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Local bookstore celebrates
fine art of competitive poetry
Foolscap Books will send
Eugene’s best slam poets
to the national tournament
By Carl Sundberg
Pulse Columnist
Tucked away between a Mexican
restaurant and a wig shop on Blair
Boulevard lies a quaint independent
bookshop called Foolscap Books. The
shelves are lined with an assortment of
used and rare books about astrology,
politics, history, poetry and a plethora
of other topics. In the center of the
store is a large L-shaped couch and cof
fee table. On the windows, among the
flyers for upcoming events, are signs
stating "Liquidation Sale."
After five years of struggling sales,
owner Marietta Bonaventure has de
cided to close the store on May 15 and
convert to an online-only sales model.
"It's become really clear that most
of my business is online sales," she
said. "I basically worked she days a
week for five years without really
making a paycheck."
During this time, Foolscap Books
evolved from a modest bookstore
into a cultural hotspot. Bonaventure
obtained a grant from the Lane Arts
Council which allowed her to make
Foolscap Books the first official venue
for slam poetry competitions in
Courtesy
Foolscap Books, birthplace of the Eugene slam poetry scene, is closing May 15.
according to http://www.slampapi.com,
the Web site of Marc Kelly Smith. Smith,
a construction worker from Chicago,
created the form in the 1980s to reinvig
orate poetry and make it accessible to
anyone. It has been growing at a fever
ish pace since its creation.
"I think Marc Smith himself consid
ers slam the biggest thing since Beat to
hit the literary arts scene;" Bonaventure
said. "And I think that's true."
With an exponential audience
growth rate and voracious public
hunger for the art form, slam has
blown up nationally
and locally.
"Because of the
traveling poets that
Marietta has brought
in, the reputation of
Eugene has become
one of the hottest
reads in the country,"
said Nathan
Langston, a Portland
poet and member of
last year's Eugene Slam team.
When the national slam competi
tions began in the late 1980s, there
were only four national slam teams
competing against each other. This
year, there are 64.
Aside from the Beats, other equally
important influences are hip-hop and
stand-up comedy, along with regional
and ethnic aspects, Bonaventure said.
But one of the most important influ
ences is the competition.
On a local level, several competi
tions take place throughout the year.
These contests culminate in a final
round, during which a smaller group
of the year's best slam poets compete
for a place on the slam team. This
PART 1 OF 3
Today: An overview of the bookstore and its role in
the formation of the slam poetry scene.
May 13: An in-depth preview of the final slam
competition to determine this year’s Eugene slam
and a look at the future of slam in Eugene.
May 20: A reporter’s notebook looking back on the
finals and what went down, interviews with the
winners and more tales of madness.
Eugene. The bookstore is registered
with Poetry Slam Incorporated, the
national nonprofit organization in
charge of overseeing the growth and
maintenance of slam poetry on both
local and national levels.
"It's been really, really gratifying the
kind of things that I've been able to
do, like the cultural events, especially
the slam," Bonaventure said. "If you
had told me that I would be doing
this five years ago when I opened the
store, I wouldn't have believed it. The
biggest thing I'm taking away from
the bookstore is the Poetry Slam."
So, what is poetry slam?
"Simply put, poetry slam is the com
petitive art of performance poetry,"
018864
Dorris Ranch
20$ Dorris St., Springfield
May 8-Wild Teas
10:30—Noon
Lane County
Historical Museum ($)
740 W. 13th Avenue. Eugene
May 8—Photo Exhibit 8 Speaker
9AM-5PM; 2PM speaker
REFRESHMENTS 9AM-N00N
May 9-Photo Exhibit
Noon-spm
Masonic Cemetery
25th Avenue 8 University Street,
Euyene
May 9—10th Anniversary
Celebration
11AM-4PM
The Science Factory
Children’s Museum
and Planetarium ($)
2300 Leo Harris Parkway, Eugene
May 8 8 9—Scavenger Hunt
N0011-4PM
Shelton-McMurphey
lohnson House
303 Willamette Street, Euyene
May 8-Tea (S)
(Reservations required)
May 9—Open House (FREE)
1—4PM
Springfield Museum
$90 Main Street, Sprinyfield
May 8-Heritage Day
Noon—4?M
UO Museum of Art
1430 lohnson
University Campus
May 8-Open House
1—4PM
Special Program a> ipm
UO Museum of
Natural History
1680 East 15th Avenue
University Campus
May 8—Identification Day
1-4PM
West Euyene Wetlands
Meadowlark Prairie Overlook
On Greenhill Road, Euyene
May 8-Bird Walk
7:00—9:00AM
slam team will compete in the
national tournament in St. Louis on
August 3 to 8.
Last year was the first year Eugene
slam poets competed at the national
level. The Eugene team — consisting
of Martha Grover, Jahan Khalighi,
Nathan Langston and Treysi — went
to Chicago to compete against 63 oth
er teams from across the nation.
With the aid of Bonaventure, the
team raised funds and saved up
enough money to compete against
some of the top-rated slam poets in
the country.
"It was crazy," said Khalighi. "I was
somewhat blown away by their skills."
At the end of each night, the group
slept in a friend's art gallery.
"Our first bout was against Nuyori
can (Poets Cafe), which is where hip
hop was born," Bonaventure said.
"We were in so much trouble — a
first-year team up against the total
granddaddies of hip-hop."
Nervous and unprepared, the Eu
gene team bombed. The second bout
went better, when Eugene went up
against the Chicago Green Mill and
the Mesa, Ariz., teams, beating them
both and taking first place. When the
smoke cleared, Eugene came home in
the middle of the national pack: 38th
place overall, "which is great for a
first-year team," Bonaventure said.
This year, a new Eugene team will
head to St. Louis in August for the Na
tional Poetry Slam competition. The
finalists will be determined May 15 at
Foolscap Books in a competition and
final party that will last throughout
the night.
Contact the Pulse columnist
at carlsundberg@dailyemerald.com.
igfsi
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Friday, March 7th
PLC 180,6:00pm
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hRECON mill Y FMFRAI D
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