The Justice

Media Credit: Julian Agin-Liebes Jamele Adams was the featured performer at the first session of the Brandeis Open Mic Series. At the event, he shared several stories from his life in the form of elaborate poetry with students.

Lights flicker. An energized Jason Simon-Bierenbaum '11 dashes across the floor of Castle Commons and jumps to the center of everyone's attention. "Welcome," he proclaims, voice booming and hands flailing, "to the very first session of the Brandeis Open Mic Series!"

Simon-Bierenbaum certainly succeeded in capturing the audience's initial attention, but there would be no need for him to try and maintain it the rest of the night, as the audience was captivated by the entire evening's impressive showcase of talent and diverse expression through spoken word poetry.

B.O.M.S. is the brainchild of several talented writers and spoken-word artists in the Brandeis community who for quite some time had sought an outlet of creative expression for students in an intimate performance venue. Simon-Bierenbaum, slam artist and founder of B.O.M.S., co-hosted the night along with fellow slam poet Zamira Castro Jiminez '11.

The showcase included everything from selections of student-written free verse, to famous works of poetry expressed through physical interpretation and even a solo song accompanied by acoustic guitar.

The night began with the open-mic session the name advertised, which included a variety of styles of artistic expression performed by any attendees who signed up. This portion was a great show in itself, although not enough people signed up to fill the entire time designated solely to open mic. To pass time and get the audience involved, a spoken-word game was suggested and successfully carried out. One audience member began by freestyling a poetic verse and then was followed by another participant who contributed a verse with his own spin on the topic. The game produced some very telling and emotional works of freestyle poetry and was fun for both the audience's participants and listeners.

The hosts provided a glimpse into their poetic talents by performing select slam pieces that reflected their individual personalities and cultural backgrounds. The pair also combined two poems into a single piece about childhood experience. It was very moving, well-crafted and well-executed on both of their parts. The eloquently articulated phrases conveyed serious emotion that went along with their very telling, dramatic gestures.

Continued...

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