Art

Wanted dead or alive: poets prepare for performance

by Michelle Yu

Tuesday November 29, 2005

With each passing year, the Dead Poets Slam increases in notoriety on campus.

Students annually audition for a position in the roster. Headed by professor of poetry Jeff McDaniel, the event requires months of preparation on the part of students involved.

Thursday nights found participants in Morrill, rehearsing and collaborating.

"It was a lot of work, but it was also really great fun," said Sophomore Taylor Pavlik. "Collaboration was key. We would come with our poems memorized and practiced, but the other students would critique our presentation. Sometimes they would have us take a poem in another direction, just to have us play with things, see what is interesting, what works."

The Dead Poets Slam is not just about fun, however.

"A lot of classic poets aren’t appreciated today," said Sophomore Sonnet Graham. "People get a textbook tutorial in high school, and then poets like Whitman are left to rot on library shelves. That’s ridiculous. I mean, all of our contemporary American poets can be traced back to Walt Whitman. It’s cool to see him brought back to life."

In turn, poets such as John Barryman, Charles Bukowski, e. e. cummings, Emily Dickinson, Alan Ginsberg, Ethridge Knight, David Lerner, Christopher Marlowe, Anne Sexton, Anna Sweer, James Wright and William Butler Yeats are given new life.

"Another significant part of the slam is to bring the poetry department and students on campus together," Pavlik said. "The people involved get very excited about the event."

The Dead Poets Slam is well-known for bringing text to life and doing it in an interesting way.

"It is not just a poetry reading," noted Pavilk. "It is a performance. We try to keep things lively and engaging for the students reading and for the audience."