The UNM poetry slam team flew across the country to rhyme and flow their way to fourth place.
Last weekend the slam team, Word Revolution, competed at the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational in West Chester, Pa.
The slam, which Word Revolution captain Libby Kelly describes as the "Wrestlemania of slam poetry events" saw 20 teams from colleges all over America compete for top honors.
Word Revolution, which is composed of Kelly, Hakim Bellamy, Carlos Contreras and Aaron Cuffee, didn't receive any outside funding to go to the tournament. Kelly said it wasn't easy, and many obstacles were put in their way.
"We were such underdogs," Kelly said. "We had no coach at the tournament. I was sick. We had so many troubles before we got there. We were terrified because we had barely practiced, because we didn't have the time to get together."
She said all of this caused her some concern.
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"We really weren't too confident," she said. "Or at least, I wasn't too confident. But I guess it's my job to worry."
The obstacles didn't stop once the team got to the competition. Contreras didn't arrive at the competition until mere minutes before he had to perform while another team member learned of a death in his family at the competition.
"It was like once we got past one hurdle, we were smacked by another one," Kelly said.
A poetry slam is basically competitive poetry. At tournaments, each person is given three minutes to perform one of his or her poems plus a 10-second grace period before the judges penalize the poet.
Contreras describes it as "three minutes and nine seconds to change someone's life."
When the dust settled, Word Revolution found themselves in fourth place, receiving the top score in the first two rounds and continuing their success in the final round.
Kelly performed a poem about a woman on Central Avenue.
"After I performed, people would come up to me, complimenting my performance," Kelly said. "I wondered, 'What did I do to deserve this? I just wrote some words.' It was really amazing to touch people with our poems, to make them feel the way that you felt."
Contreras performed "Breathless," a poem about kids who die of asphyxiation when they are left in the car by their mother. It was based on a true story.
Next up for Word Revolution will be the national tournament, which takes place in Albuquerque. Four hundred slam poets will storm the city.
For more information on Word Revolution and upcoming Albuquerque slam poetry events, visit www.abqslams.org.
