A Greek Fraternity and their 5th Annual Poetry Slam

The multicultural Greek fraternity “Sigma Lambda Gamma” organized their 5^th annual poetry slam March 14, 2012. This event was held in Heritage Hall in the HUB- Robeson Center. It allowed Penn-State students to come out and show their talent to everyone on campus. I say everyone because the event was free and anyone was welcome.

I’m not a fan of poetry but this event has put a flag on my thoughts about poetry. I think mainly because these poets are of my age range and they recited things that I could relate to. Normally, poetry does not excite me but that time it did. The night was full of snaps and laughter. With the guest poet, Shia from New York, the night was even better.

Shia is a young poet, but he has been living his life, paying his bills, and supporting his family through poetry. I thought that it was interesting that he shared this with us. I cannot believe that there are poets who are financially stable because of their great words that the can put together and recite flawlessly. As the guest poet I knew that his words and the poetry he shared with us had to be marvelous especially if it is what is helping him make it in life.

The Penn State poets were great also. I thought it would be hard for them to get as big of applause when reciting poems right after the experienced poet Shia. I must say though, that each young poet brought their all to the stage. There was poetry about the economy, about relationships, about politics, you name it. It was all different and creative.

I had never been to a poetry slam where there were students my age reciting poetry. They seemed very skillful as can be. The poetry that I usually hear is recited by older people and I think that is why I sometimes found it boring. Well, I now look at poetry in a different light. Young poets rock!