CalSLAM Fosters Community and Art

It is the last Friday of September, and I sit in a room stuffed with chairs of various shapes, sizes, and colors, and a stage with two microphones that are waiting to be set ablaze. I have come early, and yet the place is already buzzing. I have heard rumors of the greatness that is CalSLAM, but despite being a senior, have never experienced one of their events for myself. I have had my taste of poetry readings at co-ops and bars, but nothing quite like this. As the night goes on, the sense of community becomes palpable. The collective belief in and rallying of support for spoken word seems strong.

People cheer and snap and laugh along as 22 brave, bold, and immensely talented people share their creative work. Every chair is full and people still squeeze in, getting cozy on any empty space the floor has to offer. There are even onlookers outside peeking through the windows. One of the two hosts for the evening reminds us all that there is something special here tonight.

Something special indeed. Every performance makes us aware of its own original piece of life and perspective. People discuss self-image, racial discrimination, oppressive stereotypes, various injustices, and methods of self-empowerment. Several people use music as part of their performance, while one woman passes around a flier and takes her moment onstage as an auspicious opportunity for social activism.

Near the end of the night, a woman gets up to play a song she wrote with her sister. Before she performs she tells us, “I like to make myself feel better by setting small goals and then achieving them,” bringing laughter to the crowd.

However no achievement that day could be described as small. I am in awe of the talent that I had generally expected, and yet was completely unprepared for. The inclusivity of the event also adds to the sense of community, as both UC Berkeley students and non-students alike are given the opportunity to take the stage. But this open mic is only a taste. After all, slam is not only a creative outlet but also a competitive sport of sorts.

Flash forward to Friday, October 3rd, and here I am again. Different building, different CalSLAM event, but there are similar positive energies, purposes, and faces as at the previous week’s inspiring open mic. The room is in Evans and it is a hot, sweaty, and crowded October evening. Macy Gray’s “I Try” is playing and throwing me back to 1999 as I watch the room fill with people. Tonight is the CalSLAM’s first slam of the season.

For those unfamiliar with poetry slam, it is a competition that anyone can sign up for in which poets are given three minutes and 10 seconds to perform their original work. Their poetry is then graded on a scale of 1 to 10. Scoring cards are given out to a certain number of people dispersed throughout the audience and after each person shares his or her work, the randomly selected judges hold up a score they deem to be worthy.

Kelsey Waxman, the host for the evening, seems eager to emphasize the competitive aspect as a necessary evil not to be taken too seriously.

“They are going to put a score to your feelings,” she laments to the performers. She preaches loving reminders to the audience as an affirmation of what the event is really all about. “You are going to catch them when they fall. You’re going to receive them. Make sure your love is palpable on the stage.”

This seems to be in the true spirit of what CalSLAM represents. The receptiveness of the audience is integral to the experience. Kelsey reminds us, “We’re not here for the scores. We’re here for people, their words and stories. Fuck the scores y’all.”

Fuck the scores, a sentiment that is continuously repeated throughout the evening. While the number of points accumulated by the people performing tonight and at future slams throughout the semester determine if they will be a part of the team that competes at the annual College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI) in the spring, the true purpose and end goal is to foster a community and safe space for sharing creative work. An unofficial CalSLAM motto maintains that, “The point isn’t the point, it’s the poetry.” This little gem is relayed to me by noteworthy slam poet, Brandon Melendez.

Melendez performs as the feature of the night, masterfully entertaining the crowd with a few original poems between rounds. A recent Berkeley graduate, previous CalSLAM national team member, and recipient of numerous slam poetry awards and recognitions, Melendez later sits down with me to talk about his poems and how he became involved in this environment.

It’s already a warm night and yet we decide to sit around a steam grate like it’s a campfire, and we’re about to exchange stories. I ask him when he started performing his poetry and how it all began. According to Melendez, two years before he came to Berkeley, he was at UC Irvine performing with a spoken word organization called Uncultivated Rabbits. He partially attributes his early growth to being able to share and develop his work in this non-competitive environment.

However, he says at first it wasn’t easy. “I was so intimidated by this guy who went up. I’d only ever done poems that I kept to myself, and I didn’t want anyone to see them.”

This was the first Uncultivated Rabbits spoken word event he had attended, and seeing people with that kind of power initially frightened him. “I didn’t go for a year and then there were some things that I really needed to get out. I went, and folks were super supportive, and so I kept coming back.”

Eventually he came to Cal, and CalSLAM was there to welcome him as an equally supportive and stimulating environment for him to develop his craft.

All of the poems Melendez performs start at a humorous place or very light-hearted, relatable moment, such as playing with rolly pollies as a kid or being discomforted by a couples’ loud love-making next door to him in his co-op. And then, with an adroit use of words and body language, he turns the poems on their heads, and powerfully expressees deep-rooted issues and concerns about his life.

This is a trope that he says is “nothing new” in slam poetry and is effective in securing the relationship between performer and audience.

“With serious topics, going into it with a sense of humor can be empowering [and] that’s a positive thing,” Melendez says. “It’s kind of a way to ease folks into the story, and then drop it to engage with something more.”

According to Melendez, performing in any space, even now after all his experience and success, remains daunting.

“There are many times when I’m in a room with 10 poets and I’m like, ‘you are everything and all the work you do is far better than anything my brain has ever thought of, ever.’”

I ask him what his advice is for intimidated beginner poets looking for spaces like CalSLAM to grow and express themselves.

“The most important thing is getting involved with the community,” Melendez says. “It’s far less stressful and scary when you’re getting on stage to compete even if it’s your first time, and you look into the audience and you see folks that you’ve been writing with, that you’ve been working on poems with, that are friends, that you know are there to support you with a level of love.”

As I sit in the back of the room at these events and watch as the audience snaps and nods at the thoughts and feelings of the performers, and as they collectively “boooo” when lower scores are given, I clearly see what Melendez is talking about.

True to the core values it preaches and patently believes in, CalSLAM is a supportive community for the sharing of feelings and ideas, welcoming to aspiring and experienced poets alike. It was truly inspiring to watch young people come together and showcase their creative work.

CalSLAM is hosting it’s second slam of the semester this Friday, October 17th in 2040 VLSB. Sign-ups from 7:00-7:20. Show starts at 7:30.

CalSLAM offers writing workshops every Monday in 106 Wheeler where all art forms are welcomed and encouraged. No experience necessary.

See you there.

All photos courtesy of Mikaela Raphael.