I Would Make a Terrible Slam Poet

Imani Cezzane

Porsha O

Big Poppa E

Mos Def

These are just a few of the notable top poetry slammers.

Poetry is considered dead. A non-marketable writing form, yet those who are truly good at it excel on the stage, and YouTube has a library full of performances by these talented poets.

This is the darker corner of poetry, carved out for those who dare to tread between performer and writer. These poets stand before crowds and use sharp wit and beautifully measured cadences to draw a crowd and get the snaps.

These poets are hardcore.

These poets typically can memorize all their stanzas.

One of my favorite poems is Angry Black Woman by Imani Cezzane. Her words, as they build momentum, cause chills to grow on your arms because she has you in her cup- shaken and not stirred. Her words are served chilled with lots of ice, and you know that right before she hits home in the end, you will feel a nearly orgasmic treat.

There is a part where she says, “there is more shame in loving a black woman than raping her.” In the background, you see a white woman’s facial expression run clearly from smiles to straight shock.

Meaning Cezzane did not waste her words. Every one of them cut through the fat of jokes and rhymes. She painted a portrait we did not want to see.

Cezzane is not the only slam poet that can rock the house with her juicy words. Many more have this talent to just go on stage and transform into Sirens of Words.

Now, why will I make a terrible slam poet?

I am biased. That’s right. I truly just started watching slam poetry in 2013 and started watching it again this year, but I read poetry more than wish to perform poetry. The last time I performed poetry was in 2009 for a church where I totally revamped Job 13:15. My husband was beside me playing his bongos as I read my poem, it was a wonderful performance in my opinion and I read from my poetry book — which leads me to the second reason I would be terrible in poetry slams…

Memorization. Some slam poets are on stage for 4 minutes and that means 4 minutes of memorizing and timing all the pauses and talking in the vein of your special rhythm while having all the words in your head. I can memorize some things but I am not that good.

Stage fright. I can count on my hands how many times I have performed and some of them I avoided, some I did but while sweating my life away. A couple of performances I truly enjoyed myself because I loved what I did. Those were my tennis playing days and when I was part of a tap dance troupe.

I’m not sure what preparation is like for a poetry slammers or if it is impromptu for many of them, but to be able to do that is amazing to me. Poetry is the umbrella for songwriting and singing as well- an artform that requires you to breathe life into words and words into life.

These may not seem like valid reasons for me not to perform poetry slams, but I think I can leave it up to the pros. Thank God for them.

[Poetry is] an artform that requires you to breathe life into words and words into life.

Writing poetry. Reading poetry. Performing poetry is all beautiful and enriches my life. I hope it enriches yours too.