Slam poets make pilgrimage to St Peters
She pours the red wine on the white carpet
and the white wine on the red walls
and sparkling in the fish tank
and the lemonade on the candy bank,
she left the water alone, but considered taking a sip
because she was running out of breath
and needed all she could before she really ran amok.
For she was now a Mack truck,
and she blew through the walls,
a trail of falling debris in her wake,
I keep my eyes on my sticky date cake.
This is Slam Poetry – original poetry performed live, and adjudicated by random spectators. Points are scored by well-crafted lyrics and an engaging performance.
The words above came from the winning poem by Scott Sandwich (aka Tom Hogan), who performed with a manic look in his eyes and a tweak in his actions.
Caravan Slam was a free pilgrimage across three venues, from Newtown to neighbouring St Peters, with a wheelie-bin sound system in tow, as well as roving street performances and games.
The crowd was Western Suburbs meets Inner-west, with a collective of poets of middle-eastern background travelling in to perform alongside grungy white locals.
Finalist Rima Najm, whose stage name is Soul Beats, spoke a defiant piece about Woomera detention centre to about 60 people at art space Hutch.
“I’ve actually never performed in a slam poetry event – I’ve performed poetry and spoken word at different events and venues and done some hip-hop theatre,” she said. “I write about themes that are political, social and spiritual.”
Event organiser Jade Oldfield was inspired by participating in slams in London and New York.
“You meet people, you get to know their poems really well and it’s a really strong community that evolved around that. I came back to Sydney as a slam poet, and I couldn’t really find that platform, and I was like: ‘fuck it, I’m going to make my own’.”
The roving nature of the event was inspired by Marrickville’s ARTcycle, a free guided art tour by bicycle.
Caravan Slam will take place at 7pm on the last Wednesday of each month. This month’s event will start at Dirty Shirlows in Sydenham.
By Lawrence Bull
