A Ball State student is hoping to give fellow students a break during finals week by organizing a Poetry Slam that will provide an outlet for creative expression.
Junior Brian Fife, an English major, said the Poetry Slam will be held Wednesday in the Village's mt cup at 8 p.m.
He said eight students, the majority of whom are English majors, will participate in a competition that will yield this year's poetry champ. The competition will consist of three rounds that will allow students to go one-on-one as they read their original poetry. Four professors from the English department will use a 10-point scale to judge the participants based on audience response, language use and presentation.
Fife, who will serve as the event's emcee, said the purpose of the Poetry Slam is to give creative writers an opportunity to expose their work to the public.
"Every department has a way to show their work to the public, but I feel the Creative Writing department and those who are creative writers don't have a chance for the public to hear their work," Fife said. "People are always in the Village, so the mt cup is a viable way to get their work heard."
Fife began planning the Poetry Slam three weeks ago. He said he developed the idea recently after attending a local public reading by poet Matt Hart, who described how student poets on Ball State's campus once competed with each other in an attempt to better their work.
"There was no reason why we couldn't do that too," Fife said. "By starting this Poetry Slam, it could help recreate that competition -- we can challenge each other to be better writers. I just went with the idea and it worked in my favor."
Fife said he has been working with Ryan Puzzello, director of Ball State's Frynge organization, to plan the Poetry Slam. The purpose of Frynge is to promote students who create "avant garde" art ranging from dance to the spoken word, he said. For more information about the organization, Puzzello said students can contact frynge@bsu.edu.
Puzzello said he is glad the organization was reactivated this semester and has enjoyed assisting Fife with this year's event.
"It's just to get students to hear poetry that's being produced by their own peers and to get them involved with hearing poetry in a different setting," Puzzello said. "It's about making people think critically about their art and critically about their culture."
Fife said because the Poetry Slam is still in its infancy, he hopes it will draw a good number of students this year so that it will continue to be held in coming semesters, perhaps eventually receiving outside financial assistance.
"Ideally it would be nice to have funding because it would give the competition a little more validity," Fife said. "For now, it's just for fun."
He said he is looking forward to the Poetry Slam Wednesday and hopes students take advantage the opportunity to attend. He hopes more students, even those who are not English majors, will also take the time to participate in the competition in the future.
"Your poetry isn't just for you and your professor, but it's something the public can appreciate," Fife said. "You can slam the audience with emotion. This is essentially a chance to show people that poetry isn't old dead white guys. Poetry is universal -- poetry is for everyone."
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