On April 9, the MSU Museum brought National Poetry Month to life with the “Blurred Realities” poetry slam. Drawing inspiration from the museum’s “Blurred Realities” exhibition, the event encouraged audiences to consider how truth is shaped and distorted in a world of AI and digital manipulation.
The evening was led by nationally acclaimed poets Natasha T. Miller and Mahogany L. Browne, and featured additional performances from local poets and MSU students.
Many student poets said performing alongside nationally recognized writers pushed them to think differently about their own voice. Freshman Charisma Holly, majoring in Communication, Leadership, and Strategy, said that Miller and Browne are huge role models for her.
“These are people that I aspire to write like and think like,” Holly said. “The things that are happening in the world and the way they process things, and the way that they have influence over things in our local communities. I absolutely love them.”
Dr. Abbie Stevens is the CoLab Studio Program Manager at the MSU Museum. She oversees the programs and events that accompany exhibitions, developing new ideas that keep audiences returning. As the performers prepared, she explained how the slam would work.
“The first round, they [student and local poets] will present their original poem about the topic, and then there is an intermission,” Stevens said. “Then, there is another round which is poets’ choice, and they perform their favorite poem.”
One of these students is Juno Bursch, a sophomore studying arts and humanities and English secondary education. They explained the difference between open mics and slam poetry.
“Slam poetry is like its own genre of poem,” Bursch said. “Usually, it has to do with social issues. That’s, like, the main umbrella subject. It’s mostly evocative imagery, extended metaphors and using the voice as a performance.”
For the competition, judges were selected at random from the audience and rated all the performed poems, with Jeremiah Young Walker taking third, Truth the Poet earning second, and Charisma Holly winning first place.
Cassidy Howard, a senior studying journalism, was another student who performed at the slam. She published her first book, “Limbo,” this year, which is a collection of poems about the stages of grief.
“This is my thing,” Howard said. “I like to merge journalism and creative writing a lot and just see where that takes me. My end goal is to start up a foundation that allows kids to pursue hobbies and potentially jobs in the arts.”
A junior studying creative writing and world politics, Gaby Yeary discovered her love for poetry last year after going to open mic nights at the Robin Theatre in Lansing.
“Now I work as an intern for the Center for Poetry,” Yeary said. “Toby Altman and Laurie Hollinger, who are the director and assistant director, are just so phenomenal at what they do and they’re great at connecting with the students in a way that got me really interested and kept my passion for poetry.”
As the night wrapped up, Bursch shared one last thought about what poetry can offer.
“I think poetry is a great way for people to, like, start reintegrating struggle back into their lives,” Bursch said. “Or at least learning to be comfortable with the uncomfortable.”
The Blurred Realities exhibition is on display until July 18th, along with several other exhibitions opening this summer.
