High Point’s Pullman Poet Society Hosts 1st Poetry Slam

They’re an oddball group of sorts. There’s a nine-year-old homeschool student who attends with her mom, two teenagers who spin prose from rap, a handful of retirees in their mid-60s and above, and an elderly man with a penchant for storytelling that everyone refers to as Old Dave. They meet twice a month at the Centennial Station Arts Center, the headquarters for the High Point Arts Council to discuss poetry, share their own stanzas, and offer gentle and encouraging criticism on how to make each line sharper.

They’re known as the Pullman Poet Society, and if you’ve been to any of the spattering of bookstores around the greater Triad area (including Scuppernong Books in Greensboro and Sunrise Books and Spring Garden Bakery in High Point), you may have seen their seafoam green anthology for sale. A thin but impressive first edition, it’s chock-full of this region’s most inspired writers, waxing poetic about topics that range from mountainside retreats to the mundane beauty of motherhood.

On Thursday, April 5, the Society hosted its first Poetry Slam at Centennial Station. A group of about 25 listeners and 15 performers came to share the love of the art form and receive feedback from their peers. By nature, poetry slams are usually competitive in nature, with a winner crowned at the end. Yet, in the spirit of encouragement, there was no contest at this one. It simply served as a platform for each writer to share his or her work and get a little more comfortable speaking their poems aloud.

As each poet took the stage, there were some nerves and stage fright, but as soon as their voice began to boom across the performance hall, the room went quiet and their perfectly-toned voice sang out. From spoken ballads declaring Maya Angelou’s famous line, “Equality and I will be free” to self-penned poems lamenting the smartphone era and the perils of teaching uninspired high school students, each piece was unique and offered a different perspective. In all, the evening spanned more than two hours, with write-in poets raising their hand and offering to share a few lines in the spur of the moment.

While each reader was valuable in his or her own right, arguably the highlight of the evening came when a woman named Polly walked out to the podium. Clad in her floral pink sweater, she adjusted the mike, reached for her eyeglasses, and took out her sheet of notebook paper. From there, she began to read a poem detailing how much she longed for a brother. The poem was at times humorous, at others stoic and caused more than one observer to shed a tear. To lighten the mood, Polly ended the poem by explaining that though she envied her friends with brothers as a child, she was now dating one of those said brothers, so all was well.

In all, it was an evening well spent, and certainly an unexpectedly encouraging and inspiring one. The next Pullman Poet Society poetry slam is slated for April 10th at 7 PM at Scuppernong Books in Greensboro (event info here) In the meantime, the Society is holding its next meeting on Monday, May 14 at 6 p.m. at the Centennial Station Arts Center (the second Monday of the month). There is also a meeting on the last Saturday of the month, May 26, from 10am-12pm at Spring Garden Coffeehouse & Bakery on Eastchester in High Point. The Society is free and open to the public so come and bring a friend, grab a cup of coffee and learn more about the art form that is poetry. Then, make plans to attend the next Poetry Slam and hear some of your favorite local writers perform!