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Whether it's called performance poetry, slam or spoken word, battling head-to-head with words isn't an underground movement anymore.
Under Sam's Burger Joint's crimson lights, local poet David Hendler mixes a verbal cocktail, one part politics, one part personal experience.
"Overpopulation keeps the latest Harry Potter book checked out of the library, overpopulation is the reason MTV doesn't play videos anymore, overpopulation voted for Bush ... twice," Hendler recites from memory as his three-minute explosive rant about TV and politics spills over the crowded house. On Sept. 4, the battle for the PuroSlam 2008 National Team held its first of four semi-final rounds as the top 10 poets from the last four months battled it out with some intense verbal action.
The top two wordsmiths secured finals spots, taking them one step closer to their National Poetry Slam dream.
Mo Martin, a former theater and sociology student from this college, is one of the finalists at this night's poetry slam.
She's competing against Noah Finn, another talented poet who attends the University of Texas at San Antonio, whose wordplay takes a different tack, to be finalists considered for the 2008 Poetry Team.
At a poetry slam, five members of the audience are chosen by a master of ceremonies to act as judges for the event. After each poet performs, each judge awards a numeric score to that poem.
Scores generally range between a low of zero and a high of 10. The highest and lowest score are dropped, giving each performance a rating between zero and 30 points.
Most slams last multiple rounds, and many involve the elimination of lower-scoring poets in successive rounds. Poetry slams feature a broad range of voices, styles, cultural traditions, and approaches to writing and performance.
PuroSlam is the only nationally certified poetry slam operating in San Antonio. Started in 1999 by Ban Ortiz, PuroSlam has earned a national reputation as one of the toughest, roughest, rowdiest poetry slams in the United States, bringing the exciting world of performance poetry to South Texas on a weekly basis.
When it first began, PuroSlam was held at the now defunct Re:Verb music lounge and attracted more than 100 rowdy and enthusiastic spoken word fans. Ortiz eventually moved away and Jason "Shaggy" Gossard became the master of ceremonies, or slammaster, as he likes to be called.
According to Gossard, attendees filled the chairs, sprawled across the floor, stood on the bar and pool table in an effort to absorb the wisdom of a dozen or more poets every week. PuroSlam was gaining ground as an entertaining way to see and hear the latest poetry to descend upon San Antonio.
Finally, after bouncing around from venue to venue for almost two years, PuroSlam found a home at Sam's Burger Joint.
Sam's welcomed PuroSlam with open arms, and since March 2001, the two entities have worked together to bring poetry to an average of 120 slam fans a week.
At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, the 2007 San Antonio Slam Team will perform their poetry in the auditorium of the San Antonio Museum of Art. The 2007 Team includes poets Anthony Flores, Rich Perin, RiaListic, Amanda Flores and Emily Shafer.
Since January, students and employees of this college have enjoyed the events at the San Antonio Museum of Art during regular hours by simply presenting a valid college ID card to gain entry for free, thanks to the $1 per credit hour students paid for the student activity fee. The corporate membership was part of a proposal from the department of visual arts and technology.
"It's a benefit and a big privilege because it's only for SAC," Jorge Posadas, director of student life, said. "It's wonderful. It's something I'm greatly supportive of, and always will support." The San Antonio Museum of Art, 200 W. Jones Ave., near Broadway, is open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and noon-6 p.m. Sunday.
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