The Wake

After a weekend free of time clocks, company policies and homework, no one’s excited to begin their week again. Monday, for most part, is easily the worst day of the week. What most people don’t realize is that they have a choice in the matter. Instead of wasting Monday night cursing softly to your dog, why not expel stress cursing the very existence of Monday to an entire crowd. Take your Monday to a Poetry Slam, and make Monday the last day of your weekend.

Monday, March 5th was the one-year anniversary of the Soap Box Slam. At 8 p.m. the Artists’ Quarter was buzzing with excitement for the night’s main event. Poets rehearsed one last time, talked with their competitors, or bellied-up to the bar for a drink of liquid courage. Audience members mingled with the poets and jostled for seats at the small round tables facing the bright stage. The microphone’s buzz though the PA filled the room with electricity, silent below the crowd. Suddenly, silence consumed the bar as the first poet approached the stage. Cool beads of condensation slowly crawled down glasses, and down the contestants’ necks. The first poet, Ezra Stead, grabbed the microphone and pulled it close to his lips, staring out into the crowd. The time for the slam had come.

Slam Poetry, a rebirth of the ancient art of lyrical storytelling, put the power into the hands of the people. Poet Michael Mlekoday explains, “Slam is designed to be a democratic art form. We choose the judges out of the audience so we’re really saying to the people, ‘Hey, you can decide what good poetry is!’”

“It is stimulating entertainment - unlike television, one doesn’t go to a Slam to veg out. Anyone can go to a slam and enjoy themselves. The variety is amazing: comedy, tragedy, irony, politics. You don’t have to know or even love poetry to have a good time there,” declares Matthew Rucker, proprietor of the Soap Boxing Slam.

The formula is simple: raw poetry plus a wild audience equals a great time. The competitors score points only if they can invoke a feeling within the audience. “Because,” as Rucker explains, “there is nothing else going on besides the poet’s performance. [The performance] has to be good in order not to bore the audience.” The crowd is hushed, the bar is silent, and the PA system is powerful so that every syllable of every word caries the full weight of the emotion behind it.

The competitive edge inherent to a poetry slam adds the magic to the formula. “Because it is a competition,” says Rucker, “the poets are compelled to find and use the best of their abilities. The audience is far more attentive because points are at stake.” The key element to winning a slam is winning audience participation. As the audience connects with the poetry they cheer for happiness, hush at sorrow, and cringe at pain.

As soon as a poem is finished, randomly chosen audience members act as judges, as the rest of the audience responds to the judges’ point evaluations. The five judges hold up diving-style number scores from 1.0 to 10.0 and audience members boo scores they feel are too low and cheer for high point awards. The highest and lowest scores are knocked out, to avoid cranky or over-ecstatic judges, and points are chalked up for the contestants.

This intellectual but boisterous atmosphere makes the poetry slam a completely unique and satisfying experience. “Few people will leave a slam unmoved in one way or another,” Asserts Rucker, “It is cheaper and better than a movie, and usually more entertaining. It is intense, intelligent and good culture, but lighthearted, interesting and fun.” In other words, it is everything a Monday night should be.

Slam competitions are held both in St. Paul and in Minneapolis. The Artists’ Quarter in St. Paul has a slam every first Monday of each month at 8:00 PM, and open mic every other Monday night. Kieran’s Irish Pub in downtown Minneapolis has a slam contest every second and fourth Tuesday of each month.

A case of the Mondays is a serious disease, but a cheap and accessible treatment exists. For five dollars, or free if you compete, slam and extend your weekend one more day. Free yourself from the worst day of the week by transforming it one into one of the best.

For more information on the Artists’ Quarter visit or to learn more about the St. Paul’s Poetry Slam visit