Aryn Sanderson
asanderson@mustangdaily.net
I asked George Watsky to my high school prom. I like to think he just never got the Myspace message. I wish I could say I’m low-key obsessed with slam poetry, but really I’m a slam slut. I watch slam videos like some women watch porn. A well-spoken soliloquy makes me sweat. And though most Mustangs don’t know it, Cal Poly is actually a hot spot for spoken word poetry. Cal Poly often brings the best of the best to spit, so here are my top five poets who have graced the Cal Poly campus.
“If we were created in God’s image, then when God was a child he smushed fire ants with his fingertips and avoided tough questions.”
— Wakefield
Two-time Individual World Poetry Slam Champion Buddy Wakefield proves that the best poetry isn’t about escape, but confrontation. His signature combination of humor and heart makes audiences laugh while pushing them to feel, and often change, something. Wakefield performed during Week of Welcome in 2010 and left a roomful of newly minted freshmen in stitches after a stream of short poems. He also performed in last year’s Anthem.
4) Simply Kat
“Tombstones. Resting in G-spots like landfills. We, a vampire’s wet dream, laid in each other like coffins, fucking ourselves out of yesterday’s blues because when did destruction feel this good? Cue the music. Wedding bells crashing like wrecking balls.”
— Simply Kat
Simply Kat keeps it real. She’s tough and cool and urban and raw and human. One of the strongest female poets on the scene, Kat tackles her life experiences, from domestic abuse to abortion, with both precise language and reckless abandon. Her bold, indomitable spirit showed when she participated in 2012’s Anthem.
“I’m not proud to say that I took the walk of shame, away. And not that sweet walk I’m told old kids take the morning after they get laid.”
— George Watsky
In his poem “Incredibly F&$!ng Stupid,” George Watsky tells the story of chickening out of stage diving at a Sum 41 concert (classic). His fear cost him a good night kiss with his crush. So, while performing “Incredibly F&$!ng Stupid” in Chumash Auditorium during The Anthem, Watsky did something incredibly f&$!ng stupid. He did what he didn’t have the gall to do back then. Watsky dove. George Watsky has slammed at Another Type of Groove and has participated in the Anthem twice.
2) Anis Mojgani
“This is for the celibate pedophile who keeps on struggling. For the poetry teachers and for the people who go on vacations alone. For the sweat that drips off of Mick Jagger’s singing lips. For the shaking skirt on Tina Turner’s shaking hips. For the heavens and for the hells through which Tina has lived. Shake the dust.”
— Anis Mojgani
Only one poet had won consecutive National Poetry Slam titles until Anis Mojgani changed that. Mojgani, a two-time National Poetry Slam Champion and winner of the International World Cup Poetry Slam, is celebrated for his inspirational, heart-wrenching poems. Mojgani’s poetry is optimistic, the slam equivalent to a pump-up jam. Mojgani performed in the same show as Wakefield in 2010.
“See I heard that love is blind, so I write all my poems in brail. And my poems are never actually finished because true love is endless. I always believed that real love is kind of like a supermodel before she’s air brushed; it’s pure and imperfect, just the way that God intended. See I’m going to be honest. I’m not a love poet. But if I was to wake up tomorrow morning and decide that I really wanted to write about love I swear that my first poem … It would be about you.”
— Rudy Francisco
2010 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion Rudy Francisco says he’s not a love poet. But if there’s any type of poem Francisco has owned, it’s just that. Francisco is a master wordsmith; his flow has a smooth, syrupy quality. He takes all the passion of traditional slam, but brings none of the hostility. Francisco has been featured in ATOG and is coming back to Cal Poly to slam for the Anthem title this year.
[follow id=”mdailyarts” size=”large” count=”true” ]