Slamming the spoken word
Felicia Stehmeier wrote her first song in the sixth grade.
“It was about a boy,” she said, “and it was terrible.”
But despite her corny first ballad, she didn’t stop writing, and she said the more she wrote, the better her songs became.
Years after that first middle school love song, Stehmeier, a senior majoring in acting performance, is a songwriter and guitarist, who said she uses music to express her own fears, insecurities and feelings.
“It’s therapeutic,” she said. “If I have frustrations, I think, ‘Okay, how do I express this?’ I start writing, and writing becomes lyrics, and those become notes. It’s an outlet.”
When Stehmeier, a native of California, first came to USU, she said she encountered a problem; though she was writing songs she wanted to share, she didn’t know where she could get up on stage and perform. She was also concerned that the crowd in Logan would be less responsive to her songs than in her hometown.
“I have a really busy life, and the issue for me was time and money,” she said. “And even though I did this a lot in California, I thought, ‘How will people here react to it?'”
All across campus there are hundreds of students like her, who carry Moleskein notebooks and composition books in which they jot down their thoughts between classes, and later form these thoughts into lyrics or stanzas. They may use poetry and song to express the pressures of a busy academic life, blow off steam or express insecurities.
But most of their work stops there. It is saved on computer hard drives or tucked into the back of binders — never to be read again. For others, sharing may be the only way to grow their art.
“Sometimes it’s weird, but it feels better to say a truth out loud,” said Anthony Pratt, Jr., a junior majoring in music education. “It’s better to share it in front of a crowd of strangers and throw your heart out on the stage. You feel this overwhelming sensation of having let go of something.”
Pratt, a spoken word poet, began writing in a high school classroom in New York City, where his poetry evolved from writing about girls, to writing about God. Now he is a slam poet who said he has never been shy about standing in front of a microphone and bearing his soul to a crowded coffee shop. Like Stehmeir, he said poetry is the best kind of therapy, but the writing is only half of it. The most important part is sharing.
For closet poets and song writers at USU, there is a variety of venues both on campus and around Logan that offer students an environment to share their creative work with others who share a similar passion for verse and music.
Many local restaurants and venues hold weekly open mic nights for poetry and music. Helicon West, an open reading series for local poets and writers, is one of the most popular venues. The group meets twice a month at True Aggie Café, with the next meeting falling on Sept. 22.
Citrus and Sage Café hosts an open mic night every Thursday, and jam sessions for musicians and songwriters on Sundays. The Logan Arthouse and Cinema also hosts an open mic night on Wednesdays, and Café Ibis often features local musicians.
On campus, there is the USU Slam Poetry Club, as well as events such as Poetry and a Beverage, the first of which will be held Saturday, Sept. 17, at 9 p.m., on the TSC Patio.
“At the end of the day I, would love to see more students at USU use spoken word or songwriting as more of an outlet to get rid of their stress,” Pratt said. “I always try to encourage others to get up on that stage.”
Poetry and songwriting may be an outlet to release the stress of their academic lives. Pratt said he encourages poets, writers, musicians and lyricists to attend any one of these events, either to share their own work or support their peers.
“It’s not just about picking up a pen and writing,” Pratt said. “You have to get more students to come out to these events and listen and share. You never know who might need your poem.”
— m.van911@aggiemail.usu.edu