Slam poets are a hit at The Mount
October 3, 2007 | by Emmylou O'Brien

photo courtesy of Rich Lofthus

The second annual Great Plains Writers’ Tour kicked off last month at Mount Marty College’s Marian Auditorium. The audience of nearly 200 watched as four of Nebraska’s best slam poets transformed the ordinary stage into one full of humor, emotions, and of course, amazing poetry.

The Great Plains Writers’ Tour was started in the fall of 2006 when Dr. Jim Reese, assistant professor of English at MMC and now Tour Director. Reese thought it would be important to not only bring successful writers to the college but to give students a chance to view different types of poetry.

“What I remember about poetry in high school is that it was like a math problem—we all were scared to death of it.  Even the books I was assigned to read were quite boring.”

Poetry has been given its own stereotype of being dull without any excitement or real emotion.

“Introducing students to slam poetry and entertaining authors is something I strive for in and out of the classroom.”

2006-2007’s Tour was successful with many of MMC’s professors even requiring it as a learning opportunity outside of class. Besides students, staff, and faculty, the public from Yankton and the surrounding areas also were able to attend the readings free of charge thanks to donations from the Gregorian Club and Yankton Area Arts.

Matt Mason, Dan Leamen, JM Huscher, and Sarah McKinstry-Brown gave performances on family, society, the war, life struggles, childhood experiences, and even imperfect teeth. Each of the writers had their own unique style and humor along with their more serious styles of poetry.

To start the evening Dan Leamen, who is ranked fifth in the world for slam poetry after the 2007 Individual World Poetry Slam, brought the audience to life as he preformed an upbeat, humorous, expressive poem titled Emo Kids. He then read and acted a few more poems including a more serious and touching poem which he said, “was for my dad.”

JM Huscher, another top slam poet from the Omaha area read and performed several of his unique poems about birdfeeders, dreams, war and the realities that society forgets to mention. Huscher, who could not recall the second half of his Killing a Sparrow poem, was not only an outstanding poet, but one with extreme stage talent. After he lost his poem his recovery was so natural it seemed almost planned.

The highlight for some, including Jim Wilcynski, junior English major at MMC was Dan and JM’s performances, especially the duet that they performed.

“It [Dan’s and JM’s duet] was, by far, my favorite part of the reading.  They both have such different, yet genuine and lively, modes of reading that together they only add to the poetry’s spontaneous and different flavor that I did not like as much in the other duets or solos.”

Husband and wife Matt Mason and Sarah McKinstry-Brown have done their share of poetry slams. Both have been members in teams who have competed at innumerable slam competitions and even at the National Slam Poetry Competition.

McKinstry-Brown’s reading included more serious feminine topics on love, heartache, and unspoken truths. Her poem titled Suicide told of her search for great women poets. Sadly, most of their lives were cut short by suicide. Origami Girl was less somber as it told a story of two girl’s struggles as they tried to grow up in a polluted world.

Leamen introduced the next poet, Mason, by performing a hilarious duet with him about his experience working in the produce department at Wal-Mart. The rest of Mason’s poetry was not so much comical as it was political and powerful. He writes poems about more serious topics such as parenthood, the war, and the terrorist attacks of 2001.

The reading came to a close as Mason and McKinstry-Brown came together to deliver Mason’s eye opening poem about the fear associated with having a baby.

Dr. Reese explained that, “slam—good slam poetry—is voice driven and fueled by the heart.  That’s important for the students to see and experience. Writing can be fun—it can be therapeutic—it can rock!”

The next reading during the tour will be at 7:00 p.m. on October 9th when Nancy Henry, a loved English composition and literature teacher from Maine comes to read her poetry in MMC’s Marian Auditorium.