Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Shawn Bowers, Overland Park junior, reads his original poetry at Poetry Slam held by Student Union Activity Tuesday evening at Hawks Nest of Kansas Union. There were five entries for the event and Bowers won the first prize.
Five KU students read their poetry to a small crowd and for a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to Massachusetts Street on Tuesday night at the Hawk’s Nest in the Kansas Union. Although the theme of the night was publicized to be love, poets exhausted a range of topics, which included ninja school.
Shawn Bowers, Overland Park junior, read two lengthy poems with great expression and with a sense of comfort and ease. One poem was entitled “Secret Ninja School.”
Bowers read “Secret Ninja School” before moving onto his second poem, “I Hate You Ronald McDonald.” His fictional ninja poem was about an ad he saw in a newspaper for a ninja school. Once enrolling, he found he was being tricked into learning subjects like English and Science because the teachers were ninjas. The Ronald McDonald poem was about a crazed McDonald’s customer set out to kill Ronald McDonald because he was a “scary clown.”
It wasn’t Bowers’ first time reading his poetry at an open forum.
“I like the sound of my own voice,” Bowers said. “I talk to myself a lot and eventually it makes it on the page.”
The audience cast ballots of their top three choices. Bowers came out on top.
“This is just a good forum to try out new material,” Bowers said.
Dennis Mersmann, Lawrence senior, reads poetry in public forums often. He won second place and a $25 gift certificate Tuesday night for his comedic poems about a kid in his residence hall who doesn’t wear a shirt and another poem entitled “Great Communicator,” which satires a lack of communication with an ex-girlfriend. He said he won the first poetry reading competition he entered last year and was hooked. Mersmann has since entered every Student Union Activities Poetry Slam and reads periodically at the Jazzhaus, 926 1/2 Massachusetts St.
“We’re here to entertain not to think about metaphor or rhyme structure,” Mersmann said.
pullquote
I thought the material was more funny, but I saw a lot of metaphors, euphony and heard good flow.
-Justin Litt, Minneapolis, Minn., sophomore
But some audience members were there to think about such things.
Justin Litt, Minneapolis, Minn., sophomore, was encouraged to attend the event by his poetry writing professor. Litt said he could hear many of the poetic techniques he had learned about in class.
“I thought the material was more funny,” Litt said, “but I saw a lot of metaphors, euphony and heard good flow.”
While poets like Bowers read eloquently, other poets laughed and stumbled their way awkwardly through material. This was the third and final SUA Poetry Slam of the semester.
Kansan staff writer Bethany Bunch can be contacted at bbunch@kansan.com.
— Edited by James Pinick
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