Poetry Competition- Louder Than A Bomb

I started performing poetry in ninth grade after seeing a Morning Exercise in eighth grade during which the newly formed slam poetry club performed a few of their own pieces. I was instantly moved and attracted to the idea of slam poetry, aka spoken word or performance poetry. Louder than a Bomb is an event where teams around Chicago can sign up to compete. Louder than a Bomb (LTAB) is organized by the Young Chicago Authors and there are many bouts (competition groups)- I attended the finals. I was only able to see two of the bouts but I wish I could have seen all of them! Being a city-wide event, it is only natural for LTAB to attracts a huge amount of young poets, this year, there were over more than 600 young poets who competed. Some were there as part of a team doing solo pieces, others were involved in group pieces and the more out-going, strong poets (thats my own personal opinion) performed as indie poets ('independent'). 

The thing I love about LTAB is its ability to bring together people from the North side with people from the South side and West side , etc to share their unique perspectives and experiences in Chicago. The over 600 different voices that eloquently shared their lives with listeners and other performers were doing something amazing (maybe they realized it, maybe the didn't), they were challenging the status quo of our divided city with their common passion for writing and storytelling. 

Often times, spoken word is made fun of in popular media maybe because of the sometimes repetitive rhythm most performers seem to follow or emphasis on words, but thats what I like about it. It's a performance. It is emotionally filled. It can be funny. It can be sad. It is thought provoking.

The LTAB bouts I attended were diverse in topics, sound, performers, and style. Some sang in their poems, others rapped, some clapped while others used onomatopoeia. LTAB is all about identity. It is about showing who you are, what you care about, what affects you and those around you. It never fails to surprise me with the wide audience it reaches. I think that anyone can relate.