The Words, May 2016
CUPSI 2016
By Sarah Richman ’16
Every year, teams of spoken word artists from colleges around the country come together to compete at CUPSI, the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational. This event, put on by the Association of College Unions International (ACUI), is an opportunity for these young poets to celebrate and practice the art of spoken word. I spoke with fellow English majors EJ Schoenborn ‘17, Ollie Schminkey ‘16, John Ratz ‘18, and Spencer Brownstein ‘18 about their experiences at CUPSI 2016 in Austin, Texas.
EJ, a double major in Creative Writing and Educational Studies, had never attended CUPSI before. “I only got started with slam poetry and spoken word the last month of my first year here at Macalester. I had never heard of slam poetry before,” he said, “but I thought it was really interesting and cool and combined theater and creative writing, which I was super into at the time, and still am.”
For Ollie, a double major in Creative Writing and Studio Art, CUPSI 2016 was far from new: “I’ve been to CUPSI every year I’ve been at Mac; this year was my second year being the CUPSI captain, and I was super proud to see my squad do so well!” they said.
John, a Creative Writing major, echoed that sentiment. He described this team experience as “phenomenal.” John had been on teams at the high school and national levels before coming to Macalester, but “can confidently say [that] Oliver, Spencer, E.J, Becky, and our coach Hieu were the best team I’ve ever had. Preparing was an anxious, exciting, and altogether transformative experience. After a while,” he said, “it just felt like everything was falling into place.”
The poets all mentioned the amount of work that they put into preparing for CUPSI and other competitive slams throughout the year. Spencer, a Creative Writing major with a soon-to-be-declared Critical Theory concentration, admitted that “spoken word has become the biggest aspect of my life here at Macalester.” EJ agreed, saying that spoken word “took over my life a lot second semester… practice twice a week, MacSlams workshops once a week, two competitive slams a month, not to mention all the time spent writing and editing the poems.”
All that work, the poets unanimously agreed, was worth it. At CUPSI, Spencer “felt more calm than I ever had before on a stage. It made me feel, for the first time, that I was an actual slam poet, and that I could actually hold my own against people I’ve seen and idolized on the internet. It’s a moment,” Spencer added, that “I won’t soon forget”.
When I asked John and EJ, two other CUPSI newcomers, if CUPSI was what they expected, both responded with iterations of “Oh my god.”
“CUPSI actually blew my expectations away!” exclaimed John. “I didn’t really have any set expectations, but I remember thinking at some point between making semis and meeting so many great people and thinking, ‘Oh my god, everything is going so right!’”
“I’m honestly not entirely sure what I expected,” EJ said. “I knew I was going to be performing poems in front of a room of strangers who have never heard my stuff before. I knew I was going there with five other amazing people I love! I think seeing all the people I’ve seen on Youtube, specifically Button Poetry, was the biggest shock because it was like, ‘Oh my god. They’re real—like, really real!’ and, of course, I found myself unable to speak to them.”
One of Ollie’s poems, “Threesome,” was awarded the “Best of the Rest” distinction. “It was super rad to be on finals stage,” they said, “especially because there were quite a few cis folks putting up homophobic and transphobic poems at CUPSI. It was nice that there were at least two trans people (myself and another person) on finals stage tearing it up and speaking our truths.”
“Competitions like this are not immune to oppressive power dynamics, and it felt good to be loved in a space where my voice was so necessary,” Ollie said. “I also think that it’s always important for survivors of abuse and assault to speak if that’s what’s good for them, and I find a lot of power in speaking about survivorship in an unashamed way.”
CUPSI 2016 may have come and gone, but these poets find ways to connect spoken word and slam poetry into the rest of their Macalester experiences. “Poetry slam is, to put it succinctly, my ‘thing,’” said John. “It’s an art form that helps me process my life the most and the one that’s the most visible to others.” John is a co-chair of MacSlams, but “it feels like a part of my identity, rather than an extracurricular.”
Slamming led Spencer to his Creative Writing major, and has given EJ the tools to thrive both inside and outside of the English department. It’s “super helpful in incorporating new and fresh ideas and images in my papers and projects,” he said. “Also, it’s helped me thin out my words and make sure I get my point across in the easiest way possible.”
“To anyone who wants to get into the slam scene, the best and easiest thing you can do is come to MacSlams workshops!” said Spencer. “The MacSlams community is extraordinarily open and loving, composed of some of my favorite people at Macalester by far. The workshopping process at the MacSlams meetings are also beyond beneficial to anyone trying to participate in slams.”
Ollie summed it up well: “CUPSI is great! MacSlams is great! Great! Great! Great!”
They wrote and spoke their truths, rocked black lipstick together, and had a wonderful time learning and growing as poets— “great” indeed.