Got another chance to go to a poetry slam thing. This time we went to Bar 13, where every Monday night, they host an open mic and performances by one of New York's national slam teams. I had wanted to check this out for awhile and had seen their website and read about the event, called A Little Bit Louder. I knew they had just participated in the National Slam and came back empty handed after winning last year and i think the year before that.



Anyway, the readings were pretty good all around except that since it was an open mic, there were a few duds. The night at the Nuyorican was better as a whole because everyone that performed that night were battle tested professionals and it was an actual Slam so it focused more on engaging the audience. One cool thing though was seeing and hearing some really famous poets at Bar 13. I noticed Beau Sia right away when he walked in. He's a short Asian dude and he had a funky haircut but i recognized him from his books and from his small role in Slam. He was one of the featured performers and he met all my expectations when he performed. Another renowed Slam poet that performed was Roger Bonair-Agard who edited "Burning Down the House: Selected Poems from the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe." On top of that we got to hear the newly crowned individual Slam champion whose name i forgot. Her tongue twisting poem about linguistics was off the hook. We didn't end up staying that long because it was a tad uncomfortable standing and i think some people were bored but i definitely want to check out this place a bit more.



One thing that i realized about poetry however is that i feel like there is a definite delineation between good and bad. Poetry comes from the heart and so shouldn't really be judged but there is poetry that is original and engaging and worth hearing and listening to. There are a lot of pretenders and second handers out there and they tend to bore me. Still, i give them much respect for stepping up to the microphone and speaking their peace.