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March 31, 2005
eye Weekly, Toronto
WHAM-BAM, THANK YOU, SLAM
April is National Poetry Month and
what better way to celebrate the art form than to witness
its process. On April 6, local poet Sandra Alland
curates Silent Slam, a play on traditional,
performance-based poetry slams that makes the private act of
writing very public.
"You're going to be able to watch
writers sweat," says Alland, who promises that it will not
be boring to watch writers write as their words are
projected on the wall of the Drake's Underground. "There's a
real focus on the uniqueness of performance in print, and
watching how someone creates something on a page as it's
happening, how they rearrange the words, how they edit."
Eight poets --
Di Brandt, Kevin Connolly,
Beatriz Hausner, Rosina Kazi,
Clifton Joseph, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha,
Jennifer LoveGrove and
Mariko Tamaki -- will
faceoff in 10-minute bouts and will be given creative aids
to inspire their writing. Their work will be judged by Ahdri Zhina Mandiela,
Stuart Ross and Priscilla Uppal, and one poet will emerge a champion.
For variety, Alland has gathered a mix of performance-based
poets, text-based writers, established poets and emerging
writers. "We're placing more of an emphasis on the actual
process; it's not quite as Olympic as some other slams," she
says. Participants are allowed to bring some notes, but they
can't start with completed work. It's a rare chance for
readers to witness poets' writing habits, says Alland. "I
believe Kevin Connolly types with two fingers only."
The event, which features music by
DJ Murr from LAL and a silent art auction, is a
fundraiser for Literature for Life, a non-profit
organization benefiting teen mothers. Says Alland, "We're
hoping to do it as an annual event if we can find enough
writers who aren't scared shitless."
NICOLE COHEN
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