Tuesday night marked the second poetry slam competition held atthe mt cup this year. Eight Ball State poets stepped in front of apacked patio audience and competed for the title of poetry slamchampion.
The first poetry slam, held this spring, marked the beginning ofan open forum for students to recite poetry in a competitiveatmosphere. Ball State student Brian Fife is the organizer andcreator of the event. Fife, a senior creative writing major, wantedto bring literary energy to the campus and eventually planned anddeveloped the competition.
"I was in poetry class last year and I had an epiphany. Dr.Koontz was just like, go for it man," Fife said.
Fife said the mt cup and Frynge, two sponsors of the poetryslam, were more than helpful in making his idea blossom intoreality. The mt cup donated $30 in gift certificates for Tuesdaynight's winners and Frynge helped out with promotion.
The event was also sponsored by Anonymous Clothing, a localclothing operation that had a booth set up at the event.
However, though Fife has had generous donations of time andenergy for promotion and venue support, the budget for the poetryslam remains slim.
"We promote it pretty much on a zero budget," Fife said.
Fife, the emcee for the evening, opened the event with a "thankyou" for everyone who came out and an introduction of the first offour introductory rounds. The slam was set up in a bracket systemsimilar to an NCAA tournament or other sporting event. All eightpoets slammed in the first round and the judges chose four poets tocontinue.
Fife said when developing the format for the competition, heavoided copying other slam competitions.
"I just went off my own ideas. The bracket system is used in anykind of tournament," Fife said.
The panel of judges for the evening was comprised of threeBall
State English department faculty members including Rai Petersonand poetry instructors Mark Neely and Peter Davis. Tom Koontz,recently retired Ball State poetry and English professor alsojudged the competition.
Out of the initial eight slam poets, the four who continued tothe second round were Rosey Butler, Lisa Tomasso, Kerry Crawfordand Jayme Burns. The four who did not make it to the second roundwere Katie Zimolzak, Allister Green, Jon Kratzner, and BriannaBelford.
After a 10 minute intermission, the second round ensued and poetKerry Crawford notably took a swig of barbecue sauce before herrecitation and poet Lisa Tomasso used music in the background as anadded component to one of her poems.
Crawford, a veteran competitor and second place winner from thefirst poetry slam, advanced to the final tie-breaking round and wonthe grand prize Tuesday night. Crawford is a sophomore magazinejournalism major and says a lot of her inspiration comes from herhometown of Memphis.
"It sounds cheesy, but there's a lot of soul in that town,"Crawford said.
The grand prize slam poet said her poetry usually seems to beabout food and boys.
"Boys and food just make me want to write," Crawford said.
Crawford's competition in the tie-breaking round and secondplace winner, political science major Jayme Burns, said poetry isan outlet for her and though most of her writing is political, shewrites about other subjects as well.
"I am really about what's going on internationally," Burnssaid.
Burns recited poetry during the competition that dealt withwomen's rights, human rights and other political issues.
Another competitor, junior creative writing major Rosey Butler,made it to the second round and said it was her first time everreading her poetry in public.
"It was nerve-wracking, but it was fun. It was a goodexperience," Butler said.
The grand prize was a Spiderman wall-crawler action figure and$20 gift certificate to the mt cup and the second place prize was aTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtle football and $10 gift certificate tothe mt cup.
Fife plans on following through with another poetry slamcompetition at the mt cup before the end of the semester and twomore competitions next semester.
"My hope is that it can continue on once I've even graduated,"Fife said.
In addition to pioneering the poetry slam, Fife is presentlyworking on the production of a literary magazine called the BallStreet Journal to create another outlet for Ball State students toexpress themselves creatively.
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