Award winning slam poet visits Boise State graduating class

Boise State had the honor of being exposed to the entertaining wit of National Poetry Slam Champion Taylor Mali on Tuesday, May 1 in a celebration created for the upcoming graduating class.

Mali holds three National Poetry Slam Champion titles, and is featured in Paul Devlin’s documentary “Slam Nation.” Recently, Mali’s efforts have been focused toward filming his one-man show “Teacher! Teacher!” for the cable television channel, PSNBC.

“Taylor Mali is a master of observation,” Autumn Haynes, Student Activities coordinator for the Student Union, said as she introduced the poet on Tuesday. “He hones in on the most common contradictions, and spins them into art.”

Mali’s poems focus on his experience as an educator. Mali holds a master’s degree in English from Oxford University, and left his job teaching math to tour and evolve as a poet.

He performed many poems from his newest CD, “Poems From the Like Free Zone.” The themes behind his art focus on how we as a generation are slipping from the realm of articulation and education. His poem, “Totally like whatever, you know?” begs us to “speak with conviction, to say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks the determination with which you believe it. Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY. You have to speak with it, too.”

Taylor’s poetic presence captivated the audience, enticing them to laugh with his spoof of spell check, to awe at the splendor of what he believes the profession of teaching entails, and to feel empowered to become a scholar. “Being around someone who moves you with educated words, I found myself becoming aware of my actions because his performance is so strong,” Haynes said.

Haynes brought Mali to BSU as a ploy. “Poetry is the next wave on a college campus,” she explained. Haynes is planning a slam poetry contest on Feb. 14 of next year. The winner of the student contest will open for the next poetry show featuring another slam poet Mums, who is featured on the HBO series “OZ.”

Slam poetry intrinsically is an art form for the campus. Evolving from urban prose, slam poetry has morphed into an academic competitive art form. The competitions themselves have strict procedural rules, and

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