Slam poetry is all about liberating the audience, discovered MALU VAN=20 LEEUWEN at its first hearing in Cape Town
THE staid conventions of the poetry reading received their first warning of=
a shake-up last week when slam poetry =D1 a concept imported from the=20 United States and Canada by two Cape Town enthusiasts =D1 was given its=20 first hearing at the Mama Africa resturant at the hip end of Long Street. A =D2loud, vulgar form of living poetry=D3, slam is being introduced here b=
Vincent of Bush Radio (no surname: =D2I=D5d rather be known as the funny=20 white one with the strange manner=D3) and Michael Cope. The idea, they=20 said, =D2is that a lot of people arrive at about the same time at a place w=
they can eat and drink and hear and read some poetry.=20 =D2The audience is egged on to be loud and quick in their response. In the =
and Canada, they have their own set forms, such as hissing (but not booing)=
for bad poetry, and snapping fingers if it=D5s good. If we like it, we can=
evolve our local form of poetry slem.=D3 Slam poetry is apparently =D2quite huge=D3 in the US, though Cope and=20 Vincent are unsure of its origins. The point, said Cope, =D2is to liberate=
audiences =D1 because audiences don=D5t really like poetry, and for=20 understandable reasons too, if you=D5ve got some wanker droning on and on.=
This is live and adaptable.=D3 =D2It helps to have rhythm and rhyme,=D3 Vincent added. =D2If something has=
rhythm, it=D5s listenable, and if it=D5s got rhyme, it=D5s even easier to l= isten to=20 because it flows so much better.=D3 All this sounded promising, not least since Capetonians have a reputation=
for being laid-back and immune to innovation. At best, the event would=20 prove the sceptics wrong; at worst, it would confirm suspicions that poetry=
is something that gathers dust on library shelves, rather than being=20 enthused over at trendy restaurant tables. Cope kicked off the evening as MC: =D2The basic rule is that there are no=
rules, that=D5s rule number one.=D3 After a short explanation of the =D2lic= ence to=20 respond=D3, members from the audience were urged to volunteer their=20 services as judges. For the next hour or so, seven slam poets got up to do their thing behind t=
microphone, each reading about two poems. These varied enormously in=20 length, from epics to epigrams, as well as in content, and the audience=20 received a generous airing of discourses on blood, disease, defecation, and=
the old stalwarts, religion and politics. But the audience struggled to get into the spirit of slam. There was no=20 snapping of fingers, although there was much clapping. Instead, members=20 commented among themselves =D1 or, at one point, voted with their feet and=
Vincent=D5s post-mortem on the event was frank: =D2As a poetry reading it w=
better than most I=D5ve been to, but that isn=D5t what we=D5re trying to ac=
What=D5s lacking, he explained, is a =D2culture of people saying what they=
One way in which they intend =D2liberating=D3 audiences and empowering=20 poets is through the Cape Town-based Bush Radio and Fine Music Radio=D5s=20 weekly poetry slots. =D2Emerging black poets have no forum for their=20 poetry,=D3 Vincent pointed out. =D2They don=D5t want to read in a room full= of=20 professors, people from Constantia, bookshop patrons and so on. =D2The whole idea is to break down these structures =D1 the polite=20 handclapping, the serious poetry =D1 to make it open and interesting to lis=
to … It=D5s to give people who appreciate poetry the chance to enjoy it.=
The next slam-poetry event is planned for the end of September. Vincent=20 can be contacted on (021) 448-5450. Bush Radio (89.5FM) showcases=20 poetry on Tuesdays at 6.30pm; Fine Music Radio (101.3FM) has a poetry=20 slot on Mondays at 10.30pm