A Word is Worth a Thousand Pictures: Speak for Yourself Open Mic Slams Hard

What has the power to incapacitate an audience with laughter and stun it into silence, all in under a minute?

Poetry might not be the expected answer to that question; but at Speak for Yourself’s first Open Mike Night at BU Central Tuesday, poetry did just that.

Speak For Yourself is Boston University’s spoken word poetry group. In the past, the group has hosted big showcases, competed against other schools and brought guest poets to the university. Now, at the beginnings of its sixth year, it begins a new tradition: the “Fo Show” Open Mike Night and Poetry Slam. And Tuesday’s event was the first of many, as the Open Mike Nights are slated to continue on every other Tuesday for the remainder of the semester.

The dramatic performance of poetry before an audience might seem like a niche activity, attractive only to the beatniks and scarf-clad literary types among the student population. However, the twenty-five voices that recited were a diverse group that spanned from freshman to alumni, first-timers to polished poets. They spoke about religion, condoms, childhood nostalgia and water coolers.

The atmosphere was intimate and supportive, the fifty-person crowd close-knit but not exclusive. They showed support in the forms of snaps and cheers for members new and old. First-timer Max Harrington provoked laughs and cheers from his audience beginning with the first line of his hilarious break-up poem, as did founding member and BU alumnus Sam Saliba’s reading.

The group considers itself supportive of rookies. Members workshop their pieces weekly, said co-president Kemi Alabi, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, and encourage new people to come and participate. No experience is necessary. “A lot of our club members got into it by coming to BU,” she said Tuesday night after the performance. “[They] were new to it, and wrote poetry on side.” Speak for Yourself’s presence on campus allows people to develop their skill, Alabi said—as does the spoken word community in Boston.

Speak For Yourself will hold its next “Fo Show” Open Mike Night/Poetry Slam event on Tuesday, October 12. Sign ups to participate will begin at 8, and the show will start shortly thereafter.  The stage is open to poetry on any subject, be it Lisa Frank pencils or casual sex, divorce or Harry Potter– and it does not even have to rhyme.