"An explosive blend of poetry and hip-hop turning everyday life situations into an intellectual journey," stated the poster promoting a performance by Flowmentalz, also known as slam poet Chris Cook, who performed in the Campus Center on Thursday, February 8.
Slam poetry, in most cases, is an improvisation of an original work within a given time frame, usually three minutes, in competition with several judges from the audience.
"Poetry growing up, to me, was Shakespeare. I wanted to change that for other people, especially since I come from an urban setting. I try to include a message for my audience; my poems are both deep and funny," said Cook, who is a Plainfield, N.J. native.
"I'm lucky because this is my job, I get to do what I love. I do a lot of college shows- it's how I survive. I've performed in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. My next stop is Bucknell University."
Though Cook is thankful that he can pursue his passion, he admitted that there were a few drawbacks. "It can get lonely at times, since I travel alone so much," he said.
Cook's performance included subjects such as racism in a refrigerator, problems with payphones, breast-feeding, relatives in jail, washing your hands after going to the bathroom and a boxing match with God.
He said, "I've written poetry for 10 years, beginning in high school, and I've worked in spoken word for 5 years. I want people to get more exposed to spoken word- the documentary SlamNation as well as Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam on HBO have helped to broaden our audience. It's an entertaining form, but also gets people's attentions."
"It's alternative entertainment. I haven't heard anything like it before. He was cool," said freshman Thomas Stromberg.
Cook's inspirations are other poets (Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, and of course, Shakespeare) as well as hip-hop.
"Early in my writing I was motivated by the 80s style of hip-hop, its political nature and ability to deliver a message. The music now is about marketing, money and killing people for fun. Slam poetry goes back to the original roots of the form."
Cook's performance was well-recieved by those who attended.
Sophomore Teresa Mickel said, "I really enjoyed his take on things, because they were things you don't write poetry about normally. He tried to use different points of view, especially his piece on a woman's period; he took a female's worst time of the month and added a male's perspective. I think that line will stay with me: 'Ladies, I'm cramping your style.'"
"Chris Cook and people like him are on the cutting edge of poetry," said senior Jonathon Ratican.
"It's where the genre is going- from flowery verse to real life events.
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