For Cedric Bolton, the mic represents life.

“Students should want to take the mic in life. The mic represents a metaphor for life in general, and by taking it, it’s saying, ‘I am working hard to achieve something,’” Bolton said. “So that mic belongs to every poet that takes the stage, and if you understand that, then your words will speak volumes.”

Verbal Blend, a spoken-word poetry program organized by the Office of Multicultural Affairs, is holding its Take The Mic Poetry Slam on Thursday night in the Schine Underground.

This semester marks the fifth anniversary of the Take The Mic Poetry Slam. Bolton, who created Take The Mic as a way to bring attention and excitement to spoken-word poetry on campus, said he is proud that the event has seen growth and success over time.

“Five years is a landmark. You know, poetry in a sense does not always stay stained in one local space. When you look at community poetry programs, they’re always moving from location to location,” Bolton said.

During the slam, a panel of five judges made up of mostly graduate students will judge each poet on the basis of originality, stage presence and timing, Bolton said. But even though awards are handed out, Bolton said each poet who competes is still important.

“Just because someone puts up a number doesn’t devalue their work. You’re in a competition where you’re giving out third, second and first place, but that doesn’t say to any one of the poets that are on stage that day that their work is not significant,” he said.

Verbal Blend has held two weekly writer’s workshops in the School of Information Studies to prepare writers for performance poetry and to build their confidence, Bolton said. The slam serves as a culminating moment for these poets.

Junior public relations major J’lessa Wallace joined the group during her freshman year but was too nervous to participate in Take The Mic. Wallace said she performed during the fall semester of her sophomore year but messed up her poem. After putting a lot of hard work into practicing, she won first place in the competition last semester. Through her involvement in the program, Wallace knows exactly how competitive it can get.

“Slam is competitive by nature, and I already know the type of poets that exist on this campus,” Wallace said. “It’s important to keep in mind that if you fail to prepare, then you prepare to fail. I already know what type of competition I’m going up against, and it’s really amazingly talented people.”

Wallace is currently practicing her poem for the final days before the show. Other poets, such as sophomore communications and rhetorical studies major Haywood McDuffie, are also looking forward to this year’s slam, knowing that everyone will be putting forth their best work.

“Slams are always just the most competitive thing,” McDuffie said. “People don’t expect them to be that competitive, but poets bring their best work, their most striking lines and their hardest talent — they go hard.”

Although all the poets will perform their best work, they share very different stories. Bolton said one of the greatest things about Take The Mic is the diversity of the topics the poets discuss. Love, death, campus life and social issues are just a few of the topics Bolton expects to be covered. As an example, McDuffie said his poem addresses school shootings in America.

McDuffie added that he has never met somebody who hasn’t enjoyed a poetry slam and that even if you don’t like traditional poetry, a slam is a completely different experience.

“This isn’t like Robert Frost or Shakespeare — it’s slam,” McDuffie said. “So slam is like hard facts: it’s striking lines, it’s hip-hop, it’s singing, it’s a bunch of different things and you pour it into one central talent, and it’s just really exciting to see that unfold on stage.”

Published on November 19, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Brendan: bskrisel@syr.edu