At the SFU Highland Pub last week, the English Student Union (ESU) held their second Grand Poetry Slam as a follow-up to their successful event held during the fall semester.
As an improvement on the first poetry slam event, the event now featured celebrity judges, including The Peak’s own sports editor, Austin Cozicar. The other two judges were Tiffany Werth, an associate professor of English, and Ryan Fitzpatrick, a local poet pursuing his doctoral degree at SFU.
The event included 16 participants with a few last-minute additions, double the participants of the previous slam. Each performed their own spoken word poetry, with some opting to do two pieces.
Of those participants, some alumni and non-SFU students even performed, and were warmly welcomed by the audience and participating poets.
The organizers kicked off the event with their own poetry. Both Hussan Riasat, ESU president, and event coordinator Sophia Kreuzkamp performed during the event with their own humorous poems. ““You’ll Cowards Don’t Even Smoke Crack” [performed by Tyler Knoll and written by Viper] was a specific [highlight],” commented Cozicar about the comedic performance by the ESU vice president.
Throughout the night, the audience was entertained by the variety of poems performed, which ranged from brief to lengthy and from light to more serious topics. At the end of the competition portion of the night, guest judge Ryan Fitzpatrick performed some of his own poetry, including the pieces “Falsified” and “White Excellence.”
Despite the addition of judges, the event itself sported a very positive and supportive atmosphere for competitors throughout the night. With free drinks provided, the event itself evolved into a social gathering as the audience offered support all of the poets, providing snaps to them when needed and showering each one with applause.
Participating poet Yvette Rancourt commented, “I really enjoyed the atmosphere. I thought the space and the set-up turned out well — it felt cosy and the audience was very positive.”
Riasat attributes the positivity to the diverse appeal of slam poetry. “People aren’t just seeing it for purely the poems, but also the fun and social aspect of it,” he said. “It’s an overall positive environment for people who want to come and share or just enjoy the spoken word.”
Prizes were awarded at the end of the night after the judges tallied up their scores. Last-minute addition Dylan Hughes won third place and a $20 gift card to Renaissance Cafe, Ruramai Munyanyi won second place and a $30 gift card to the Highland Pub, and Jordyn Vanstone won first place with a $50 gift card to the SFU Bookstore.
“Their poems were not only passionate, but were recited very well on the technical side of things,” added Riasat. Overall, the night allowed many SFU student to show off their talent, which for the judges was what the event truly was about.
“The highlight of the night was watching people perform, put [themselves] out there, [and] put their own creative works out there,” concluded Cozicar.
