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brOakland Poetry Slam
Spoken Word Third and First Friday of every month, 7:30 p.m.510-839-0055
But female poets are different. Naz finds that even in this feminist, empowered world, there aren't that many women who write really empowered poetry. Rather, they favor connection over conquest. They always want to "express their tender feelings." They write about the men who done them wrong, including - in the words of one enterprising East Bay poet - the "feminist" ex-boyfriend who wouldn't go down to get down to be down. Women get intimidated by the judging process in slam poetry, she says, because they often think they're being judged on their feelings and their story, instead of their performance and their poetry.
Granted, the judging process can be pretty ruthless. Naz picks random judges for each of her slams, and tells them to give each poet a score between one and ten. One means the person sucks and should never read poetry again. Ten means she should be voted poet laureate of the United States. "My favorite judges of all are the ones who say ‘I don't really like poetry. You sure you want me to judge?'" the slam mistress admits. "Then you're gonna give the most perfect score because you hate everybody and you probably don't have no friends." Naz says that every slam has a mean judge who just came to be cynical - either a poet who's seen so much that she's jaded, or someone who's just hella ignorant and hates poetry. The mean judge balances out the nice, guilty judge who wants to give everyone a ten.
So the South Carolina-raised poet is all about dishing it out. But will she let people cast judgment on her own work? Of course, Naz says, insisting that she's totally down with constructive criticism. "You can get tens, and that's cool. I've seen really good poets get tens for a while, and think they're still the shit. As soon as you think you're good, girl? That's when you start going downhill. Then you don't move anymore."
Watch local poets get beat down at this Friday's edition of brOakland Poetry Slam, featuring Naz, cohost Dahled, DJ Agana, and special guest poet Billy Tuggles. The event kicks off with an open-mic signup at 7:45 p.m. and costs $5. MySpace.com/oaklandslam
$3-$5
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