College poets speak bombs

The poet-emcee stands tall drenched in a combination of colored lights, arms flailing wildly expressing the words pouring through the mic, and the only bass supporting the words is nothing more than an occasional  hum from an elevated train strumming the tracks in the distance.

The crowd cheers as the out-of-breath poet-emcee walks off the stage passing the emcee-host down the steps. The crowd's cheer morphs into a roar directed at five judges.

"Ten! Ten! Ten!" the crowd demands.

The emcee-host grabs the mic and says, "Remember, the point is not the points, the point is the poem. Judges, let's see the scores."

With the crowd still roaring, the judges hold up their scores. The emcee-host reads them aloud:

"We have a nine-point-zero..."

The crowd responds: "Listen to the poet!"

The emcee-host reads a second score: "a nine-point-four..."

The crowd roars: "Listen to the poet!"

The emcee-host reads a third score: "a nine-point-three..."

Again the crowd roars, this time with an emphasis on the word "listen."

The host reads the last two scores: "a nine-point-six and a ten!"

The crowd erupts with cheer finally hearing the score they believe the poet-emcee had earned.

The ninth annual Young Chicago Author's Louder Than A Bomb teen poetry festival started on Feb. 21, but this year there was an addition: a college-level slam.

The college slam began on Feb. 25 and ended on Feb. 27. There were 22 participants from colleges and universities state-wide, such as, Illinois State University, University of Chicago, Harold Washington College, Hampshire College, and DePaul University.

Kevin Coval, 33, co-founder of Louder Than A Bomb, said the reason for incorporating a college-level slam this year was to fill a void and provide a space for writers under 21 that are high school graduates.

"When [young writers] graduate from high school there's no real space for them, for emcees to go in the city," Coval explains. "We wanted to create a space where they have more opportunity to continue honing their craft and also to be heard."

All of the poet-emcees were heard and, by the audience's reaction, definitely felt, but to be dubbed the winner, a poet-emcee must be felt by the judges and that was the competition's winner, Jamila Woods.

Woods, 19, participated in Louder Than A Bomb two years ago, but was not dubbed the winner. This year she received standing ovations for her two poems: "quartet" and "apocryfa."

"It's a really great feeling [performing] in front of an audience," Woods explains. "Every word I say, I can feel them receiving it."

Although Woods was crowned winner of the inaugural 2009 Young Chicago Author's Louder Than A Bomb college poetry slam, all participants won awards from Young Chicago Author Executive Director C.C. Carter. Four participants, plus Woods, won a trip to Miami.

George, Brittany, Jesse, and Tha Trufe, along with Woods, comprise a team that will represent Chicago in Miami this summer at the National Poetry Slam.

Tha Trufe, also known as Lamar Jorden, a broadcast journalism undergraduate at Wright College, said poetry provided him an outlet and a way to manage his anger when he was younger.

"Poetry means the world to me," Jorden explains. "It's a way to reassure that I'm doing something positive that will impact the future, hopefully."

Though the college poetry slam has ended, the teen poetry slam is still happening and Coval encourages people to come listen to the kid's poetry.

"I mean this verse is alive and accessible and complex and has multiple levels," Coval states, "it draws people in, the matters and lives of people."