by: Hannah Koh
The first thing that I noticed when my friend and I arrived at the Drake Underground for the Toronto Poetry Slam event on a Saturday night a few weekends ago, was how packed the place was for what we had assumed would be a fairly small event. Despite having arrived thirty minutes before the event was slated to start, not a single table or chair anywhere near the stage was free, but we finally managed to squeeze into a spot at the bar that faced the stage from the back of the room.
After settling in with our drinks, we took a look around the room and couldn’t help but notice one thing: there wasn’t a single beret or bongo drum in sight. Where were the beatniks, dressed in their sullen black clothes and Lennon-esque round shades, spouting their dark musings on the world? The emo kids with their slicked down hair and skinny jeans? Instead, in their place, we saw a noisy room filled with a crowd dressed in jeans, T-shirts, and the latest Queen Street hipster gear, laughing, drinking and shouting across the room to each other. The complete lack of “beatnik” vibe at the event prompted me to ask the question: What was up with the Toronto Slam Poetry scene?
I had a chance to connect with David Silverberg, producer of the Toronto Poetry Slam events, and he opened up about why he loves poetry, how he got involved in the scene, what the future of poetry slam events is, and, most importantly: what happened to the beatniks?
What is your background in relation to poetry? Did you study English in school, or is poetry something in general that always interested you?
I have no academic background (in English and poetry), but have been a fan of it for years. When I was young, I read Ginsberg and T.S. Eliot, and when I was older, I gravitated to Bukowski and Canadians such as Stuart Ross and P.K. Page. I have always loved the visceral truths that come from poetry, and when I saw my first spoken word reading, it was love at first word.
It says on the Toronto Poetry Slam website that you used to be the director of Suburban Spoken Word. What made you decide to become involved in the Toronto Poetry Slam scene instead? And how would you say the two compare?
I got involved with the Suburban Spoken Word (SSW) because I wanted to bring the arts to the ‘burbs. That region desperately needed some cultural loving, and it whet my appetite for the potential of this thing called “spoken word”. So when the SSW venue closed, I had no choice but to do something downtown, because I was living on Spadina at that time. I started Toronto Poetry Slam because the city is hungry for this kind of mentally nourishing entertainment. The poetic talent in this city is so explosive, they need a stage to call their own.
During the years that you’ve been involved in the poetry slam scene, have you seen changes occur in terms of the types of people that come out to participate or be part of the audience? Do you feel that poetry slams maybe have more broad-based audience appeal? If so, why do you feel that is?
Yes, I’ve seen a change in the audience. At first, only people in their twenties and a tad younger came out. Then I noticed older couples sharing anniversaries at slams, or parents of competitors coming out to the Drake. It was beautiful to see. TPS has a broad-based appeal mainly because the material had impressive range – a poet can perform pieces on relationships or family dysfunction or eggnog or Mayor Miller. And it can all be spiced with humour or pathos or any other performance element.
Is being a poetry slam contestant something that you feel an individual can do as a full time occupation?
No – poetry slams are a great way to get your voice heard, to hone your craft, and to make people aware of your talent, but you can’t make a living just winning slams. That’s only $80 (what the eventual winner of the night, Diseased Disciple, got to take home) a slam, right? But, I have noticed some artists especially those out of Vancouver, who have done extremely well on the slam circuit and have progressed to become full-time spoken word artists. They are in bands, performing at folk festivals like Mariposa, and opening for Buck 65. So there’s potential, but it has to come post-slam.
What do you get out of being the producer for this event? Do you ever participate in the slams as a contestant yourself?
I am in love with seeing people fall in love with poetry; that’s what makes my heart smile. I’ve always been a strong supporter of indie arts, so running TPS fits in nicely with that motivation. I compete in slams as well, but not my own – there are some other slams in Toronto and Ontario where I perform poetry. In fact, I recently featured at Guelph’s poetry slam, Semantix. And I also dropped some verse at London’s poetry slam.
How do you see this evolving, both for you personally, and for the Toronto Poetry Slam scene in general, in the future?
Personally, I see myself taking a hands-off role in a few years and letting other people in our Toronto Poetry Project collective take the reigns. We have a wonderfully supportive community who are passionate about spoken word, so I think TPS would be in good hands.
For the slam scene in general, I envision us working closely with schools and festivals in order to educate them about the power of spoken word. And I see more media taking notice of what we are doing. In fact, CBC is planning to do a segment on us, but that’s all I can say at the moment. Toronto Poetry Slam is underground right now, and while I never want it to reach a mainstream level of popularity that sees it becoming “too big”, I hope more people stifle their fears of capital-p poetry and come check out an evening of honesty and hilarity.
As we found out through the course of the evening, what was up with the TPS scene was a lot of amazing poetry; Tomy Bewick, aka Diseased Disciple, ended the night and won the competition with a goosebump-inducing piece about Obama (see the YouTube clip above). Although we only stayed for the first of three eliminations rounds, what we heard was enough to convince us that not only is Toronto Slam poetry nothing like what we had envisioned, but that it was definitely worth another visit back.
Check them out at www.torontopoetryslam.com
, or come out to the next event, March 28th at the Drake Underground.
Last 5 posts by Hannah
- Writersbox Comics: Alan Kennedy's "They Came From Space" Part 3 - October 1st, 2009
- Review: Commencement - September 17th, 2009
- A Scottish Food Pilgrimage - July 16th, 2009
- Beyond Oprah: How to Find a Book club that's not about your feelings - July 16th, 2009
- Off-Leash Adventures in Toronto - July 16th, 2009
