Every Thursday night, poets fight a battle of words in the longest-running poetry slam in the Phoenix area, helping to keep the arts alive in the Valley.
Bob Nelson, 37, hosts many of the slams at the Essenza Coffee House (1350 S. Longmore) in Mesa. A poetry slam is a competition in which poets read their works and receive scores for performance and quality of writing from audience judges.
Nelson said he feels the weekly poetry competition is entrenched in the culture of the Phoenix arts scene.
"I think that as one of the oldest continuous arts events in the valley, it's…almost like a tradition," Nelson said.
Nelson noted that the arts, such as poetry, are critical to the Valley.
"They attract creative people that find new ways to do things," he said. "They also make our culture interesting to attract more talented people in other fields, like business and science."
Shaun Kuter, a political science senior, agreed that the art scene is important to life in the Phoenix metro.
"It's something that every citizen can benefit from," Kuter said.
Kuter is a frequent performer at the Essenza slam and often reaches the third and final round of the contests.
"The Essenza slam is my home base," he said. "As the oldest slam [in the Valley], it's the place where people know they can have their voices heard."
Nelson said he worries that the arts in Phoenix are not doing as well as they should be.
"Some of them are doing very well; some of them are struggling," he said. "I honestly think the performance poetry movement right now is at a low."
Nelson said that Anthology, a nonprofit organization committed to furthering the arts scene in the Valley, is helping to make a unified effort in favor of the arts.
"If we have poets come in on tour, then we make a concerted effort to tell other slams around the Valley that they're coming so we can interact with each other and get more information," he said.
Kuter also praised the nonprofit group for their work.
"Anthology is really putting in a unified effort," he said, citing their work to support the arts.
Fellow poet Lauren Perry, 22, said she had a different concern about the state of art in the Valley.
"I think it has a really solid foundation, but it's turning out to be very mainstream," she said. "It all seems to kind of flow off each other."
Perry said she agreed with Nelson's view that the arts are important to the Phoenix metro, especially with the diverse backgrounds of many people in the Valley.
"Arizona is like a city of lost children," she said. "The majority of the people who come here are from everywhere else. I think they bring a little piece of their homes with them."
Perry said that with people coming in from all parts of the country, everyone has a chance to add to the culture in the area.
Kuter also said it was important for everyone with any interest to get involved in the arts scene around Phoenix.
"An open mic, an art show, a local rock concert, anything—get yourself out there, and you might be surprised at the talent level the Valley has," Kuter said.
Reach the reporter at: justin.s.adams@asu.edu.
