The Justice

Media Credit: Emily Kraus At the Shapiro Campus Center, Jamele Adams encouraged attendees to express themselves through dynamic performances of their personal writing.

Slam poetry, the act of taking a poem and infusing it with theatrical elements, is more than a casual hobby-it's an art form. And on Wednesday, Feb. 11, Brandeis students had the opportunity to learn about it from master celebrated poet and our own dean of student life Jamele Adams.

It was a night of relaxing fun in the Shapiro TV Lounge, complete with hot apple cider and cookies. Students who arrived early had time to socialize and get good spots on the couches before Adams arrived, and when he did, it was in a flurry of cold winter air and cheer.

While the event had been advertised as "Slam Poetry with Jamele Adams," very few details of the night's activities had been given out beforehand and most people in the room had little idea of what was going to happen. I, for one, was expecting a slam poetry performance, or maybe an impromptu poetry slam by members of the Brandeis Slam Team. Instead, Adams handed out pieces of notebook paper and instructed everyone to pick another person in the room and write a haiku about that person in three minutes. Noticing that Massell Quad Community Development Coordinator Brian Koslowski was in the room, he commented, "If you ever wanted to write about your CDC, here's your chance."

After about three minutes of frantic scribbling and numerous pauses to count syllables on our fingers, we had all completed passable haikus. Mine, I'm proud to say, did not end with either "refrigerator" or "hippopotamus" (both five-syllable "cop-out" words). The room favorite was written for the wonderful Brian Koslowski himself:

"Why are you happy?/Things in the world are real bad./I want your hairstyle."

"Poetry," Dean Adams said when everyone had finished giggling over haikus, "is expression. It's the ability to have a voice and be heard."

His words hit home, especially given the time in which they were spoken. In addition to February being Black History Month, a commemoration of the struggles minorities fought through in order to get their voices heard and a celebration of that achievement, Brandeis students are working more than ever to get their voices heard in the wake of major University decisions being made without their input. Poetry has been used to voice protest for generations, from political unrest to teenage rebellion, and as Adams put it, the best way to use it is to bring it to life.

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