HawaiiSlam celebrated it’s 13th anniversary on April 7th, 2016 at Hawaiian Brian’s Crossroads concert hall. The First Thursday Grand Slam Finals featured twelve of the best poets from the 2015 and 2016 seasons as they performed their strongest pieces in a three-round elimination match to determine who will represent HawaiiSlam’s team in the 2016 National Poetry Slam Competition in Georgia. (Kealoha HawaiiSlam). The HawaiiSlam’s Finalists were: TravisT, Eli Litzelman, Jesse Lipman, Adam Kenner, Serena Simmons, Simply Tee Poetry, Will Giles, Destiny Sharion, Mr. Jason Tom, Liam Skilling, Malia Derden, and Jenna Robinson. Also featuring Hawaii’s SlamMaster, Kealoha, and DJ Toki (SIS). (Kealoha HawaiiSlam). Once the top poets make it through all three rounds, they are qualified for the National Poetry Slam which will be held August 1st to the 6th in Decatur, Georgia. All proceeds go towards flying the finalist out the the National Poetry Slam competition.

HawaiiSlam is a non-profit organization dedicated to showcasing poets from the islands and running the nationally certified First Thursdays slam poetry competition. (Hawaiislam.com). The organization was founded by its current host Kealoha (the Poet Laureate of Hawai`i) in 2003. What starting off as a small venue in Honolulu China Town has since grown into the largest registered poetry slam in the world with over 500 attendees each month. (kealohapoetry.com). HawaiiSlam’s team is currently ranked 2nd in the nation and its host was recognized as a "National Poetry Slam Legend" in 2010. (kealohapoetry.com).   

For those of you who are new to the term slam poetry, it is like a combination of poetry and rap. Slam poetry creates a safe environment where young (and old) adults can express themselves and challenge their peers through a creative medium. They are able to use images, words and their physical performance to get across their point. Slam poetry also creates a setting where people walk in with open minds to talk about provocative subjects and analyze them, which we would normally exclude from normal conversation because we are afraid of conflict. Like rap, slam poetry started as more of an underground scene which evolved from a mixture of cultures. It has given people who have experienced traumatic events to reach out to the community and feel embraced, or a space to air the community’s “dirty laundry”. Rap is a modern form of poetry stemmed from the African American culture, and slam poetry blends aspects of the rap culture with the classic poetry from ancient cultures like Ancient Greek. Unlike a lot of rap, slam poetry does not just focus on the past and negative things that have happened. Many of the slam poets today also incorporate scientific theories, ponder the future and question our moralities and actions as a society, a nation, a world and even a solar system.

In this exclusive interview with the Poet Laureate of Hawai`i, Kealoha, goes into depth about why he started HawaiiSlam on O’ahu, how he got into the slam poetry world and what his visions are for the future.

“I started HawaiiSlam because I felt that us poets needed a place to call home. A place where we could work on our craft in front of a consistent audience and get better and better. I also wanted to create a space that was accessible to everybody. That's why I have always kept HawaiiSlam’s First Thursdays shows all ages and as inexpensive as possible. Art has the potential to change lives. I know this because it changed mine profoundly. Art can't change lives if nobody sees it.” (Kealoha).

“When we first started out, we were just babies who wanted to learn the art form, so we grew together. We studied it through trial and error. We took a lot of risks with our writing and our performances. We collaborated with musicians, DJ's, dancers, painters, and other poets. In a sense, we were living in a performance art incubator. The audiences didn't know what they were going to get. We didn't always know what the audiences were going to get. It was truly experimental.” (Kealoha).

“Building the HawaiiSlam community was a lot of hard work!! I busted my ass those first few years. I used to pass out flyers everywhere. I used to call all my friends before every show to convince them to come. There were newspaper, radio, and TV interviews. There was not a whole lot of sleep.” (Kealoha).

“The biggest obstacle was making sure our audiences came back to see more. It was making sure that the art that they were seeing was going to improve from month to month. There was a lot of cultivation and growth. There was a lot of time invested in getting together one-on-one with poets to help them out with their writing and their performances.” (Kealoha).

“Currently, I can say that we’ve gotten much better because we've been working so hard. The level of writing and performance at HawaiiSlam’s First Thursdays has been increasing exponentially. We’ve also gotten a lot of recognition from the National Poetry Slam community, and have become a favorite place for top poets to come through to share their work.” (Kealoha).

“As for the future, HawaiiSlam will grow and evolve as it always has. We have become a part of the larger international community. Poets fly to Hawai`i to feature and to compete in our slams. The biggest obstacle is making sure that the art doesn't get homogenized. That the poets stay cutting edge and continue to speak their truths, as opposed to writing just to try and win slams.” (Kealoha).

“Over the past few years, I've written a creation story (full of plot and conflict/resolution and love and lessons and other good things) that explains everything that has happened from the Big Bang till now. That's right, 13.7 billion years worth of time all told in a theater show. It's called "The Story of Everything," and it is a fusion of science, storytelling, poetry, movement, music, visual art/animation, and chanting. The production debuted in Honolulu to a sold out, standing ovation at the end of 2015. I am currently working on fine-tuning the production and getting it ready to tour for 2016 and beyond. This project is probably the single biggest thing that I've done my entire life, and it captures so much of the knowledge that I've gained throughout the years.” (Kealoha).

“10 years from now, I hope to still be using my art to make people's lives better in some small, meaningful way. I hope to still be touring and to continue making my living by touching different communities around the world. I'd like to think that I will evolve with time. I mean, it's hard to say what I'll be doing 10 years from now, but at the core, I hope I'm still contributing to the community by sparking dialogue and action.” (Kealoha).

Refereces:

Kealoha. “Kealoha.” Kealoha.com, 2002. Web. 2016.

http://www.kealohapoetry.com/.

Poetry Slam Inc. “Poetry Slam Inc.” Poetryslam.com, 2015. Web. 2016.

http://poetryslam.com/

Kealoha. “HawaiiSlam.” Hawaiislam.com, (n.d.). Web. 2016.

http://www.hawaiislam.com/