Standing room only at 'Poetry Slam'
Stan Gouveia tops
Stabroek News
June 7, 2002
In the midst of all the fear that has gripped the country since the infamous February 23rd jailbreak, and in spite of the tragic events earlier in the day, there was a beacon of hope shining in downtown Georgetown last Saturday. Upscale Guyana Restaurant, in its tradition of 'firsts', held the first ever "Poetry Slam". For the second time, in the history of Poetry Nite, it was standing room only.
Poetry Slam was different from the regular Tuesday night. It was a competitive event, with the regular Open Mic poets coming together. The audience decided on their favourites by the level of their applause. Beginning with fourteen contestants, with topics ranging from the humorous 'Love on a rusty mattress' to the sensuous 'The first time' to the serious 'Fetus cry', the audience whittled it down to seven semi-finalists. They were Stanley Jones, Bobby Fernandes, Stan Gouveia, Bertie Chancellor, Rae Vanderhyden, Hilda James and Jerome Hope. From there they selected two finalists, Gouveia and Fernandes, with Gouveia coming out the winner with his piece 'Remember when'. Guyana's squash queen Nicolette Fernandes presented the finalists with their prizes.
At the end of the programme, one of the guests who was there had this to say,
"What I liked most about Poetry Slam was the democratic nature of the poetry presented, and the poets therefore represented. Upscale's regular clientele seemed ...well upscale. But the poets were a more diverse bunch, and I appreciated that. The poetry itself was interesting because I thought that some of it was hard-hitting and political. For instance, there was one on Guyanese people by Bobby Fernandes on the curious notion of who the Guyanese citizen might really be ... another poet talked of her sexuality, both in funny and serious modes, as a woman, as a sexual woman and very unabashedly.
"What I found interesting was that while the audience seemed to generally appreciate funny poetry, they also responded well to politically sharp commentary: yet, it was humour that won over "serious" stuff. I've been to the Nuyorican Poets Society, in NYC, and I thought it suffered occasionally from an overdose of the angst-ridden urban statement type of stuff. The poetry session at Upscale restaurant certainly had none of that....but I am not sure if it is necessarily a good thing. Longing, pathos, desire, insecurity, poverty or helplessness....these are poetically expressible emotions...and it would be interesting to see whether future sessions of this event create a space for such emotions."
Reigning Ms. Guyana/World Olive Gopaul, Sports Personality Sean Devers, Roy Babel and prominent attorney K. Juman-Yassin then presented the remaining contestants with certificates of appreciation.
Poetry Slam winner Gouveia said that it was exciting to be viewed as a 'trendsetter' and it was encouraging to have the opportunity, venue and inspiration for his "hobby" to be taken seriously. Second place winner Fernandes said that Poetry Nite had a broad-based appeal, even to people who are not usually "poetry people", including his children, who also attended Poetry Slam. He also said that in order to sustain Poetry Nite, more support is needed, especially from members of the public.
Proprietor Asafa George expressed satisfaction at the response that was generated and said that even though that morning's tragic attack on a Regent Street cambio in which one person died had caused some persons to cancel their reservations, he was pleased with the turnout. He stated that culture was the "catalyst that could lead to the uplifting of us as a society."