Poetry lovers in St. Albert are making sure the young poets in their community have a creative outlet. Amplify, the city’s youth arts development program, hosted its first poetry slam Thursday evening at the Art Gallery of St. Albert in collaboration with Stark Poets, a youth poetry composition group. “I think people get the passion to talk about issues and be active in the community very early on in life. At least, it was that way for me,” said competitor and Grade 11 Bellerose Composite High School student Charlie Skaggs. “Slam poetry, especially, and just poetry in general, is one of the greatest mediums to do that.” What is a poetry slam? Poetry slams differ from open mic events in that they are judged contests with rules. Thursday night, poets had the stage for three minutes and would suffer deductions if they went longer. An Amplify committee member, former Edmonton poet laureate Titilope Sonuga, and drag artist Pheremone Killz served as judges. “The slam community says, ‘The points are not the point, the point is the poetry,’” City of St. Albert community cultural coordinator Kathleen Bell told CTV News Edmonton. “It’s a very friendly competition meant to elevate the stakes of poetry, make sure people are writing their very best, but also recognizing that writing poetry is the most important thing – and putting it out there is the most important thing.” Because slams are interactive – audience members can snap their fingers in appreciation of the poets and boo the judges – they are often an energetic event. “That’s an exciting part, and that’s what makes it more exciting to watch as an audience member.” Group born out of need Retired teacher Kiki May Healey founded Stark Poets, which meets Tuesday evenings at the St. Albert Public Library. The group’s first meetings took place online while COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were in effect. At the time, St. Albert didn’t have a poet laureate program and St. Albert youth didn’t qualify for Edmonton’s, Healey said. “We write poetry, we do workshops, we do field trips, we go to nationals at Poetry in Voice,” she said. “They are talented, creative, thoughtful writers and we just help them understand poetry better than they would in a high school classroom.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Galen McDougall
