Bay Area poets bare all at Vallejo bar’s poetry slam

VALLEJO — Poets from around the Bay Area gathered on Monday at a small Vallejo bar near Highway 80, not for just a poetry reading, but for a poetry slam.

Chris’ Club hosts regular poetry readings twice a month, but last Monday’s was different. A poetry slam is a contest with rules. Poems must be memorized. No reading from a notebook or mobile phone is allowed. A panel of judges select the best artists to compete in subsequent rounds until a winner is determined.

Papi Grande won the slam, Vallejo’s own Lee Lee Ain’t Misbehavin’ came in second and Charlie Ban Dogh from Oakland came in third.

Poems ranged from sweet contemplations on life to anger at an ex, from remorse for past  actions to steamy, raunchy erotica. Many poets spoke of personal struggles and loss and their journeys toward healing and growth.

The slam’s participants were invited by the event’s organizer, Queen Nubian of Stockton. She heard about poetry readings held at Chris’ Club when she took part in Yoshi’s “Hip Hop Elevation 3” last October. She has family in Vallejo and decided to check out the venue. 

“It's a small hole in the wall club, don't get me wrong,” she said. “But I liked it.”

One of the judges, Charles Scott of BluesPoetry, said that a poet’s ability to recite from memory makes their delivery more powerful. 

“Because now your hands are free, your body is free to do what you can do, instead of looking down at a phone or a piece of paper or an iPad," Scott said. “So now you can be a little more dramatizing with your poetry.”

The most dramatic performer of the event was UpsideDownGhost. He paced, stretched his arms skyward, circled the stage, beat on his heart, crouched and held his head. His performance was not only spoken word, but theater.

But Ghost said he didn’t care about winning a prize, and dropped out of the last round.

Papi Grande won the final round with a gentle presence and strong words.

Lee Lee Ain’t Misbehavin’ delivered couple of her signature sexy poems, and also a piece that raged about racial injustice

Charley Ban Dogh performed a poem that explored his reaction to temptation, escalated to erotica, and ended with a funny punchline.

The slam rounds were interspersed with open mic readings, where anyone could sign up to speak, and reading was allowed.

When Queen Nubian stepped up to the open mic, the audience called out for her poem “Run Niger Run.” She told them she couldn’t recite that poem without also reciting “Karen.” She said  “if you're gonna offend one crowd you got to offend the other one too.“

Queen Nubian said that poets and hip hop performers often complain to her that there are too few performance venues available to them. ”There are places to perform,” she said. “It's just either you don't know about it, or a few people don't like the area of where the Chris’ Club is located.”

Queen Nubian said she can help spoken word venues get the word out. “You'll put out the flier either the night of, or a day before the event. What type of promoting is that?” she said. “I start promoting stuff a whole month and a half ahead of time.”

Queen Nubian said she’s organizing poetry slams in small venues around the Bay Area. “I want to hit each little place around the year and then bring all of it back in the end to Chris’ Club, because that's where we started,.” she said.

Scott said he was honored to be invited to be a judge for the poetry slam, and extolled the art form of poetry.

“Poetry is better than rap if you ask me, because we're not doing it behind no beat,” he said.. “When we fuck up you know we fucked up.”  He said that when someone rapping over an instrumental track forgets a line, “they can stop and let the beat play.”

Chris’ Club hosts open mic poetry readings every other Monday at 656 Benicia Rd. in Vallejo. The next one is scheduled for Feb. 12.