PETALING JAYA, Nov 23 — There was a lot of snapping of fingers and stamping of feet at the first-ever inter-school poetry slam a couple weeks ago… but no, the audience was not heckling the performers.
On the contrary, finger snapping and feet stamping is how you applaud at a spoken word poetry competition or performance!
Organised by Sunway International School and BluBricks, the poetry slam which had participants from the International School of Kuala Lumpur, Garden International School, Asia Pacific International School and Asia Pacific Smart School was a great success.
Surprisingly, poetry is far from dead in Kuala Lumpur… and while it is not exactly trending, it is enjoyed and practised by quite a few young people.
The inaugural annual poetry slam exceeded the expectations of the organisers and teachers with its amazing line-up of young, creative talents.
Contestants aged from 13 to 17 battled it out that night, waxing lyrical with their own original works and individual styles.
Spoken word poetry is very different from written poetry; it’s like a performance and it involves engaging the audience through body language, eye contact and… generally, performing.
Each contestant was given three minutes of stage time and out of the 28 contestants, only two were male. Invited judges included local spoken word poets such as Alana Azlan, Will Beale, Sheena Baharudin, Jamal Raslan and Katrina Lau.
“It was a really good event. In terms of content, they all have it,” said Sheena who has seven years’ experience in spoken word poetry. “It was just the differences in performance.
“I believe that poets should come in as educators, there is just so much potential. The only way to learn is to be on stage,” she added.
Sixteen-year-old Muhammad Faadhi bin Mohd Fauzi from Sunway International School won the Poetry Slam with his poignant poem based on his life story.
“I honestly did not expect to win because everyone else is so talented so I was surprised when I did. This is my first time entering a Poetry Slam and usually my poetry would be based on my life, comedy or fiction,” said the teen.
Faadhi plans to continue his studies at Sunway University at the Canadian pre-university programme. He hopes to study in Canada.
“Poetry is something I really like to do. Maybe as a hobby if I can’t make it as a career,” he said.
Dakshina Chetti (International School of Kuala Lumpur) won second place while Shirley Lee (Sunway International School) and Nicola Choon (International School of Kuala Lumpur) tied for third place. All participating schools were required to join in the group category poetry competition, where the winner received the Helios Award. With the award, the winning school gets to host the next Poetry Slam next year. The hall erupted with applause when Sunway International School won the Helios Award.
Another stand-out that night was Daniel Subramaniam, 19, who gave a stunning performance with a poem that touched on socio-political issues. Speaking with emotion and flair, Daniel gave a real-ife account of what happened to him when he found out he was put under the “Dan Lain-Lain” category in a form. His outstanding performance impressed the judges but it was a close fight between all contestants.
“The Poetry Slam was quite fun. I think the competition aspect makes it more challenging,” said Daniel. “I was actually quite unprepared and was pacing up and down before my turn.
“This competition is a good avenue for individuals to do spoken word poetry. I think it has to be exposed more and there is room for improvement locally. There aren’t many opportunities for this and it is a good avenue,” said Daniel, who was previously in a government school.
