The idea of inspiration– defined as being mentally stimulated to do or feel something– is simple in theory, but can pause any great artist. Not only is there so much inspiration in such a diverse world, but interpretations of a crumb, for example are endless. Kerry Fingerle, a CHS poet who participated in this spring’s poetry slam stated, “My best poems have come out of crumbs on floors.”
For Fingerle, her inspiration tends to come from everyday things. Alice Held, another poet, says her inspiration, “usually has to be a life event for me to actually write a poem.” This loud inspiration– an immediate event that triggers emotion– is on the other end of the spectrum from Fingerle’s everyday inspiration.
On the other hand, sometimes inspiration is the hardest part. Mari Cohen says that, like many people living in Ann Arbor, she’s grateful for having a lot of luck and privileges. But this lifestyle can come as a hardship. She says, “I don’t have really… difficult experiences that inspire most of my poetry so I kinda have to… take my inspiration from a smaller event, a daily event.”
As far as actually writing her poems Held says she likes to start out calm, which can be hard, but the poet want something that will catch the reader, and from there have some angry parts. “You just find your inspiration and you write down that first word and once you get that first word down, it just comes really naturally to me.”
Although all poets experience life and different types of inspiration differently, the poetry slam is a chance for poetr to show off what they’ve written over the year. Ellen Stone, a teacher at CHS and a poet herself, says that the Poetry Club is a vehicle that can, throughout the year, remind people to write and keep trying to find your own voice, which she says is a very important part of growing up. Ston describes the Poetry Slam as a big, giant celebration. For Stone, “I just find it extremely exciting that the Poetry Slam at Community is as vibrant and powerful as it is.”
The annual CHS Poetry slam takes place March 8 in Craft Theater at 7pm. Come support students as they participate in one of the four city semi-final events. The top scorers from Community’s slam will compete with winners from Huron, Pioneer and Skyline high schools in the 2012 Ann Arbor Youth Poetry Slam Finals at the Neutral Zone on March 29th at 6:30pm.
Watch below to see slam participants talk about their poem, writing processes, and expectations for this year’s slam.
