Poetry New York

<!--StartFragment-->

            Wednesday nights at the Nuyorican Poets Café are typically full of and high quality spoken word poetry. The host, Jive Poetics, brings energy to the stage and gets everyone in the audience involved. However, on this particular night I felt the crowd wasn’t fervent about the poetry, and was more concerned with the scores. A major part of a poetry slam is the energy the crowd contributes to the performer and it really disrupts the flow of things when the hearts of the audience isn’t invested. In addition, the quality of work did not even come close to par. I felt as though on this singular night I had stepped into the negative stereotype of a poetry slam: cliché topics, dramatic pauses, and loud voices.

            I visited the Nuyorican last January and was taken back by the superior quality of lyricism and high intensity of the crowd. Since I’ve returned, this time around I must be honest and say that I have been disappointed. The poets I recall are nowhere to be found and I can only assume they’re hiding with the audience’s passion for the art. The energy in the house this night could only be described as one thing: indifferent. A large aspect of the potent vibe a slam seeps is what the audience brings to it. Impassive applause followed the abominations of scores and the volume only rose when reluctant high numbers graced the scorecards. Nothing felt genuine and I became disengaged.

            What really disturbed me were the scores of the judges. Cliché, bellow mediocre poetry received higher scores than the decent poets, which instilled false standards upon the audience. The quality expectance levels were severely altered and I was stunned when the audience would applaud a poorly waged score simply because it was high. Not only that but the judges were horribly inconsistent and blatantly attracted to pieces that were seemingly poetic as opposed to genuinely well written. These mistakes caused me to squirm in my seat and shake my head because the typical standards of this venue are very high, something that wasn’t reflected this night. If the performance is adequate and the poet passionate, that does not equal a high score or positive reinforcement. The reflection from the judges and audience diminished my preconceive ideas of this venue, which in my mind typically brings the best to the stage.

            A young man took the stage towards the end of the show and spoke a heartfelt piece of overcoming obstacles, perseverance, and defying odds. His simple rhyme schemes were not impressive although his story was and I felt that he did “well” due to sympathy. His scores were some of the highest throughout the night in sequence with the volume of his voice and it must have been his intensity that impressed everyone. Take out the rhythm of this poem and you’d have a man simply explaining his views of this life’s progression. Spoken word poetry is more than rhymes, rhythm and performance: it must still be poetic and well written, a concept seemingly foreign to many that night.

            The winner of that night’s slam, Chelsea, was far from exceptional but nearly brought the judges to their feet. She performed yet another Sean Bell poem, a recently exhausted topic, and was blatantly trying too hard to be profound. Yes her performance was unblemished but I felt as if I was the only one in there actually listening. Go ahead and talk about black on black violence and the corruptions of the police, because I’ve apparently never heard that before. Take a recent tragedy and turn it into what you think everyone wants to hear, and then walk away with your high score. If that is satisfying, then by all means continue doing so. But I was not amused. 

            I must be honest and say that I walked away that night very disappointed. It could have just been an off night, with bad judges and a lame audience. But, I do regret paying seven dollars to walk away with nothing but irritation. However, I haven’t lost hope in the Nuyorican Poets Café and I will most likely continue to attend, keeping my fingers crossed.

 

<!--EndFragment-->