The Candor

Issue date: 3/2/10 Section: News

Media Credit: Brittany Lawler Gail Bush recited her poem, "Monster," during the Open Mic portion.

Media Credit: Brittany Lawler The four winners of the Poetry Slam took time to pose for a photo. From left, Dan Grossman (2nd Place), Izabela Mieszczanska (4th Place), Ben Harley (3rd Place) and Ed Hooligan (1st Place).

On Thursday, Feb. 25, the Literature Department held a Poetry Slam that allowed the many talented and artistic students on campus to share their work. Not only did the event feature current students, but also featured alumni and students from other universities which only added to the diversity of works that evening.

Musical talent was also featured at the event as a Chicago group, SoundRight, performed. The band has been performing since 2008 and member, Seemi Choudry, said that the band was created in an "effort to represent more Muslim women in the performing arts."

The first portion of the night was Open Mic, meaning anyone that had something to share was able to share it with the audience. Work could either be original or may have been a published work from another author. Many poems were presented and BU student, Dan Grossman, even shared a musical piece with the audience.

Following the Open Mic portion, the Slam began. The Slam had two rounds. In the first round, contestants read their poems, which were judged by a panel. From 16 contestants, seven advanced to the next round. During the second portion of the slam, those selected read another poem which was judged by the panel to select the winners.

Dr. Wilson Chen, Assistant Professor of Language and Literature, was quite pleased about the turnout and the growing numbers year to year.

"The event has grown every year. Five years ago we were able to gather 40 people max. Then it grew to 70-80 people, which was a huge surprise. Last year we were able to draw 100 [people].
This year it seems we had over 130 [people]," said Chen.

Chen was also pleased with the number of contestants.

"We had 16 Open Mic readers and 16 Slam participants, which I think is incredible," said Chen.

The evening concluded with an interactive musical number by SoundRight that left the audience in a feel-good mood and the sound of laughter was heard as exits were made.

BU student and one of the MC's for the Slam portion, Melissa Feinberg, was excited about the overall turnout and said, "If you're here and look around, you can't not be happy with tonight's turnout."

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