Words have the power to change the world. They can tell stories, bring people together and spark movements. And there’s one place in Baton Rouge where all of these things could happen in just one night.
Every Tuesday night, poets from around the city gather for the Eclectic Truth Poetry Slam and Open Mic, sponsored by the Baton Rouge poetry group The Poetry Alliance.
Poets are welcome to share their poems, songs and rants at the open mic portion of the night, but when the open mic portion ends, the slam begins.
The Poetry Alliance’s president and slam master Donney Rose said people tend to think slam poetry is a genre, but it’s actually not a genre at all. Slam poetry is competitive spoken word poetry.
“Slam is a game, a competition, a sport,” Rose said. “Any poem, in theory, can be a slam poem. It’s just a game that poets play to get audiences interested in listening.”
Slam season offers poets the chance to compete against each other in hopes of eventually earning a spot on the group’s team for the 2015 National Poetry Slam. Competitors earn points each week and will advance to the semi-final and final rounds in February before making the team. Baton Rouge has sent a four-poet team to the National Poetry Slam each year since 2000, but being on the team doesn’t require a poet to be a member of The Poetry Alliance.
The revolving group of poets was founded in 1999 and is composed of whoever is in town and prominent on the poetry scene at the time. The 10-member group organizes weekly readings, competition teams and even the occasional guest feature poet.
Rose said the Baton Rouge poetry scene is well-respected, so guest speakers are more than happy to stop by when they’re in town.
Rose first heard about the group when he was in college and was invited to join in 2000. The group looks for poets who are dedicated to the scene and make an extra effort to be involved.
“If they show a commitment to the scene beyond just performing on the mic, then they can make themselves a candidate for The Poetry Alliance,” Rose said. “We’re looking for people who show invested interest in the cultivation of the scene.”
Baton Rouge resident Jim Dulin has been a member of The Poetry Alliance for about a year. He moved to Baton Rouge to work at the University, but he also hoped the city had a poetry scene to offer. Dulin said he was attending an open mic night in New Orleans when he met Rose and learned about The Eclectic Truth open mic night.
“I’d been writing and performing off and on for seven, maybe eight years,” Dulin said. “But I hadn’t been involved as much since I moved here. It’s a really great community and it got me going a lot more than I had ever been into it before.”
Dulin said the group occasionally hosts special readings. Its most recent reading surrounded the Eric Garner trial.
The group waived the normal $7 admission fee and instead raised money for the Louisiana Dialogue on Race group, whose focus is to eliminate racism. The event was standing room only with more than 150 people in attendance.
The Poetry Alliance is mainly an adult scene, as its members range from 22-43 years old. Although it’s been years, Dulin said the University used to have its own poetry team. Campus Life and the College Unions used to run the University’s College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational, but when the two departments split, the University’s team vanished. The adult and youth poetry scenes in Baton Rouge are strong, but the college scene isn’t as prominent.
The Poetry Alliance is a special group of individuals. Rose encourages students to attend the open mic night, even if they aren’t interested in participating.
“You go to the movies, you might laugh, you might cry,” Rose said. “You go to a concert, you may get energized, you may rock out. A poetry reading is one of the few aspects of entertainment where you get multiple emotions that may take place in one night.”
Rose and Dulin both are proud of the group they’re a part of and hope students enjoy what Rose calls their “weird art form.”
“This group is specifically special and unique for Baton Rouge because it’s a really diverse group of people that come out,” Dulin said. “Not only as part of The Poetry Alliance, but the poets and audience members that actually come to the shows. That’s not something I see a whole lot of in Baton Rouge.”
You can reach Greta Jines on Twitter @TheGretaJines.

Gallery • 8 Photos

Ronni Bourgeois

"Xero" reads a poem during the open mic session as a part of opening of The Poetry Alliance's slam poetry contest on Jan. 20, 2015, hosted at Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge.