Slam poets perform at the Dreamer Cafe
Flint freshman Danielle Hortons captures the audience with her poetry at the Word Hammer Poetry Showcase on October 29, 2015 in The Dreamer Coffee Shop.
On Thursday night, members of WordHammer, the registered student organization, gathered at the Dreamer Café on Franklin Street to perform hand written poetry.
“It’s as close as you can be to being naked in public” said Sam Dennis, a senior from Wixom and President of WordHammer. “I love it. It’s exactly what I needed.”
WordHammer is a slam poetry group and the only performance poetry organization at CMU. Although it is an RSO on campus, the group resembles more of a makeshift family — one that gives endless encouragement as its members write, perform and critique each other.
Slam Poetry is more than a traditional poetry reading. When one ‘slams’ poetry they are performing it in a way that emphasizes and captures the emotions connected to the words. "Slamming" is a way to hear poetry the way the author intended.
“There is nothing like being on a stage and sharing your story with people” said Bryce Huffman, a senior from Detroit and a member of WordHammer for two years. “Hopefully it’s something I can do for the rest of my life.”
For some people who have never attended a slam poetry event, it can be a surprising experience.
“RSO’s like this and even groups like this don’t really have that many venues in this area to express their art,” said Jeremiah Bell, the Event Coordinator and Art Director at the Dreamer.
The Dreamer Café provided performers with comfortable environment for several brave souls to start the performance as they volunteered for open mic.
For freshman Brandi Makayla from Washington, this was her first time performing since joining WordHammer this year. She said she didn’t just want to write poetry, but wanted to learn how to perform.
"If you have a voice and you want to write it out, WordHammer is for you," she said.
WordHammer meets Thursday at 8 p.m. in Moore Hall room 114.
