you lose. In this world, we are asking people to assign numbers to the art we create out of our most sacred moments. When you receive low scores it’s easy to feel as if that’s a reflection on you as a person, or even as an artist. It isn’t. It’s a reflection on that crop of judges, whether you gave them what they needed. But even on the nights when I can’t do that, I usually find that there was someone in the audience who did need what I put up. That’s the win I look for.

If there’s a strength I have this year that I didn’t have in 2012, it would be that, understanding this, I no longer find anyone totally intimidating, nor do I totally dismiss anyone. I know that any of us could come out on top, any of us could be out in the first round. The only way to guarantee success is to define success not as winning, which you do not control, but as something which you can control, like the quality and importance of your work, the passion which you bring to the art, and the connections you make to other artists.

How does your day job affect your poetry?

I’m a teacher, so I don’t have a day job—I have an always job. I have a hard time turning myself off. I’m always thinking about my students, or the poem I’m percolating. I find it hard to be doing one or the other. I keep a notebook on my desk at work and I grade papers or sketch out lesson plans at the slam. I always have at least half a dozen word documents open on my laptop and I alt-tab between a worksheet on subject verb agreement and a poem about objectifying women.

Teaching does make slam hard, though. A lot of sleep has been lost trying to make both a major part of my life. Late nights, early mornings. 

Do you write for anything other than slam? 

Yes! Only a small percentage of what I write ever makes it to the stage. I write constantly, and once I know where something is going I decide if something is for the stage. What I bring to slam is usually more direct, something that precisely communicates something. I have a lot of shorter poems, poems that I think work better on the page. 

The intoxicating thing about slam is that when I write something that feels right for the stage it has an immediate home. I know how it will be communicated, and what I am going to do with it. My other writing is a little neglected, just because I don’t have that immediate home for it. I also have written and published a couple short plays, written and produced a few short films… but again, slam plus teaching plus motherhood has sort of pushed those things to the back burner.

Shout-out to most of your influential writers being women and people of color. Let's talk about why their poetry is important to you and how their writing has shaped you as a poet.

Oh god. I am impossible of shutting up.

Carrie Fountain was my mentor in college. I was lucky that she became a professor at my university just as I began writing. I took two workshops with her, and while she made me furious and miserable on a number of occasion, it is because of her I have a dedicated writing practice, because of her I take my writing seriously, because of her I read more poetry than I write.

Barbara Hamby is a poet who plays with sound and language and really just showcases how mutable words are. In high school I competed in speech and debate, and used some of her poems. Her poems have such energy and attack to them. When I feel like my writing is in a rut, I pull out her books.

Naomi Shihab Nye came into my life at a very important time. Carrie Fountain spoke so highly of her that I went out and bought her book, Fuel, that weekend. I sat and read it in a stupor. When I met Naomi at an event in Austin, I was in awe of how graciously she handled all the people who wanted a piece of her. She speaks as if she has time for every person. Her poetry is the same way: it invites you in, offers you an unexpected vision of the world, and sends you away to think on your own.

Martin Espada… Just read his poem “Advice to young poets.” Also, “Blessed be the Truth Tellers” and “Isabel’s Corrido” I can’t even speak on Espada, I just want to keep showing you poem after poem and say “This! This is what poetry is.” “Here, this is how you tell a life.”

Gertrude Stein is one of the few poets I studied that I really held on to. I love the way she broke the language open, the way she wore her identity in a time when it was not safe. I read her work and my head hurts and I remember to play when I write. 

Adrienne Rich I read first in high school for speech and debate as well, and then I studied her in college. My professor (who was male) told this brilliant story about going to see her read when he was young. He said that she began her reading by addressing the men in the audience, and telling them that while she did not mind that they were there, she was not speaking for them, and that they could leave and she would not mind. I admire the strength it takes to stand up and say “This is what I have created, I know whom it is for, and if you are here to find fault and defend yourself from me, then get out.” So many of us come to the slam for validation, and we compromise ourselves to get it.

On a less positive note, Rich has recently been outed as being highly problematic and transphobic. It hurts my heart to learn this, and I’m struggling with what this means for my experience of her work. I don’t have time for a feminism that is not intersectional. I don’t want to continue listing someone among my influences that associates me with beliefs that disgust me. For now, I think bringing up and talking about Rich is important for that reason: it pushes me to ask these questions: Can I have a relationship to a poem without having a relationship to the poet? Does my work exist separate from my self? And in all my efforts to be dedicated to positive change, what disgusting habits of opinion am I still clinging to that I have not yet been called out on?

What do you think it is about poetry, and more specifically, performance poetry, the spoken word, that is sacred?

At my first IWPS I went to a workshop where we discussed writing very personal and potentially triggering poems. A poet in the workshop with me, Leah Gould said this, and I wrote it down but am now paraphrasing: “The truth is heavy, but here we have more hands.” In these spaces we hold each other up. We hold up the truth. We don’t shy away from things just because they are hard to carry. And in doing so, I think we lighten our load. We walk the earth less encumbered though we carry great burdens. That’s the magic. We have more hands.

[texasgrandslam2014]

Competitor Profile: Amaris Diaz

"Challenge yourself to get more honest, more deliberate, and more artful, even if the poem will never win a slam. Even if the poem is five lines long and you will only ever read it to your friends. That's when you know that you are feeding yourself, learning, and healing-- when you give thought and heart to a poem that will never win you anything."

__________________________________________________________

IT

there is a word for the dark with

you. there is a name to give all

  of the times you sound like some

family i’ve never known. the altars

  we build each other at the coffee table.

the joy of ordering chinese when

  all of the dishes are dirty. for how

you sing the wrong words to me.

  the ice water we share in bed.

there is a science to how the body

  will repair without your permission.

math for how we grow until we

  can’t. your wrist to my ear this

morning. no word for how our blood

  tries to match sound. for our blue veins

crossing under our t-shirts. the way

  you touch my face in the morning.

like thumbing the side of a rose

  to see it open.

__________________________________________________________

Name: Amaris Diaz

Stage Name: Amaris

Age: 20

Years Active in Slam: 3

Teams You’ve Been a Member of: Theyspeak Austin 2013

Place from which you are traveling to get to TGS: Austin, TX

Top 5 influential poets: Shira Erlichman, Ariana Brown, My former teammates, Aracelis Girmay, Beyoncé.

Have you been to TGS before, & if so, what are you hoping is the same/different from your previous experience?  

I went to TGS in 2012. I was younger and it was at a point in my life where I really needed community. That being said my poems were shit. The community was cathartic and transformative, so I'm hoping for that again. And I'm hoping that this time around I can give as much as I take, in terms of the quality and integrity of what I'm showing up with.

If not, what are you most looking forward to at TGS this year?

 I'm looking forward to slamming with people I love and admire.

How would you describe your writing style?

Simple and deliberate.

Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer?

I'm a writer, hands down. Honestly I dread going to performances or features. And I always feel good afterward, and I've learned how therapeutic performing can be, but good lord if someone doesn't have to drag me to my own show every time. I also studied writing in college and so the way a poem looks and carries itself on page is really important to me. Some of my poems don't sit well out loud.

I haven't really slammed since the Lit Slam at WOWPS this year, because I was basically pushed to the edge of the diving board with that too. But hey? Really great experience. I got to be in a slam with Sasha Banks, Desireé Dallagiacomo, and Rachel Wiley. So I've learned that performing can be one of the best things I do. But hands down my favorite part of competitions is meeting people and being like CAN YOU READ ME ALL OF YOUR POEMS RIGHT NOW?

Who are you looking forward to/nervous as hell to compete against?

I'm honestly looking to connect with more queer women of color. I need that. I need that a lot. Which, you know, I feel like I might be bringing the majority of these people with me. I'm looking to connect with, listen to, and learn from people who share my experiences as a marginalized, struggling person. I'm nervous as hell to compete against Arati Warrier. Because she just makes me cry. And she is fearless and brilliant.

What is your goal for this competition?

I just want to show up with integrity. That's all I'm ever trying to do with poems. I'm a little apprehensive because I've stopped writing poems for slam since I haven't slammed consistently in so long. So honestly, this TGS experience for me is kind of an experiment to see if my poems can hold their own in a slam.

What is going through your head before you get on stage?

I'm repeating this thing Ebony Stewart taught me to say "I am afraid. I am afraid. I am afraid. I am brave. I am brave. I am brave." Because I am terrified of being seen. I am terrified of getting up and telling a story and being seen as only my trauma and pain. So I have to remind myself that, like Ebony said to me "Brave is scary". And I'm always trying to show up with something to give--because I'm getting up there, while everyone else's job is to listen to what I'm saying, so I better be saying something worthwhile.

First, I love the poem! Your writing has a very unique style. Since you started as a teen, how long did it take to find a place where you're most confident/comfortable with what you're trying to say? Or more specifically, what did you do to find your own voice?

Thank you! I think for a long time I was trying to be a slam poet. I was trying to write poems and be the kind of person who made it big in slam. And of course those poems were terrible. Then, I moved away to college and had a little time to myself, and I wasn't surrounded by a slam community. I was in poetry writing classes and became comfortable with page poetry. I realized that my voice isn't a slam voice. I like reading my poems out loud, and I love hearing poems out loud, but as far as I, as a writer, am concerned, slam isn't for me. That being said, TGS holds a special place in my heart because it brought me close to a handful of poets I consider my best friends. I love the community of poets I have been lucky enough to grow and learn with. So that's why I'm still somewhat involved in slams, more for the community and growth than for the competition. TGS is also cool because of the rules. I feel like it's a competition that demands that you have a body of work and that, if you progress, it is because your writing and performance got you there, and not because you used gimmicks or slammed the same poem in three different bouts. 

Studying writing in college and being a poet, it seems like words probably take up a lot of your time! What do you do when you aren't writing?

So I'm definitely a server at Olive Garden. That takes up a lot of my time. I'm also a tumblr junkie. I read books. I pretend to know how to cook really well. I watch movies. I pretend to write more than I actually do. I read poems that poets I look up to get published. I stay up way too late. I get so sad that I start laughing. I go to bed. I wake up and dread the day. I have a great day. I have long, windy, swirly conversations with my friends. I try to write a poem. I listen to 90's R&B music. I give thanks for Destiny's Child. I watch poems on youtube. I retweet funny tweets. I talk shit. I watch parks & rec. You know, the usual.

You say you're more of a writer than a performer. Is there anything special that you try to do to prepare for slams? Any rituals to get yourself ready for the stage?

One of the most important things that Ariana Brown (my friend, my coach, my family) has taught me is to stand up and stretch before I get on stage. She's taught me how it is so necessary to be present in your body, to be aware of your arms and legs and breath. And that's really changed a lot for me. It's really simple, but it calms me down, it makes me focused, and it improves my performance. I also just focus on speaking clearly and with intent and conviction. I'm not trying to get on stage half-heartedly.

What are some things you're looking to take away from this competition?

I just want to hang out with poets I admire. I want to spend time being silly with my friends. I want to be floored by poets I've never heard before. I want to deliver my poems well, and with heart. I want to feel good about what I put on stage. I want to eat Whataburger really late at night.

If you could give one piece of advice to a new poet, what would it be?

Don't get wrapped up in slam, the game, the want to win, the scores, the terrible things competition can do to writing. Write your poems and read them out loud, if that's what helps you heal. Be deliberate about what you are saying. Be honest. If you ask for feedback or criticism, don't be surprised when you get called out on easy writing or performance gimmicks. Be humble. I think slam can do this thing to us, where if we've been around for a minute, we think we've made it. It gives us an excuse to get lazy and perform the same poems over and over again and win every time because of that. Don't get lazy. Focus on your growth. Challenge yourself to get more honest, more deliberate, and more artful, even if the poem will never win a slam. Even if the poem is five lines long and you will only ever read it to your friends. That's when you know that you are feeding yourself, learning, and healing-- when you give thought and heart to a poem that will never win you anything. 

[texasgrandslam2014]

Competitor Profile: Emily Sanchez

"I just want to tell my experiences and how I see the world. Hopefully they change some points of view or at least make people think."

__________________________________________________________

Latinas- An ode to Sandra Cisneros and Chloe, my niece

What does a woman inherit that tells her how to go? What does a woman inherit that tells her how to go? It is intelligence wrapped in poverty. A Brilliant mind humbled by life. The birth of an art, With curves she can’t hide any less than the fire in her eyes, and the passion in her voice. Born in to a world that she is destined to FIGHT because they expect Goodness but all she can give them is Goddess. Because we are Latinas. We grow up in the barrios. We run bare foot on hot gravel, and laugh and play without a care. We carry dirt on our skin but clean dreams in our hearts. Dreams that sprout…… like the rosales in the gardens our mothers water everyday Because we too have been cultivated. To be proper, to be good and obedient. But some of us, the wicked ones, our desires, our calling, well we inherit our Destiny from Aztec Divinities. We burn from the inside out, and release ours sins onto the world. Somos las tercas, the ones with a trail of broken hearts, the ones who won’t hold our tongue . We are the ones that learn how to think before we learn how to cook. Somos las hijas buenas that find our way on a path of pain. Because we reject the tradition that is right for us in exchange for the dreams that WE write for us. So…. I’m sorry mom and dad if I am yet to be domesticated. You see I’ve been busy leading the revolution against the old ways. I’m breaking down walls so my niece doesn’t have to climb in through windows. So her generation won’t question why she does things just a little bit different and call her crazy. So she can grow up in a culture where being a strong woman is not a weakness. Not that she needs any help, from the day she was born I could see that she is meant for greatness. She has a stubborn will, dramatic personality, a relentless love for drawing on walls and complete disregard for the word NO. She is different. She is one of us, an artist and a verdadera Latina. And she has achieved all of this at a very mature age of THREE. Because Goddesses are not made. We are born.

__________________________________________________________

Name: Emily Marie Sanchez

Stage Name: Spicy Brown

Age: 37

Years Active in Slam: 4

Teams You’ve Been a Member of: 0

Place from which you are traveling to get to TGS: Del Rio, Texas via Laredo

Top 5 influential poets: Wow! I can't say that I have that many. I do however have favorite writers.

Edgar Allan Poe (He was also a poet. That counts right?)

Sandra Cisneros

Paulo Coelho

Emily Dickinson (yay! another poet. I was so afraid of sharing my poetry that I aspired to be just like her.)

Ernest Hemingway

Have you been to TGS before, & if so, what are you hoping is the same/different from your previous experience?

This will be my first time at TGS and I'm psyched about the upcoming experience.

If not, what are you most looking forward to at TGS this year?

I am looking forward to meeting other creative souls and possibly be inspired to continue to pursue this Slam business.

How would you describe your writing style?

Since I enjoy Sandra's Cisneros' work I have several bilingual poems that I love.

I also have a diverse range of topics with a special interest in social disparity, and cultural influences.

I also of course write about love and its many pitfalls.

Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer?

I definitely consider myself a writer.

Who are you looking forward to/nervous as hell to compete against?

I am deathly frightened of competing with everyone. My stomach hurts as I write this.

What is your goal for this competition?

I just want to have a good time and not puke on stage.

What is going through your head before you get on stage?

My mind is a blank and I try to focus on not rushing my

poem but not taking too long. I also try not to make eye contact.

In other words I'm a nervous wreck.

I loved this poem you sent me! Do you feel a specific responsibility to remind the women, and more specifically the young women around you that they are powerful with your poetry?

I've always written for the purpose of self expression. I had never really given it much thought until my niece was born. She and I have a special connection. For some reason she really likes me. I am somewhat different from the rest of my family. I'm the rebellious crazy one. Lol. They love me and I love them but I'm sure they don't always understand where I'm coming from. But that little girl gets me. I suppose I see a little of myself in her although I was a bit shy when I was a kid. When I wrote Latinas I had her in mind because I hope that her rebellious ways don't get her into too much trouble or that her parents can be more accepting of her personality. That poem was tougher to perform than to write. I remember when I started memorizing it, it made my voice crack and eventually I cried. No other poem I've written has made me do that so I guess it's a special poem. If it helps other women/girls to feel powerful then I am a happy poet.

What is it like for you to perform and compete with bilingual poems, poems that not everyone will understand every word of?

This is an excellent question because I have done all my slam poetry in Laredo, Texas, where practically everyone is bilingual. I've been thinking about how it's going to work outside of South Texas but I have to be real to Spicy Brown. She's bilingual. I have always written English poetry except for one or two for my mom. I started writing bilingual poetry when I joined Laredo Border Slam. Brainstorming ideas to have a new poem every week had me looking back into my past and I stumbled upon my roots. I think the reason I never wrote in Spanish was because I don't know proper spelling and grammar of the language but with slam poetry you don't show anyone your words. You just feel them. So my first bilingual poem was called Malinche and it focused on my attraction towards blond hair, blued eyed boys. A lot of people liked it and it always makes me laugh. Overall I have had non Spanish speakers tell me that they enjoy my poetry because they get the general idea of what my poems are saying. Some have even gone as far as to research Malinche out of curiosity. TGS will be the first place I compete with bilingual poetry (not all just a few if I make it that far) outside of South Texas. I guess we will both see how it goes for me.

What do you think could be a source of strength and courage for you at this competition?

I am going to give this one to my mother. She is the strongest woman I know both physically and emotionally. She doesn't really believe in showing fear or sadness. She is an old-school Mexican mother. She's a no nonsense woman. So I don't have a choice but to just do it! But I am doing this because writing is my passion and I want to see where it leads me. I don't want to regret not making time for something like this.

How have your influential writers affected the poems that you write? Is it on the line level, or is it more about what their work aimed to do?

Well, Mr. Poe and I go way back and he had me writing my darkest poetry ever. But then again I was a hormonal teenager so I'm glad he was there to guide my inner "emo" Ha. ha. I think I take only the fact that they wrote to tell a story, to express themselves and like Sandra Cisneros, to tell it how it was in her world. I just want to tell my experiences and how I see the world. Hopefully they change some points of view or at least make people think.

What do you tell yourself when you are dreading getting on stage? Ohm mani pedme hung which means the jewel is in the lotus. This is just something I tell myself whenever I need to calm myself from any kind of emotion that throws me out of equilibrium. This chant reminds me that I can overcome anything even if it's just a bout of stage fright.

[texasgrandslam2014]

Competitor Profile: Rebecca Yung

"I think the reason is that if a poem is important, it means changing or admitting something about your life. Important poems contain hard truths, and so naturally sometimes I just want to sweep all of that under the rug, at least until the moment for action has already passed. So I think that's a goal for me, to write the important, scary poems, because there's nothing worse than dishonest poetry."

_________________________________________________________

"Romans"

They told me "pray to him,

he understands"

So I knelt down, and I looked up,

and I tried to find strength in his example

But it turns out you don't need Romans to drive nails through your palms

Your own will work just fine

They offered me the cup of blood, but it always just tasted like wine

So I ripped open my chest, trying to find

the sacred heart of Jesus

and then I tasted blood, and, Lord in heaven, it was vile

I swallowed everything they gave me,

learned about Eve and David and Naomi,

Original Sin and the fires of Pentecost

About how St John was an eagle, St Mark was a lion, St Luke was an ox,

but St Matthew was a man

We talked about gay sex until I

couldn't think straight

I sang along to all the hymns

but secretly wondered if God wouldn't prefer something a little more upbeat

On retreat

I heard about how God works in mysterious ways

For my classmates, He

left keys in parking lots,

sent hurricanes to Caribbean islands the day after

they caught their first class flight home,

sent guardian angels to look over their pets in surgery

So I thought surely the God

of rich people's dogs

has time for me

I carved prayers on my arms,

one letter each day,

I've almost finished the Rosary

But I guess God can't read them

I always did get bad marks in handwriting.

_________________________________________________________

Name: Rebecca Yung

Stage Name: Sky Blue

Age: 20

Years Active in Slam: Less than one

Teams You’ve Been a Member of: None

Place from which you are traveling to get to TGS: About seven miles down Texas Avenue

Top 5 influential poets: Andrea Gibson, Andrea Gibson, Andrea Gibson, Andrea Gibson, and Daisy Longmile

Have you been to TGS before, & if so, what are you hoping is the same/different from your previous experience?

I attended TGS last year, and it was phenomenal. I'm just hoping I get to hear such a wide breadth of excellent poetry again. And maybe this year I'll actually talk to some of the poets.

How would you describe your writing style?

I have a lot of "doodle pages". I'll write down ideas and phrases that stick with me, and whenever one gets really stuck in my head, I just sort of pour it out. Then I'll refine it and work on making it sound good out loud. Endings are definitely the hardest for me.

Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer?

Definitely more of a performer. I don't think I've written a single poem that really holds its own when pinned down on paper. They all need to be read aloud in a very specific way in order to convey the right meaning.

Who are you looking forward to/nervous as hell to compete against?

Oh man, the lineup this year is like my YouTube suggestions just came to life. I would call myself a blushing fan of Sam Cook, Desiree Dallagiacomo, and Michael Lee (please no one tell them, I want to play it cool). Also, Good Ghost Bill and Nick Lupfer are two of my favorites from Mic Check, and I can't wait to hear more from them.

What is your goal for this competition?

To grow as a poet, if that's not too cheesy. I'd also like to not crash and burn and forget my poems or anything.

What is going through your head before you get on stage?

Very little, to be honest. I try to clear my head before I start a poem, and to remove the vanities, like thinking about who's in the audience, or what impression this poem will leave about me in the minds of my acquaintances. I just want to read the poem well and let it stand on their own.

What is it about Andrea Gibson's poetry that really gets you? I mean, obviously, REALLY gets you?

  Well for one thing, Andrea Gibson was the poet that first got me into slam poetry. In high school, my best friend performed "Blue Blanket" at a coffeehouse event, and that was my introduction to the art form. Also I just adore her writing style. For me, her poems hit that perfect place on the spectrum between literal/straightforward and so-artsy-I-have-no-idea-what-you're-even-talking-about. And the language flows beautifully- there's rhyme and cadence, but it's never rigid or forced.

  I feel like our writing processes are really similar. I write a few lines here and there. And what I really do when I say I'm writing, is gluing these pieces together, kinda carving out a poem from all this stuff I have over three or four pages of my little lines, quotes from other people's poems, bad drawings, etc. The problem, for me, is to know what belongs in which poem. Do you struggle with this is well? Or, do you have a better idea of what goes in the beginning and middle, but not the end? Do you feel like your poems are always too short, or maybe too long?

  It is tricky to know what belongs where. Sometimes I'll just cannibalize other poems I've written that never really got finished and turn it into a franken-poem, but I don't think that's the best. You can always sort of hear the seams. The best case scenario is when one idea or line is the seed, and all the rest grows out from that. With regards to length, I would say my poems tend to run short. Three minutes is very standard for slam poems, and most of mine never hit that length. I think the reason that endings are hard for me is a good ending wraps up what the poem was about and what it is supposed to leave the listener with, and sometimes I reach the end and have to confront that there really isn't a coherent message in my poem. And that's very difficult because I know I have to go back and do extensive editing to really make it finished, so sometimes I just don't.

  How do you know when a poem is important? Are you scared to write it? Does it come all at once?

  I'd definitely agree that important poems scare me a little. I think the reason is that if a poem is important, it means changing or admitting something about your life. Important poems contain hard truths, and so naturally sometimes I just want to sweep all of that under the rug, at least until the moment for action has already passed. So I think that's a goal for me, to write the important, scary poems, because there's nothing worse than dishonest poetry.

  What is your biggest hope in terms of your poetry, and the places it could take you?

  My biggest hope is that some day, someone will read my writing and think "Yes! She gets me!", because I have definitely come across poetry that makes me feel that way, and it is such a gift. So I'd like to think that I could share that gift with someone else. As far as what my poetry can do for me, I don't really have career goals or anything like that. Competing is fun, and it's always very validating to receive recognition for my work, but that's not why I do it. I do it to help understand my own emotions, and because creating art is its own reward.

  What is your all-time favorite line of poetry?

"I have been told, sometimes, the most healing thing to do is remind ourselves over and over and over: other people feel this too"

[texasgrandslam2014]

Competitor Profile: Ryan McMasters

"Putting walls in poems like everything in third person or talking about a situation rather than using snippets from the conversation have their own merit, but they consistently pale in comparison to the amount of power the line or stanza could have because of the degree of intimacy you are willing to breathe into it."

__________________________________________________________

Picture a DNA helix

Its ability to

Coil

Twist

Bond

Curve

Connect

Be known

Have a diary of history in every marriage

Unravel

Have components that run in opposite directions and still manage to find each other

Denature

To release from itself in excessively hot, acidic, and salty environments

Dismiss

Mutate

Reconstruct

Innovate

Send faulty signals

Communicate

Have a backbone that can create salt and bombs alike

Have an outside of sweetness, but forces make it bitter

Have a base in its center

Make a ladder to ascend to higher understanding

The very material that makes us up is just like us... or are we just like it?

Is your mind spiraling yet?

__________________________________________________________

Name: Ryan McMasters

Stage Name: Ryan McMasters

Age: 25, but I'll be 26 by the competition's commencement.

Years Active in Slam: Two, which feels really weird to say. Time flies when you're having fun. . . or scouring deep-seated issues from places you didn't see before.

Teams You’ve Been a Member of: I've been part of no teams. I want to, so that's another frontier to pursue.

Place from which you are traveling to get to TGS: College Station.

Top 5 influential poets:

Amir Safi, because of his encouragement and leadership qualities directed in my life. I wouldn’t know how much potential others see in me without the opportunities he’s offered me.

Bill Moran, because of his wealth of knowledge he selflessly bestowed upon those he’s been around. He has cared and accepted countless around him, and his ability to be a quality human being is something that I’ve cherished in my friendship with him thus far.

Desiree Dallagiacomo, because of her passion, her vulnerability, her control of her emotion, and her urgency of informing others

Propaganda, because of his flow, word choice and his unapologetic Christian stance

Josh Garrels, because he is a songwriter that is lesser known but his lyrics are more poetry than a lot of stuff I hear. His words are purposeful, soulful, and need to be heard

Have you been to TGS before, & if so, what are you hoping is the same/different from your previous experience?

I participated in TGS last year. It was my first competition with big numbers. It was intimidating and the first time I memorized multiple pieces in one fell swoop, but I grew a lot & made some really cool connections as a result. I didn't make it past the initial round, so I'd appreciate progressing to the next & final one. Like last year, I’d like to meet new people and learn about them off the mic.

How would you describe your writing style?

My writing style is image-caked. I take different aspects of my life and combine it in ways when a lot of people wouldn’t be able to. I love words, breaking them apart and turning them into different aspects of a poem. It’s gotten more succinct and concentrated since last year. I used to write 4 and 5-minute poems, but I’ve edited more and break down the fluff of unnecessary words through this period of time. t’s grown me to whittle and refine, and my craft has been honed as a result.

Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer?

I am more of a writer than a performer, hands down, up, side to side. My words are innately the power in my performance, not the hand movements or body contortions, and I read/spit in a quieter register than a lot of people. I might have to work on that, but Hieu Minh Nguyen does it & he got to finals last year.

Who are you looking forward to/nervous as hell to compete against?

I fanboy for Team SNO, so Desiree, Sam, and Mwende are people/poets (they are both at the same time...) that I respect & look forward to informing alongside, and Michael Lee-Wolf from last year had some powerfully refreshing pieces, so I'm pleased that he is coming back again. The nervous competition would be with Bill Moran, that crimson man-phoenix that left us at Mic Check!!! I’ve heard and read a lot of his material, but I have strong suspicion that he is getting reacquainted with his lover’s body aka the state of Louisiana. I expect new poems from him and a ghost with a new haunting in his throat is always something to be wary of. I don't plan on underestimating any of the other poets, though.

What is your goal for this competition?

I'd love to have fun & be confident in my stage presence this year, so that's what I'll be working on this go-around.

What is going through your head before you get on stage?

“Will I offend people?” “I would be fine losing friendships after this.” “You can’t be liked by everybody.”

“I’m scared, but I’ll regret it if I don’t do this.”

I noticed that all of your influential poets are contemporary, still putting in work, writers. What connects you to artists that are creating while you are also creating? And, as a second part to that question, are you interested in "classic" or canonical writing?

Poetry is an ever-evolving life form. The commonality between every person I mentioned has a strong belief system that they’re passionate about. They have an urgency to proliferate what they believe to be important to others. I’d like to think that is what I share with them all. In some cases, like any human being with a difference of opinion, I may disagree with some of the stuff they say, but their character, their honesty, their conviction & their externalizations of motivation are all things I cherish and have gleaned from them in one way or another. They are all respectable and each has sizable amounts of credibility on and off stage. I don’t have the longest roots in poetic soil, admittedly. I’m not summarily against classic or canonical writing, but in some cases it bores me. Others, I have newer stuff closer to look around for since it’s constantly bubbling up in my sphere of influence. After the competition is complete, I have a few poets (Pablo Neruda, E.E. Cummings, and T.S.Eliot) that have been mentioned to me for me to try by one of the guys attending the writing sessions I put on this year. I need to pay homage to the poets before me, but my mind needs to be focused on the task of TGS at hand.

How has being conscious of your stage presence and performance changed the poems you write?

Originally, I wrote a lot of observational poems and commentaries about the human condition in general... and they would be a mouthful, 4-5 minutes each. I was longwinded then and I still am now. Ha. As I’ve grown out of my poetic prepubesence, I’ve focused on being concise and having powerful concentrations of imagery. In addition, through Bill Moran’s guidance, I’ve allowed myself to be more vulnerable. Bill taught me that the rawness you can give to others, the necessity of honesty instilling trust, and the story that you alone have is what’s worth putting out there. Putting walls in poems like everything in third person or talking about a situation rather than using snippets from the conversation have their own merit, but they consistently pale in comparison to the amount of power the line or stanza could have because of the degree of intimacy you are willing to breathe into it.

When honesty is laid bare, you are potentially sacrificing your image for the necessity of your reality to be known. As a poet starting out, I was afraid to gut myself so publicly. As a poet now, I can be a spin doctor sadist who can make anything scarring into something snapworthy if I chose to. I opt to be as embarrassingly real as I can because it’s a scary experience to talk about deep-seated issues, but being scared and bold are rarely mutually exclusive in this vein of society.

What keeps you going, keeps you writing, showing up to open mics and/or slams? Is it the poets around you? Is it just a pure want to improve? Is it all self-expression for you?

In full disclosure, what keeps me going is a want to pass on information, teach, bring somebody to a different perspective than what they’re used to. I think you can unlock another’s perception without tainting it. What keeps me writing is my mind’s inability to empty the inspiration until I give it rest on a bed of pages. I was kind of a sleeper cell poet. I didn’t start doing poetry as a child, teenager, or because of an emotional upheaval. I graduated from college and I started writing. I am and have been inspired by many aspects of life: friendships, word choice, confusion about love and my capacity to achieve and pursue enrichment of it, family, humanity and its long list of complexities, Christianity’s strengths and shortcomings, not to mention self-awareness. I show up to open mics because Mic Check has fostered a community that shows acceptance of varying offerings of vulnerability. Slams aren’t normally my thing. I’m not the most competitive person around, but I trust in my words and I stand by what I’ve written.That’s why I’m in the competition, not due to the thrill of the hunt.

Does science play a big role in your body of work? Or, as in this poem about a DNA helix, did the image and information just happen to match what you were trying to communicate?

I appreciate science. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology as an undergrad. Somehow, I got into poetry. That doesn’t answer your question, though. Science doesn’t inundate my poetry on purpose, but the word choice I utilize in my poems would effectively hint at the fact that I had a science background. I’ve written about bacterial infections and my previous job as a lab technician, among other things, but I’ve tried to diversify my poem topics to avoid being one-note.

What is your all-time favorite line of poetry?

There is a band named Beautiful Eulogy. They have a cd of quality experimental hip-hop and one of their tracks is called The String That Ties Us. It’s a spoken word poem about the personification of a kite. How the pursuit of pure freedom with no restraint leads inevitably to a broken mess. There is one line that gets me every time.

Here it is:

And the kite starts to think, “If I could somehow DETACH,

then I could REALLY fly.”

It’s beautiful in its simplicity, strong in its delivery, and it’s a very cohesive, clever way to get their point across in a way I had never thought about. That’s what poetry is to me: crossing the streams of uncharted images and synergizing them together to make a stronger product than they ever could by themselves and helping build understanding because of it. They did that, and that’s why this line consistently makes me double take with appreciation.

[texasgrandslam2014]

Competitor Profile: Carla Pelcastre

"If I can be honest and if I can see myself through my writing then I feel as though I'm doing my poetry justice and I'm doing it for the right reasons."

_______________________________________________________

We are the black soil that we step on at night, when we are bare footed and soft spoken.

We are, the laugh that our lungs produce, the joy our mouths smile, and the tears we blink back.

We are the sweat on our foreheads after very long serious talks we don’t want to have. We are the 3 am text when we are too drunk and too lonely to remember anything besides being drunk and lonely.

We are the heels that march on, we are the fingernails that refuse to stop growing.

We are the loud, the soft, the brave, the broken, the sun, the moon, the stars, the dust, the glitter, the rain, the thunder, the lightening. We are the human, the animal, the monster, the flying, the crawling, the darkness, the never ending tunnels, the brightest star.

We are one of everything, so we foolishly think we are half of Noah’s ark.

Us foolish human, do not understand that everything we need to replenish our world is within us.

So we will walk, endlessly. We will walk until we have reached every corner of the earth, have walked every desert and every mountain. We will walk into oceans hoping to never resurface.

But we, we are an ark.  And this ark? This ark will not drown.  So float on my friends, float on.

________________________________________________________

Name: Carla Pelcastre

Stage Name: (Still working on one, so if anyone has any suggestions please hit me up) - if not I'll stick with the lovely name my mom gave me at birthday, Carla

Age: 21

Years Active in Slam: 1

Teams You’ve Been a Member of: Haven't exactly been on the official team, but I've been part of the Miccheck Community for about a year and a half

Place from which you are traveling to get to TGS: College Station - 10 whole minutes!

Top 5 influential poets: 

Sarah Kay was the first poet that I ever really saw perform during her TED talk. She was so incredibly influential when I first started writing for more than just myself, I always randomly check up on her to see what she's doing and I think she's become a role model in life not just writing.

Amir Safi

Good Ghost Bill

Maddie Mae Parker

Austyn Degelman

Have you been to TGS before, & if so, what are you hoping is the same/different from your previous experience?

Last year, I was a volunteer so I guess the biggest difference is that I'll actually be performing this time around and I really hope that I actually get to know all the poets even if its just a fun fact about them!!

How would you describe your writing style?

I guess I would say its usually just a big ol' mess of emotions and feelings when I'm going through something or when something is on my mind. Then I try to organize it so that other people can relate to it. I try to be as honest and vulnerable as possible because that's what poetry is to me and that's what I want to convey.

Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer?

I have always been more of a writer, I've been a late comer into the performing side. Lately I've been getting more and more comfortable in front of a mic and have been enjoying the performing side of it and catering to that.

Who are you looking forward to/nervous as hell to compete against?

Honestly, anyone that was there last year or that has participated in a slam before. Its hard to believe I'll be competing with them because I've been looking up to them for so long and admiring everything that they can do. At the same time I'm horribly terrified and incredibly excited to see them all bring it.

What is your goal for this competition?

Sadly, this might be my first and last competition for the next couple of years because ideally I'll be a Peace Corps volunteer, so my biggest goal is to really just enjoy myself instead of stressing myself out by scores. I also very much want to perform my best, own my poetry and learn from other poets.

What is going through your head before you get on stage?

"If nothing else, at least you'll get pity claps"

Hahaha no I'm kidding, usually everything gets really quiet and I get this giggly feeling, like when you're about to meet your crush for coffee... except I'm meeting the mic on stage.

It seems that most of your influential writers are part of your immediate poetry community. How does proximity, and actual relationships with the poets, change how you view their influence?

  I think it has a lot more to do with the way I have interacted with poetry.

For a very long time, poetry and performing have been on the back burner and it was something I never fully submerged myself into it. Keeping that in mind, I wasn't the person to seek out new things or new poets, to become part of the community or to expand my knowledge. Everything I knew was from my immediate community and thus was most influenced by them.

  However, the fact that I've been able to get to know these poets first hand helped me open up to what they had to offer and share. Its hard to take advice or learn from people when you see them as being on a completely different level as you or when you don't know your intentions with poetry. 

Having a personal relationship and having them be so supportive has definitely helped and aided to why they are so influential. That being said, I think I have been incredibly lucky to have had these poets be part of my community and view the entire things as quality over quantity.

Why is honestly and vulnerability so important to your writing and performance?

  When I first started writing poetry, it was to be completely honest with myself about certain experiences I was going through. That's what really attracted me to it, that while I could put on a facade about everything else, my poetry was pure honesty (mostly because I never thought anyone would read it). I never want to lose that, I never want my poetry to become something that I am not and I feel as though honesty is the way I want to keep that. If I can be honest and if I can see myself through my writing then I feel as though I'm doing my poetry justice and I'm doing it for the right reasons.

Vulnerability has been a hard lesson for me to swallow, especially growing up and feeling as though you need to be cold and strong to get ahead in life. In these past years, I realized the importance of being vulnerable and how rewarding vulnerability can be. Easier said than done. So my poetry is a lot about keeping myself in check and recognizing that vulnerability sometimes is a little tricky can be very scary and terrifying but that doesn't mean I shy away from it. In every performance that I do and poem that I write I make sure that I'm being vulnerable and that I'm at least trying to incorporate that in my life.

Are you planning anything special, since you will be leaving the community soon?

Not exactly, at least not yet. As of right now I'm still very much in denial that I'll be having to say goodbye to this community and to the performing part of my life. When you first open up to a community and share with them that you have yet to share with some of your close friends there's a very unique and special bond that's created so I think the hardest thing will be not having that connection and feeling the love every Sunday night. 

I mean, maybe a nice little going away party would be nice........ *Cough Miccheck* haha. 

  What is your all-time favorite line of poetry?

Wow. That's just not a fair question.

There are too many floating around in my head because there are so many great lines but I guess ultimately I very much love Amir's line in Brown Boy. White House. Its a line that touches a topic that I think many immigrants or minorities have had to deal with and I love the simplicity of the line yet how much power that statement has.

  "English is neither phonetic nor forgiving"

[texasgrandslam2014]

Competitor Profile: William Brian Sain

"My priority is for my poems to have a simplistic complexity. I want my poems to have layers, reoccurring themes. I want my poems to take the reader somewhere else, and consistently return them to the same place. My priority is to have the reader riding the spiral."

_________________________________________________________

Everything is A-Okay L-A-H-O-M-A

The sun rises, another empty Sunday,

sprinkling gold on Oklahoma plains’ darkness,

standing by the bed of my white Silverado

parked in a cow field next to a pond

me and an old friend used to fish in,

finishing off a Camel

adding another empty Budweiser

to the pile of aluminum waste

another wasted Saturday night alone left me.

Tears smother my blank stare into the sun,

drown my face until they fall,

puddle on red dirt at my feet.

Light another Camel off the butt of the last one

non-smokers call this chain smoking,

I call this trying to breathe.

Sometimes fresh air is suffocating.

The morning dew is drying off

but the sun is powerless in drying up

the results of wit’s end emotion.

The world is waking up,

all I can think about is going to sleep,

something I haven’t done in five days,

something I’d like to do for a lifetime.

I feel this dead end closing in

stuck in a wide open field,

sticking myself between barbed wire

eighteen years of red dirt reinforcing fences

used to keep animals imprisoned.

I look around for suicide:

maybe start my truck

take bong hits off the exhaust pipe,

maybe tie intricate knots

fasten my hands to the steering wheel

drive into the pond,

maybe find a nice tree

to tie a mean noose around,

maybe use my coke cutting razorblade

slash open my jugular vein,

maybe swallow all my meth

while smoking an

entire crack rock ,

maybe grab the bull

by his horns

piss him off

I’m already

wearing red.

I look at the red mud my tears created,

smile at the fact I’ve constructed an ocean

in the middle of a cow field.

I remain marooned on a red dirt island

surrounded by my own salt water,

look at the time on my cell phone

it’s nine-thirty-six a.m. on Sunday.

Grandma is in church with my aunts, uncles, and cousins

in Minco, Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Sooners won their football game yesterday.

Everyone is wonderful.

Mom’s getting groceries to feed my brother

in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Brother’s sleeping off a night shift at a restaurant.

They’re all fantastic.

I am contemplating suicide

in middle-of-nowhere, Oklahoma.

The family is doing great.

Everything is beautiful,

everything is picture perfect,

everything is A-okay.

_________________________________________________________

Name: William Brian Sain

Stage Name: William Brian Sain

Age: 28

Years Active in Slam: 2 years

Teams You’ve Been a Member of: 2014 Baton Rouge National Poetry Slam Team

Place from which you are traveling to get to TGS: Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Top 5 influential poets: Franz Kafka (Even though he only wrote prose, he’s still the greatest writer ever.) William Blake, Matthew Arnold, Walt Whitman, George Gordon Byron.

Have you been to TGS before, & if so, what are you hoping is the same/different from your previous experience? Yes. Last year was a remarkable experience. I hope the atmosphere is the same.

How would you describe your writing style? Deeply personal and drug addicted. I relive memories, return to binges, and go home to dark places… to Oklahoma.

Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer? Writer. I'm still working on performance. It's a work in progress, progressing slower than anticipated.

Who are you looking forward to/nervous as hell to compete against? I don't like the idea of competing against anyone. I’m going to Texas to tell my story.

What is your goal for this competition? To escape. To meet incredible poets reading incredible poems.

What is going through your head before you get on stage? I try to shut everything out. Go back to hell. Try to relive the emotions. I metaphorically begin smoking crystal meth and crack cocaine again.

How has Franz Kafka's prose affected your poetry? Or, you as a poet? Or, your writing process? 

Where do I begin with this question? Kafka has changed my life. Reading Kafka is like being completely out of control. When I first read him I knew I found an accurate depiction of myself in text. His characters are representative of him, and he is representative of the human condition. Through Kafka I learned there are no answers. Black and white does not exist. Life is nothing but gray areas. I’ve stopped trying to find resolutions in my poetry. I'm not looking for an end because there are no endings. Every failure is a success and every success is a failure. Erich Heller describes Kafka beautifully:

"In Kafka we have the modern mind, seemingly self-sufficient, intelligent, skeptical, ironical, splendidly trained for the great game of pretending that the world it comprehends in sterilized sobriety is the only and ultimate real one – yet a mind living in sin with the soul of Abraham. Thus he knows two things at once, and both with equal assurance: that there is no God, and that there must be God."

 This is why Kafka is the greatest.

  What is it like, as someone who has struggled with substance abuse, to get up on stage and be vulnerable about experiences that are traditionally shamed?

It's scary. It's difficult. It's painful. It's difficult to go back to the dark places. It's painful to relive the experiences. It's scary to put my true self on the chopping block for a crowd of strangers to judge. Sometimes I feel disgusting. Sometimes it hurts. Despite all of this it's refreshing. It’s liberating. Not everybody has been a drug addict, but a lot of people have been self destructive. That’s why I get on stage, to relate to people. In my experiences off stage after a performance I've learned that more people than I expect have been touched either directly or indirectly by drug addiction. If they haven't hopefully they understand I grew up in rural Oklahoma, what else is there to do?

What keeps you coming back to slam?

The community of poets in Baton Rouge. There are some amazing people in my city. Poets who are focused on the craft of writing and not the scores. Poets who share their personal narratives and allow themselves to be vulnerable on stage. There is a network of support and friendship. People like Donney Rose, Desireé Dallagiacomo, Xero Skidmore, Rodrick Minor, and Geoff Munsterman keep me encouraged to keep getting back on the mic.

What is your priority when writing? Are you more concerned with word choice? Form? How the poem will be read?

My main concern is being honest with myself. I ask myself how I can present my struggle in a way people can feel it. I want people to feel the hopelessness of drug addiction, rural poverty, and a tumultuous paternal relationship. How can I engage the reader enough to draw them into feeling my poem instead if just reading it? My priority is for my poems to have a simplistic complexity. I want my poems to have layers, reoccurring themes. I want my poems to take the reader somewhere else, and consistently return them to the same place. My priority is to have the reader riding the spiral.

What is your all-time favorite line of poetry?

I can't just pick one line of poetry but I can narrow it down to a few lines.

Every Night & every Morn

Some to Misery are Born

Every Morn & every Night

Some are Born to sweet delight

Some are Born to sweet delight

Some are Born to Endless Night

from “Auguries of Innocence” by William Blake

[texasgrandslam2014]

Competitor Profile: Beck Cooper

"The more vulnerable and honest I am in my writing, the more important and urgent the poem tends to be. If I am scared and excited to read it, then I know I am doing something right." 

__________________________________________________________

Shift (Pantoum)

When nothing makes sense, rearrange the pieces until you find the meaning Rotate the mirrors behind your eyes until your mentality shifts, remember That pain is necessary, it is part of becoming After all, you have always been a kaleidoscope, shifting is in your nature 

Rotate the mirrors behind your eyes until your mentality shifts, remember when you’re hurting, seek perspective After all, you have always been a kaleidoscope, shifting is in your nature This pain can be broken down into tiny sequins and shards of glass  

When you’re hurting, seek perspective There is a reason This pain can be broken down into tiny sequins and shards of glass   Remember this, shift like you do, find the meaning 

There is a reason Your bones ache as they grow Remember this, shift like you do, find the meaning  You don’t need anyone but yourself

Your bones ache as they grow That pain is necessary, it is part of becoming You don’t need anyone but yourself When nothing makes sense, rearrange the pieces until you find the meaning

_________________________________________________________

Name: Beck Cooper

Stage Name: Wreck-It-Beck (Just Kidding)

Age: 23

Years Active in Slam: One

Teams You’ve Been a Member of: Eclectic Truth (Baton Rouge!)

Place from which you are traveling to get to TGS: New Orleans, LA

Top 5 influential poets: Basically everybody I met at WOWPS this year. If I had to choose five, the first human-poets that come to mind are Denise Jolly, Desireé Dallagiacomo, Donney Rose, Dominique Christina, & Danez Smith. Only poets whose names start with the letter “D” I guess.

Have you been to TGS before, & if so, what are you hoping is the same/different from your previous experience?

This will be my first TGS experience. I’m still pretty excited about the prospect of getting my face on an astronaut body. 

If not, what are you most looking forward to at TGS this year?

Getting to know badass poets from other parts of the country who share my love for writing/performing. Also, this 2500 seat venue Safi’s warned us about. 

How would you describe your writing style?

I think my writing style can be adequately summed up using this quote from Mean Girls:

“I just have a lot of feelings”

Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer?

I wish there was a buzzfeed quiz to help me out with this one. I could see the results saying something like, “35% WRITER - 65% PERFORMER: You undoubtedly believe in writing as a healing practice and are definitely committed to challenging yourself as a writer, HOWEVER your chubby and rambunctious little ass has been performing for anyone willing to listen since the day you first discovered your hairbrush doubled as a bedazzled microphone and your raging ADHD blessed you with a wild imagination and total lack of inhibition!”

Someday I hope I can consider myself a writer and a performer.

Who are you looking forward to/nervous as hell to compete against?

It’s hard to say, everybody looks so intimidating with their faces photoshopped onto astronauts. 

What is your goal for this competition?

To make Safi proud. That’s all I really want in life. 

What is going through your head before you get on stage?

Almost a year ago I was competing in a slam and I was incredibly nervous to be vulnerable on stage, in front of so many people I didn’t know. Right before they called my name, Desireé Dallagiacomo passed me a little note she had ripped out from her journal and written on. It said: “Commit. Believe in yourself. Convince your audience. You deserve to be on stage. Kill it.” I’ve made it my mantra. As I walk to the mic, I always think about who I wrote the poem for, while repeating her words in my head. She’s a pretty wonderful BFF, to say the least.

So let's talk about how poetry has changed your life in the one year you have been active in slam. How have you rearranged your life to make it to slams, open mics, practices, etc. How important and urgent is writing to you?

When I was in college (in Los Angeles) I used to go to Da Poetry Lounge every Tuesday night for their weekly slams. I always left in awe of the poets brave enough to own their trauma so eloquently on a stage in front of strangers. Never in a million years did I think I could have what it takes to write and perform poetry of my own. After living in New Orleans for about a year, I was going through a really rough transitional period in my life and seeking some sort of community and stability. I went to a couple of Slam New Orleans events, and eventually I worked up the courage to perform for the first time. That was only a year ago, what a whirlwind. Since then I’ve really been embraced and supported by many individuals in the New Orleans and Baton Rouge poetry scenes who have pushed me to have confidence in myself and say the things I need to say. “Poetry has changed my life” sounds so cliché, but for me it is simply the truth. As for rearranging my life to fit slams/open mics/practices, there was a moment where I decided to really make poetry a priority, so I ended up quitting Roller Derby and my Improv group to focus on writing/performing. It was a big adjustment, but the decision was an easy one. 

What have your influential poets taught you about writing, but also about performance? It seems all your influential poets are also badass performers. 

If I had to boil it down to a common denominator, they all have instilled in me a sense of integrity and rawness when it comes to writing and performing. All of those poets really are badass performers, but in my opinion, their badass-ness stems from their authenticity and willingness to be vulnerable in their writing. Their work is urgent, rooted in personal experience, and unapologetically honest. Their bravery pushes me to be my most authentic self, and their dedication to the craft motivates me to challenge myself as a writer.

What was it like to be part of a team while still very new to slam?

Being part of a team was wild. I am so lucky that I got to represent Baton Rouge at Nationals with my Eclectic Truth teammates. I’ve learned so much from each of them over the past year, and I am truly grateful for the experience. The process of writing group pieces was really challenging, but also important for my growth as a writer. And there’s really no better feeling than cheering on your teammates, and seeing them show up for you when you’re on the mic. It really was a lot of fun, and an absolute honor. 

What is it about performance, writing, your home venue, the poets who surround you that keeps you coming back?

I look back at this last year in poetry and spoken word, and my proudest accomplishments have nothing to do with scores or winning bouts. They have to do with the way I’ve been able to heal and triumph through writing and performing. In the last year I have reclaimed my body in ways I didn’t think possible, I have found the confidence to leave (for the last time) an unhealthy relationship, I have discovered a new sense of pride in my queer identity and I feel empowered as a big woman for the first time in my life. Every time I write and perform a new poem, it feels like I’m chipping off another piece of my shame, and turning it into courage, into something I can be proud of. That’s what keeps me coming back. This community of strong and talented individuals who encourage me to reclaim the parts of myself I am ashamed of, and push me to be the best and most unapologetic version of myself as possible. 

How do you know when a poem you've written is going to become a staple of your performance poems? Is it more about how the audience reacts, or how you feel while reading the poem?

Well first off, I just started writing and performing, so I don’t have THAT many poems to choose from. But I can usually tell when a poem is going to be a staple because I am terrified of it. The more vulnerable and honest I am in my writing, the more important and urgent the poem tends to be. If I am scared and excited to read it, then I know I am doing something right. 

[texasgrandslam2014]

Competitor Profile: James Church

"What I've noticed within the past 4 years of TGS, with regard to competing, is this, if you show love, you'll receive love in return. Winning and losing is a byproduct, but the one aspect every competitor will walk away with is growth and knowledge, and because of that I continue to compete in TGS." 

__________________________________________________________

Unloading Moonlight

We are a balled fist with the sun dripping from its knuckles,

We swing at strangers and call them the sky,

Their faces are a bundle of clouds every morning, 

Maybe this is why my mother never took comfort in daylight,

I've seen hearts run away,

Leaving us notes saying,

Don't give things away so easily,

But we're stuck between holy water and a switchblade,

God is a rock and a hard place,

Love is where God can be found in a woodshed,

Sacrifice is a box a nails,

Pastors hammer Christ in our temples and call it communication,

When he died do you think it was only for the privileged,

Because they never pay attention unless the camera is aimed in the white direction,

Derrick Gaines was a 15 year old balled fist,

He spoke with clip loaded in his throat,

And shot his mouth off more often than his teachers would like,

Derrick found comfort in question marks,

He'd collect them and hand them out to police officers,

One night an officer shot moonlight through Derrick's chest for loading his phone too quickly,

He woke up in a woodshed with a mouth full of nails,

Derrick swallowed them whole and called it communion, 

At his eulogy the priest said that God also knows great sacrifice,

But God never sacrificed His son,

He just brought him home

__________________________________________________________

Name: James Church

Stage Name: Heart (unless Tova is around)

Age: 29

Years Active in Slam: 4

Teams You’ve Been a Member of: I've been a member of every Mic Check slam team, minus the youth team we had years ago.

Place from which you are traveling to get to TGS: I'll be traveling from my bed in College Station.

Top 5 influential poets: Saul Williams, Charles Bukowski, Sandra Cisneros, Rumi, & Audre Lorde

Have you been to TGS before, & if so, what are you hoping is the same/different from your previous experience?

This will be my 4th year competing in TGS. I hope the family environment says the same and I don't have to worry about something being different. Amir Safi always has something up his sleeve.

How would you describe your writing style?

Imagery imagery imagery...and imagery

Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer?

This one is tough. I really don't know. I'd like to think writer, but then again slam is a performance competition as well. I just like to read on stage and then get a taco afterwards.

Who are you looking forward to/nervous as hell to compete against?

Outspoken Bean is one I always love sharing the stage with. Freequency, this amazing artist is beyond captivating and I'm very excite to compete against her. Bill Moran, teacher vs. student dynamic and I love it every time. Desiree Dallagiacomo, well just because it's Desiree. Nic Lupfer because he is the poet no will see coming.

What is your goal for this competition?

To win a free year of pizza and marinara sauce...I may be in the wrong competition.

What is going through your head before you get on stage?

The only thing that goes through my mind before stepping on stage is I hope I'm able to represent myself and my message in the best way possible.

How has your approach to TGS evolved over the four years you've been competing?

 I've realized the game of slam. I take notice of the judges, the audience, and the host. An outline of a game plan is prepared with audibles waiting in the wings just in case. Honestly, I still have no clue what I'm doing though. A part of me realizes that it's a competition, but the rest of me solely wants to share the stage with my friends and family. How does one compete against their brothers and sisters? What I've noticed within the past 4 years of TGS, with regard to competing, is this, if you show love, you'll receive love in return. Winning and losing is a byproduct, but the one aspect every competitor will walk away with is growth and knowledge, and because of that I continue to compete in TGS. 

  How has writing changed you as a person?

 Writing has most definitely changed me as a person. It's shown me that I'm able to accomplish a task well, not always in a timely manner, but well none the less. Writing has given me something to dream towards. When I was 6 there was a short story contest at the school I was attending and I entered it. I wrote everything in pencil on large lined paper. Upon completion I was walking to the administration office to submit it when a 5th grader beat me up, erased my name, put his in its place, and turned it in. I didn't say anything because getting beat up was not my favorite pass-time. The 5th grader eventually won the competition using my work and at that moment I knew I wanted to write for the rest of my life. I'd dream about it as a child and still do as an adult. Then I veered more toward poetry in teenage years and then began to compete within slam. What changed me the most is poetry. I realized when I construct poetry, it is my own language and when the audience snaps, hoots, hollers, and approaches me after a show, it means they are fluent in James and that someone can actually understand me.

  What is your priority when writing?

  My main priority when writing is to get everything out and then pull the bits from the wreckage. We can't be picky as writers, all we have is what we allow ourselves write, so why not write everything and miss nothing. 

  Where do you see yourself and poetry in five years?

 Myself and poetry will be roommates for the rest of my life. I want to teach. I'm a firm believer that we as writers cannot teach someone how to write, yes there is grammer, punctuation, sentence structure, and slew of other concepts and rules within the English language, but I'm not talking about that. I want to teach the youth there are no corners within ones imagination. I believe once you've completed that task as an educator, the student then can begin to develop their own creative process for writing. I want to pass on what I've learned to a future writer and hope to little baby Jesus it's beneficial towards another person's writing process.

  What is your all-time favorite line of poetry?

"We are determining the future at this very moment. We know the heart is the philosopher's stone. Our music is our alchemy. We stand as the manifested equivalent of three buckets of water and a handful of minerals, thus, realizing that those very buckets turned upside down supply the percussive factor of forever."

- Saul Williams

[texasgrandslam2014]

Competitor Profile: Julian Copado

"The only thing that goes through my head before I hit the stage is that for those 3 minutes the world is mine, I don't worry about my competitors and their poems they perform, and I don't worry about their scores, all I focus on is me and that no one will take those three minutes away from me."

_________________________________________________________

Señor Paletero/Days Like These

Growing up,

The Brooklyn style courtyard housing

behind St. Elmo’s motel was my paradise.

Even though to my parents it was just another

unfinished government “project” with the usual

“mocosos” around the corner gambling away their

values with a pair of dice.

This is not another American ghetto story about

broken dreams or the harsh realities of the slum’s

self-destructive statistics on homicides, gang territory

or shot-up life sentences, but rather an innocent

memory.

Señor Paletero!

There were two types of bells that surround my

childhood; those from the Catholic church every

Sunday morning, and that cold-rusted jingle rooting

from small bells that danced back and forth off of a

worn out stainless steel bar attached to the ice cream

cart.

Day by day, I would grab money from my teenage

mutant ninja turtles tin lunchbox because father was

too tired of cleaning up poorly broken piggy banks.

As I quickly crushed Washington’s face in a fistful

of joy, I made my next moves towards happiness.

Each step, each child, each tile, styled my feet’s

movements closer to popsicle paradise.

Señor Paletero!

I sincerely thank you for slowing down your pace

as you saw this restless face race against the ticking

time-bomb of an asthma attack.

Let’s face it; the ice cream truck never had the patience

to slow down on my block.

Every once in a while, during the summer time the sun

would set gracing us with a shade of lavender up in the

sky.

The scenery, the atmosphere was beautiful, peaceful,

and silent, just like my community.

There were no sounds of gunshots piercing through

an innocent soul, no sounds of sirens, and no sight

of violence.

Every once in a while, there was no slum, no project,

no ghetto.

Instead, you could hear the heart-beat of my community

beat back into rhythm.

You could hear the tambourine men and women slamming

their apartment doors after a hard day of honest work.

You could hear the sizzling of tia Rosa’s home-cooking

singing, serenading our love for her food.

You could hear the clicks and clacks of cervezas clashing in

ballad-motion of agreement, cheering “salud!” in hopes to see

more days like these.

But if you were lucky enough, you got to see my parents fall

in love all over again as they twisted and turned in rhythmic

variation dancing to salsa poet kings: Tito Puente and Willie

Gonzales.

Through the thick concrete mud there grew a garden of joy

in my community. You did not get to see it blossom everyday,

due to the reality of its conditions  it grew in, but every once

in a while with a bit of love, water, and spice you got to observe

its tenacity to blossom into something beautiful.

And it was days like these that reminded me that it was not

always that bad.

_________________________________________________________

Name: Julian Copado

Stage Name: Professor J

Age: 22

Years Active in Slam: 1 year

Teams You’ve Been a Member of: N/A

Place from which you are traveling to get to TGS: Austin, Texas

Top 5 influential poets: Lemon Andersen, Flaco Navaja, Miguel Piñero, Rosemary Catacalos, and Black Ice

Have you been to TGS before, & if so, what are you hoping is the same/different from your previous experience?

I have not, this will be my first time to compete at TGS.

If not, what are you most looking forward to at TGS this year?

To be able to compete with such great poets and learn from each and everyone one of them. I would also love to connect with poets from other parts of Texas and any poets from out of state.

How would you describe your writing style?

My writing style focuses more on detail and imagery when it comes to describing things in my poems so I can make it aesthetically pleasing to my audience as they listen to my poetry. I try to stick as close as I can to the actual environment that the poem originated from (whether good or bad) to help me have the same emotion I first had when I encountered that experience growing up.

Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer?

I don't have an English literature background, theatre background, or any national poetry slam team background, so I know that I always have to improve on every aspect I can, but if I had to choose I would consider myself more of a writer than a performer, but always improving my stage appearance in order to give my stories more impact.

Who are you looking forward to/nervous as hell to compete against?

I am honestly looking forward to competing against everyone. Nervous is a stage I cannot confine myself when it comes to a competition.

What is your goal for this competition?

To leave my footprint in the poetry community and sharing my experiences.

What is going through your head before you get on stage?

The only thing that goes through my head before I hit the stage is that for those 3 minutes the world is mine, I don't worry about my competitors and their poems they perform, and I don't worry about their scores, all I focus on is me and that no one will take those three minutes away from me. I also focus as much as I can, clear my head, clear the voices around me, and go back to that emotional place that my poem originated from.

What do you prioritize when you write poems for slam?

The most important thing I prioritize when it comes to writing my poems for slam is that every story I write about has to have an important message. Most of my poems revolve around stories from my experiences growing up. There is a lot of negative energy in some of my experiences of growing up in a rough neighborhood, that's why some of my poems have more of that raw feeling behind them. So it is my mission to not just only write about experiences, but to have a strong deliberate message as well. The message is the most important part of my writing because it gives the audience a sense of understanding, the mutual feeling of emotion, and a different way of looking at life no matter what circumstance you grow up in/live in.

Since you don't have a background in literature, or theater, how were you introduced to slam?

Hip Hop and Slam poetry go hand in hand. Before I got introduced to the stage, I freestyled a lot. Every Tuesday night there was a cipher outside of the capitol near the steps. Local MCs tightened in a circle of "floetry", our own spoken word accompanied by a beat from someone's boombox. A few years back, after the cipher died down, I got introduced to the Austin Mic Exchange which is the hip hop open mic that happens right after the Austin Poetry Slam on Tuesdays. One night that I decided to go early I stumbled upon the Austin Poetry Slam scene and fell in love with the atmosphere and how these poets looked so alive up on stage. I've written poetry since I have been in middle school, but had never been exposed to the slam poetry scene until about a year ago. That night was when I decided to try something new. There were many stories, experiences that I wanted to talk about, cry about, not necessarily try to rhyme "bar for bar", but share in a different way besides freestylin'. Most of the time when I freestyled at the cipher, the rhyming focused more on what the last person had said, jokes, battling each other to see who has sharper skills, etc. but it was rarely personal, deep, and emotional. It was the "laugh, rhyme, have a good time" type of therapy. When I decided to start slam poetry, I had been going through rough life events for the past 4 years. Coming from a working class family, we couldn't really afford going to a psychologist to help me cope with the stress of losing family, close friends, and being a first generation college student. All I could do was write, but had no one to talk to, it was just me and the four walls that were closing in on me pretty fast. Although freestylin was a sort of a fun type of therapy it wasn't engaging or focusing on the real issues I was facing with, but just ignoring them for the time being. When I first got up on stage for slam poetry I felt alive, like I could finally break free from the four walls I had been writing on all along because I felt like no one could hear me, unless that person was getting paid $150 per hour and had Dr. in front of their last name. Austin Poetry Slam became my $5 therapy session and even though I didn't know anyone from the audience I just felt a special connection enough for me to share some of my hardest times in life with strangers who were all ears, there to listen to the vulnerable soul tell his story.

You are one of the few people who I have interviewed whose influential writers are, in majority, people of color. How do you think your influential writers weave their culture into their poetry? How are you better able to connect to their words?

My top five influential writers/poets all have a common theme in their poetry: similar backgrounds to my own. Much like I have learned from them and their style of writing, their works consist of the places where they come from, the struggles, the beauty, the essence of their respective cultures into their poetry by controlling it creatively. A lot of their work is very emotional due to the struggles of trying to give life to their culture in a place where we are suppressed from it. I connect very well with these poets because of culture, racial backgrounds and the hardships of living it (to an extent). These poets are a generation older than me, some of them grew up around the same time as my parents and although they talk about hardships, racism, and discrimination as main problems back in their day, unfortunately I have lived that to a certain extent today. Whether it is immigration, growing up in the ghetto, working class backgrounds, the beautiful Mexican culture, the beauty in growing up with loving parents in a rough place, I can all relate to their themes and words.

How has your approach to poetry evolved since you started a year ago?

It has evolved a lot and really fast. Every time I go to the Austin Poetry Slam or the NeoSoul Slam I learn from all of the poets. Both my writing and performance aspects to slam poetry have improved very quickly and I am always grateful to the poetry slam scene for that. I tend to discover a bit more about myself through my writing styles and from there I know to shift my focus one way or the other. Through the guidance of some friends like Victoria Murray, Christopher Formey, Glori B., and Danny Strack, I have been able to progress my stage presence, writing skills, and emotions to a level of performance that impacts, leaves a footprint at the end of each story I tell. I have learned to never rush into a poem when I first start writing it. Sometimes it has taken me up to half a year to finish one solid poem. I have learned to find my voice not only through paper, but also through slam poetry. I have learned how to fluctuate my voice with tone and flow in my stories so that the powerful lines in them have the most emotional impact. The most important thing that has evolved my approach to poetry is how to creatively control certain stories, memories that are really hard to explain without wanting to cry or scream in anger. And I thank that to the slam poetry scene, because every poet that I hear up there, has their own story to tell, their own hardships, their own positives and negatives in life, and to be able to control that creatively really takes focus, right state of mind and courage.

What is your all-time favorite line of poetry?

This one is by my favorite slam poet, Lemon Andersen in his short poem titled 'Himalaya'

"It's like no one or nothing else exists, but their soul claps and the stain glass Nile river of tears, salty, stinging my mother's smile. I could hear her, pitch-perfect in the background yelling..."That's my boy"

[texasgrandslam2014]

Competitor Profile: Brent Green

 "I'm a writer that masquerades as a performer out of necessity. I only began getting on stage because at the time I felt people were too impatient to read and understand what it was I had to say, that I had to scream it at them in colloquial, hard-hitting tongue for anyone to actually hear me." 

__________________________________________________________

Astronomical

  Our bodies

are pieced together from solar winds and

supernova shock waves.

We were born

from this

God-spun

cotton-candy cosmos.

  We formed

along galactic disks

the most resplendent nativity scene

we never saw.

The straw beneath us was galactic kindling

collapsing into

this human nursery,

this molecular cloud of consciousness

we call Earth.

  For we have to understand:

  We are

the conscious universe

looking back on itself

for the first time.

  We stare

into dihydrogen-monoxide reflections

and ask, "Why

   am I an un-ignited protostar?"

  “Who will run fire to these lips of mine?”

  Let me tell you

if you keep growing you won't wait long.

That soon you'll blaze nuclear fusion

inside your beating pulsar-heart

  and those,

those undulating beats

will kiss the edge of virgin light

if you let them.

  So show heart.

  That from all of life's pressures you

become your own sun.

Be a main sequence success story.

  But do not simply shine,

GLEAM.

Be as bright and beautiful

as the colliding atoms

escaping from our sun.

Evolve into a being so illustrious

that you immolate,

radiating everything that you were

packed onto the cusp

of your own solar winds

because my mother, Nature,

would think you’re beautiful,

and she knows how to make pretty things.

  Still some of you

are dark nebulas

so dense and oblivious to yourselves

you will obscure trillions of protostars.

  What I mean by that

is you will obscure  the people sitting right next to you.

I expect better from y'all.

Because you weren't written by a lazy author

in monochrome stereotype.

You!

Are inscribed

through astral alphabets

in bright 1990's word art.

  The stars

are multi-colored for a reason.

  So be whatever you want.

  Be an eccentric Jupiter

or a rogue planet.

Be

a solitary star system

blazing as bright as a hypergiant.

  If you blaze alone

it makes no difference.

  Because you're just as beautiful alone

as you are locked in transit with your significant binary.

  If you are captured

  I hope

  you orbit long.

  Orbit well.

  Are locked in tidal union and grow wedding rings

around your hot Jupiters,

mine the steaming clouds of your love

for Helium-3 to power you both through eternity.

  That you kiss

harder

than two lead ions

colliding

in the LHC

and say,

  "We were written by Seraphs to be together

in the Book of Life.

When our reverse alarm clock bodies

fade to sleep among the stars

I will stay with you,

our bodies traversing the cosmos

orbiting one another for eternity.

My love, I am with you

until the universe somenight cools

and we snuggle up close

one last time

inside this cosmic nursery

we were born.”

__________________________________________________________

Name: Brent Green

Stage Name: Brent C. Green

Age: 22

Years Active in Slam: 

 Just over five, beginning when I was a senior in high school.

Teams you've been a member of:      The Mic Check national team and before that the Mic Check youth team.

Place from which you are traveling to get to TGS:       The far off, exotic world known as College Station.

Top 5 influential poets: 

     Canadian poet Shane Koyzcan,      Texas heroes Kevin Burke, Amir Safi, and Ryan Corb,       Mr. Rudy Francisco. 

Have you been to TGS before, & if so, what are you hoping is the same/different from your previous experience?      I went during its infancy the first year it was hosted. Two years later I'm hoping TGS has found its roots and finds itself as a post-adolescent, sure of itself and its identity. In other words I want a smoother experience for the audience and poet alongside a sold out crowd.

How would you describe your writing style?       Metaphysics meets revolution.       I want to explain our place in the universe and have us understand what we are and how we work. I want us to find the right answers even if that means showing people that our current systems or lines of thought are defunct.      Sometimes a poem will begin with a question or declaration and the rest of the time is spent explaining through a slew of literary devices what the answer is or why what I declared is the way it is.

     I have a Science Fiction element to my writing as well. I'm simultaneously a SF novelist and a spoken word poet, so often times they will influence one another or become indistinguishable. 

Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer?       I'm a writer that masquerades as a performer out of necessity. I only began getting on stage because at the time I felt people were too impatient to read and understand what it was I had to say, that I had to scream it at them in colloquial, hard-hitting tongue for anyone to actually hear me. Instead of waiting weeks for someone to read my novel, I could have instant feedback.

Who are you looking forward to/nervous as hell to compete against? Good Ghost Bill and Outspoken Bean. These are two great men who helped me see both what I could become and who I wanted to be. Their experience over me in slamming is intimidating. But being young and trying new things has its advantages.

What is your goal for this competition?       To prove to myself and others that I have what it takes to use my writing as a means of supporting myself through way of being a career poet and novelist.

What is going through your head before you get on stage?       I'm always wondering if the other poets know that anxiety is the world's greatest laxative.       But in all seriousness I'm hoping that the emotion I carried while writing the poem transfers onto the stage. I hope that despite all of the memorizing and reciting and practice that I will not be callous to the emotions and I can gift them to the audience.

How has Mic Check as an organization affected your poetry?             Mic Check is an amazing cradle. We’re often praised on how welcoming, supportive, and vocal our audience is. Being within a college town we routinely have new poets and audience members coming through, rotating each year.

            Being one of the few locals, I’ve had an extended stay as a member of the venue. That means I’ve been blessed with a huge slew of amazing voices to draw influences from through the years, and continued support to keep my confidence and drive high.

How do you prepare for an upcoming performance or slam? Do you have a few practices or just run your poems a couple of minutes before?             Pacing. Lots of pacing and shouting out to my Emma Roberts movie poster. Instead of mirror practice I stand and pretend that she and Freddie Highmore are my only audience members who I have to impress.             And I’m constantly terrified I’ll forget a transition between stanzas, so before a slam you’ll often find me walking and muttering to myself making sure I have it down. It’s ironic I do this because at a microphone we poets are rooted.

             How does your writing differ between your poetry and your novels?

            My poetry is much more direct, short, and curt. Despite wanting to, I don’t have the time to offer a detailed analysis or essay about why I believe the particular point of view I’m expressing is correct. I can only wrap it inside of a metaphor or drop it on the audience bluntly with a few surrounding explanations. Sometimes even if the entire poem is an explanation that’s not enough. 500 words and three minutes can be a tough obstacle.              As such my prose tends to be much more deeply philosophical and expansive, as there is time and space on the endless page to let the ideas breathe, for the characters and thoughts to wander until they come to their natural conclusions.

            I write in the Science Fiction Space Opera genre so I am able to have dozens of characters and points of view, settings and plots. Instead of just one mind I can explore many to find answers and tell a more complete story instead of just one side of it like often happens in poetry.

What is it that connects all of your influential writers? What is it that separates them?

            Kevin Burke, Shane Koyczan, Good Ghost Bill, Lacey Roop, Outspoken Bean, Rudy Francisco, and all the others, are poets who I have seen myself becoming.

            What I mean by that is they are all artists who have been met with success on the stage, have featured widely, and for many of them, are doing this for a living just as I wish to.

What is your all-time favorite line of poetry?              “This is for the beached whales beaching themselves, because maybe love and loneliness are not just human conditions.”                                                  --  Shane Koyczan “Blueprint”             It reminds us that we should not always concern ourselves with petty human squabbles.

            That the world is different than how we look at it, that we are small and only human with more than just ourselves out there.

            Entire species and planets and suns are waiting for us to discover them.

            Our goals should be far-reaching into the future and our eyes astronomical in their outlook.

[texasgrandslam2014]

Competitor Profile: Briauna Barrera

"...even though I write for release, I also look to connect with others. To me, that's the amazing thing about art, it's has so many functions and layers. Meaning can be derived in as many ways as there are people. We're all living in the middle of history, and poetry is one of my ways to be apart of it."

_________________________________________________________

Small Texas Town

Let me tell you about living in a small Texas town.

About how the town was spread out, but the people packed in, how everyone seemed to be

connected somehow, a web that could tangle you up forever if you weren't careful.

About how we had jokes that covered the entire city, how stories and rumors and legends spread

through the streets quicker than wild fire.

About Friday night football games, screaming until the wind took our voices and carried our team

to a touchdown. It wasn't about the football though, it was about the friends, the fun, it was about

being connected to something larger than yourself, even if that something was just a mediocre 4A

sports team. It didn't matter, we made kicking ass and taking names a past­time, even when we

didn't win. We were Lions and there was no way you were ever taking our pride from us.

Let me tell you about driving around to no where in particular, volume on high, cares on low,

feeling like we were fucking invincible, because we were, even if only for that night. That same

wind that carried our voices, held our hopes high and we drove on streets that seemed endless

those nights, even if it was only to get a better look at those stars we so wanted to become, giants

in our own rights, we took those roads knowing that one day we would take them and not have to

turn back again, those nights were practice.

We treated our cars like beds, cause home was wherever we laid our heads down, and our beds like

boats as we rocked them through the night. We always wanted to go somewhere new, even if the

place wasn't better, curiosity our greatest strength and biggest downfall. We never got tired of

these fair rides, full of cheap tricks and rickety rails as they were. Even if those rides were just

smoking joints until shit, you were gone or loud parties that were an excuse to keep the silence at

bay. It was the sense of adventure that mattered.

But like any past haunt, my small Texas town is full of skeletons that I'm trying to leave behind.

Memory lane can just as easily become a grave yard and truthfully, I'm afraid of dying.

I know my roots are important, but if I only look to what I've grown in, I'll never be able to look to

what I can grow into. I know my roots go deep, but I want my branches to go just as far, I want

them to touch those stars, those stars that held my salvation on nights when there was too much of

me and not enough of myself, those nights I felt like a transported seed sapling and I just wanted to

feel whole, those nights where my friends and I felt invincible, our branches extending from the

trunks of our cars, telling the night and anyone who would listen that we are here and we are

coming.

Waco may not be my home any more, but it was for so long and that counts for something.

It may not be the point on the map that I'm driving to, but it is that point on the map that I have

driven from.

And I know, that on any given night, I can pull my car over and look at those same stars that I

gazed to from my small Texas town and know that while I may not always have a clear idea of

where I'm going, I'll always know where I came from.

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Name: Briauna Barrera

Stage Name: Briauna

Age: 19

Years Active in Slam: 1

Teams You’ve Been a Member of: None, I am although affiliated with Puro Slam.

Place from which you are traveling to get to TGS: San Antonio

Top 5 influential poets: Buddy Wakefield, Andrea Gibson, Sam Sax, Neil Hilborn, and anyone who brings chills to my skin.

What are you most looking forward to at TGS this year? Meeting new poets, seeing poets I've met before, and travelling somewhere I've never been.

How would you describe your writing style? An attempt to be as honest and authentic with myself as I can.

Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer? I'm still working on both.

Who are you looking forward to/nervous as hell to compete against? I'm not sure at this point.

What is your goal for this competition? To enjoy myself and better myself as a poet.

What is going through your head before you get on stage? My poem, everything else just kind of fades away.

What is it about certain poems by your influential poets that makes you think "DAMMIT I WISH I WROTE THAT"?

I try my best not to think those kind of thoughts, even though it's really hard sometimes because there is so much amazing poetry out there. I find it to be counter-productive as an writer to become hung up on art that I wish I had created but didn't. Instead, I try to find enjoyment and inspiration in those pieces and take something from them and make it my own. 

How do you think Puro Slam, as well as the poets of San Antonio, has shaped your poetry and your approach to poetry?

Being apart of Puro Slam has definitely pushed me in ways that I did not anticipate. When I came to San Antonio, I did not foresee the heckling, the drunkenness, and the general rowdiness that is Puro. And I'm not going to lie, it was and sometimes still is hard to deal with. You can get angry, you can get frustrated, and there are times when you just want to yell obscenities and storm off stage. You don't though. You tough it out and spit your piece. But then you realize something. You realize that you love it. Puro Slam has taught me to be unapologetically myself, to take pride in what I do and who I am, even the fucked up parts. I've always held honesty in high esteem and Puro and its poets have helped foster that in my poetry. And the thing about honesty is that while it may not always be beautiful or easy, it's always worthwhile. Puro Slam may be far from perfect, but it's home. 

If you could describe your writing style in terms of poet-meets-poet (kafka-meets-sarah kay, anis mojgani-meets-taylor mali, rachel mckibbens-meets-jon sands), what would you say your writing style is?

I'm still developing my own writing style, so it's hard for me define my poetry in those kinds of terms. Really, I'm just trying to figure who I am, both as a human and as a poet. 

What is it that you hope to communicate to audiences, fellow poets, strangers, when you are performing? Do you write to inspire or to release?  

Truthfully, I'm still figuring out what I have to say. I initially write for myself, to take the experiences I have and attempt to make reflections from them. However, even though I write for release, I also look to connect with others. To me, that's the amazing thing about art, it's has so many functions and layers. Meaning can be derived in as many ways as there are people. We're all living in the middle of history, and poetry is one of my ways to be apart of it. 

[texasgrandslam2014]

Competitor Profile: Bill Moran

"I’m coming to realize that we aren’t actually the builders. Or rather, writing a poem isn’t exactly an act of building per se. If we poets do anything at all, we fashion the tools that the builders work with. All I’ve ever done is this: write the poems that happen to me, give them to an audience, and watch what they do with them."

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“polyester” was a famous greek philosopher. Lafayette Holiday Inn, Olympus, 1984: Zeus knocks back a fifth of honey whiskey nectar and blacks out on a pull-out couch (his head, too, is polyester, wet, spring-loaded, queen-sized.) His daughter, gray-eyed Athena, famously erupts from his skull hungover battle-weary. She removes her glimmering, bronze helmet and vomits on the hotel carpet raises four kids in Houston howls with glory.

_________________________________________________________

Name:

Bill Moran

Stage Name:

Good Ghost Bill

Age:

26

Years Active in Slam:

6

Teams You’ve Been a Member of:

Member of Austin Poetry Slam 2011, 2012, & 2013; coached Mic Check in 2012 & 2013.

Place from which you are traveling to get to TGS:

Spanish Town, Baton Rouge, LA

Top 5 influential poets:

Saul Williams, Anis Mojgani, Eduardo Galeano (I’m considering him a poet, given the poetic

influence he’s had on my writing), and I have to give the last two slots over to the handful of

amazing writers I’m blessed to call my friends.

Have you been to TGS before, & if so, what are you hoping is the same/different from your

previous experience?

I have indeed been to TGS! Year #4 coming up here soon. Over the past couple years, I’ve been

involved as a festival co-director rather than a competitor, so I’m most looking forward to being

back home in the great nation of Bryan, Texas, being super lazy, and just surrounding myself

with good poetry, good company, and good food (my diet will be 100% taco, 100% pizza, 100%

brisket, 800% delicious. Can’t wait.)

How would you describe your writing style?

“Post-baroque tex-mex jazzercise.” Or, high-concept writing that explores and muddles the

boundary of internal and external, using lofty imagery that can get surreal but still keep its feet

on the ground. I talk about eating a lot.

Do you consider yourself more of a writer or a performer?

A perfwritormer. But for real, have you seen how my arms flail like crazy on stage? I’ll go with

writer, haha.

Who are you looking forward to/nervous as hell to compete against?

Hmm, I hear those Mic Check kiddos have a thing or two to tell us...

What is your goal for this competition?

My goal is to: eat tacos, see my friends again, not embarrass myself, and beat Madi Parker at

dominoes approximately one thousand times.

What is going through your head before you get on stage?

“I’m hungry.” In a figurative sense... but also for, like, cheeseburgers.

How long does it take you, normally, to craft a poem of yours? I know how detailed and careful you are with your images and word choice, so I'm wondering what is your writing process?

It used to take me months to finish a poem. When I began writing, I’d start a poem with a laundry list of bits from my imagination. They usually bordered on surreal or fantastical, and I wouldn’t really know what they meant until I put them on page and could identify a common thread. There’s always a common thread - if these images and lines are surfacing in my consciousness one after another for a week or two at a time, they are most likely belied by point of importance to me, to which I am slowly approaching one line at a time. I’d usually identify the meaning of the poem about halfway through writing it and have that “aha!” moment. Then I’d rearrange and chip away at my 1,000+ words of raw material to more clearly serve my point. It’s at this point in editing that I would marry aesthetic and rhetoric, form and function, so that my poem entertains the reader’s imagination while keeping its feet clearly on the ground in real-world affairs, trying to say something real in very surreal terms. While I still largely adhere to this model, I have widened the scope of my writing which has necessitated a widening of my process. Sometimes, my jumping-off point is not in the imagistic material itself but in the main metaphorical conceit. In a recent piece, I connected the murder of Julius Caesar with metal/hardcore concert most pits, and all of the imagery fell in to place from there: “Let the fury glide quiet into our spine like a surprising knife. / Let us spit up blood ‘n poems, blood ‘n poems.” Other times, form is the vehicle that carries the piece into being. For example, another new piece of mine is loosely modeled after Propp’s “Morphology Of The Folktale”, in which he outlines the 30+ general plot points of traditional folktales. Other times, it’s theme. Lately I’ve been exploring the relationship between internal and external reality, and blurring the line between. Food/eating imagery really comes in handy here, and I find myself writing pieces that start with “1. Boy wakes up in wall, / has to eat his way out.”  In short - to use the tired metaphor for the craft of poetry as a house once again - I’ve been finding new doors through which to enter a poem. It’s exciting.

What's it like to approach poetry all the different ways that you do (former administrator at a poetry org, an MFA student, a member of a slam team, and as one person in a slam? Is it all the same thing that you love, or do you have a specific plan of action for each one?

Great question - it’s one I struggle with on a daily basis. I could write a thesis about this, but I’ll keep it short. In a certain sense, what we do as poets is grapple with the vastness of experience in our lives, and arrange very unlike things in to some coherent narrative, argument, or impression. It’s like the toddler of everyday life turned over its bowl of spaghetti, and we’re trying to arrange the noodles into some sort of picture (dumb metaphor, but seems somehow fitting at the moment, probably because I’m hungry.) In the world of poetry, that’s all I’m trying to do - arrange my MFA noodles, teacher noodles, non-profit noodles, and slam noodles into a nice and neat spaghetti painting of my writing career. Everything is its learnable qualities, and it’s my job to dig out what I can take from each realm of poetry, in its endlessly vast arrays, and to apply it in a way so that I continue to appreciate and progress in my craft.  Allow me to oversimplify things in fairly vague terms: in slam I fell in love with poetry, non-profit/outreach work saved me from falling out of love with it and strengthened my commitment to it, touring and teaching is how I carve out wonderful new space in a world I almost grew bored of, and this MFA program is way to challenge my craft, to toss it into some sort of rigorous fire and beat it into a stronger shape.

What was it like to travel to Australia and perform your poetry there, in comparison to the Texas, and more specifically Austin and Bryan/College Station scenes? And now what's it like for you to perform/participate in Louisiana?

Australia was a dream. It was a perfect consummation of all my efforts in poetry in the years leading up to it. I tell my students all the time that their words and voice is important, that their words/voice can do wonderful things if only they use them. Australia was my way of proving that to myself, that I’m not just spouting off sweet-sounding soundbites you’d find on an inspirational cat poster. On the contrary, my words actually brought me across the world to a country I never would have seen if I hadn’t started writing all these insane rants I call poems. Everyday for the month I was there I simply took in my surroundings, and was just grateful for the craft and for the role its played in my life. When I say the “craft”, I’m including the people who work tirelessly to promote it in their communities, engage young people in the world of poetry, and show traveling the love and hospitality that they would to their own family. The poets and poetry communities in Sydney, Canberra, Wollongong, Melbourne, and Brisbane showed me so much love, I can’t say how thankful I am for it. If there’s one connection I can make between Australia and Texas/Louisiana’s poetry scenes, it’s just that: reciprocity and community. While I was traveling overseas, this level of support wasn’t a new experience for me. It simply drew in sharper focus and made me take stock of the kind of support I’ve already received back home. It made me happy to be a part of similar communities in the States that strive to promote poetry and give it to others who need it most. That goes for Texas and Louisiana - just last night, I was invited to a poetry showcase at a huge, amazing theatre here in Baton Rouge, and the incredible Donney Rose carved out a spot in his headlining set for me to come on stage and perform at the end of the night. He sacrificed time on stage to welcome up this newcomer to his poetry community, without blinking an eye. I mean, if that isn’t the definition of support, I don’t know what is. These are the things that kick my butt into improving as a poet and person.

How do you know when a poem you have written is urgent? How does the writing itself and the process differ?

I’ve never really understood terms like “urgency” or “necessary” in regards to the writing process. In conversations about poetry in which these terms come up, the discourse is usually framed in the assumption that poetry is firstly meant to address some problem on a larger scale - that a poem is the hammer which drives in the nail. This is a wonderful idea, and there’s an elegant beauty in saying “This is a problem that urgently needs addressing, and I can fix it with my words.” I wish I could say that I do this, to say that the pragmatic, experiential aspects/effects of my poetry are intentional and first priority... but it just isn’t true. That’s not to say that my poems don’t approach real-life problems and attempt to reframe attitudes and discussions regarding important issues. I think pieces like “Handshakes” and “Good Kill” are obvious examples of that. But utility has never been the starting point for me. I just can’t go into a poem with an agenda, and not for lack of trying. So many times I’ve sat down and said to myself, “Ok, I HAVE to write a poem about x, y, and z...” and then come up with absolutely nothing. It’s not that I come up with bad material - I literally can’t come up with anything. Beating my head against this wall again and again necessitated an honest look at my own process, and I realized that poetry is something that happens to me far more than it is something that I do. If I write a poem that is meant to be unpacked in its larger social context, and seeks to affect some real change in its social circumstance, it is usually a surprise to me. I was surprised by “Handshakes”, and even by intensely confessional pieces such as “I Said, He Said” (the “Guilt” poem.) So in short, I can’t really answer to the “urgency” of pieces because they never do feel urgent to me. If they are urgent or necessary or important, I don’t realize until after the fact.

It’s such an important distinction that you bring up - to approach poetry as an instrument to change one’s circumstance, or as a symptom of that circumstance - and one I encourage new and old writers alike to consider regarding their own work. To restate, I feel that my approach to writing falls more closely towards the latter, in that it is more of a phenomenon that I experience than it is an artifice that I create. A poem happens when it bubbles up from inside me, and most of my “writing” process consists of simply getting the hell out of its way and letting it fall onto the page however it chooses (i.e. “I Said, He Said”, which is a hugely importantly piece to me, was so necessary for me to write, and its one that I wrote so casually and accidentally.) From that point, if it has a pragmatic, measurable effect on its audience or myself, on our conception of the the world, or on the world itself - then it is a welcome and grateful gift that I can’t really take credit for. More often than not, the impact a piece has owes largely to what my audience did with that poem - how they they received it and what it inspired them to say or do - rather than any sort of agenda I brought to the paper. If y’all take anything from this rant, I hope it’s that the phenomenon of poetry is what’s important. The writing itself is what is urgent. I’m coming to realize that we aren’t actually the builders. Or rather, writing a poem isn’t exactly an act of building per se. If we poets do anything at all, we fashion the tools that the builders work with. All I’ve ever done is this: write the poems that happen to me, give them to an audience, and watch what they do with them.

What is your all-time favorite line of poetry? (I'll take a few, because I doubt you can just have one).

Ah, you have just stumbled into the majestically-gaudy palace of the King of Indecision; gaze upon the fine, mismatched ornamentation and ten thrones which I couldn’t choose between. Ha. Ok, I’m being dumb. But yeah, there’s no hope for me answering this question rightly. Instead, I’ll give you the first line that popped into my head, one by my bff Zachary Caballero which has been knocking around in my brain for a good while now. I am more than ok with claiming this as my current favorite:

 "Listen, 'cause I won't say this again:  if there is a God of trying, I still believe in him."