On November 20 the lobby of the new Sierra College building reverberated with idioms, profanity, eloquent language. Words resonated with such conviction and emotion, and bodies swayed and jerked with such liquidity, that the audience was stunned into silence and awe. Four students from the Cal Berkeley Slam Team had made their way to the mountains to engage Truckee in the emerging culture of Spoken Word. Spoken Word is written and performed with a raw, jagged edge. It’s poetry that reaches down into the psyche, exposing fears, jealousies, anger, betrayal, and love-worn souls.
Special to the event, Matt Blesse, one of Truckee’s own locals, brought a bit of the city to the country and for a couple hours treated the audience to a lively performance followed by a writing workshop. On a return visit one week later, Blesse agreed to an interview to discuss Spoken Word, his interest in it, and his thoughts on the future of this engaging poetic expression.
Moonshine Ink: How do you define Spoken Word?
Matt Blesse: Spoken Word is storytelling. It’s a broad term. It can include stand up comics, hip hop artists, traditional poetry, beat boxing, but it’s always verbal communication. Spoken Word tells of experience and comes from cultures imbedded in oral tradition such as African, Asian, Middle East[ern] cultures, Native American cultures.
MI: What is slam poetry?
MB: A competition format of Spoken Word. Poems are judged by five judges randomly selected from the audience. There’s no list of criteria or ‘expert’ judges; it’s judged instead by the community as a whole.
MI: How did Slam Poetry get started?
MB: Originally Marc Smith in Chicago, a construction worker who started having audiences add points to performances, which triggered a great interest.
From Marc Kelly Smith’s website: ‘Slam is about everybody all together in a room with their hair down and feet up…Any and all are welcome at a slam. Walk through the doorway, find the host, introduce yourself, sit down, and listen, or ask if there’s room on the list for you to recite your masterpiece.’
MI: How are Poetry Slam teams organized?
MB: It’s different for each college, but at Cal the students compete in slams and then eight contestants with the most points try out for the team. Of the eight, four make the team and one alternate is picked too. Some teams have coaches, some don’t. So far, Cal has won the most competitions at the national level.
MI: You’re also involved in Youth Speaks. What is this organization?
MB: It’s a youth-based (19 years old and younger) organization across the country that combines literacy and self-empowerment. Mentoring is the key notion: helping guide students’ artistic voices, which centralizes their experience. Showing younger people that their relationship to the world is important; this is empowering.
MI: What do you believe is the future of Spoken Word and why is it important?
MB: The future lies in youth empowerment and youth activism; their voices need to be heard. Mentoring is a large part of Spoken Word. Workshops encourage people to write about their experiences. Leaving the ‘I’ in writing instead of being told to leave it out (as some instructors advise in certain courses at school) is an acknowledgment of the worth of self. It tells people that they’re important, that their stories need to be heard, that objectivity isn’t necessarily the best way to express personal ideas.
MI: Since poetry and performing poetry is such a significant part of your life, I wonder how you perceive it. How do you perceive art?
MB: Art is a response, a survival mechanism. Art evolves out of that need to express our experiences. Like graffiti. Someone reclaims a space and makes it beautiful and tells a story. Art can be political, and by modeling Spoken Word, it encourages youth development. Ultimately, art must connect back with the community.
MI: What does art do for you?
MB: For me, I find writing and performing poetry is therapeutic. There’s shit to put up with in our lives, and expressing yourself, especially in front of a crowd, is validating. People listen; they don’t try to tell you what’s right or wrong or how something should be. You don’t have to constantly validate your experience or feelings to someone who makes no effort to understand where you are coming from. Performing Spoken Word is liberating.
MI: What is your writing process? How do you create your poems?
MB: Sometimes I have an idea and words just flow out. I have a journal and I often write ideas and then come back to them at another time. I don’t think journal notes should ever be thrown away. Later, you may see an idea in a new light. In writing poetry, it helps to talk it out with friends because they’ll ask why your idea is important and help you form your ideas in more cohesive ways. There’s danger in trying to tackle the whole world in one poem, and so we learn to come back and focus. I also have a long revision process.
MI: We hope you’ll return to Truckee to perform again.
MB: We’d love to come back!
