Get ready for an unforgettable evening at the Southeastern Regional North Carolina (SERNC) Poetry Slam, happening this Saturday, September 28th, at the Fayetteville Arts Council, located at 301 Hay Street, Fayetteville, NC. The doors will swing open at 7:30 p.m., and the magic will begin at 8:00 p.m.
National touring comedian and actor, Ace Brown, will host the Slam competition for the second time. This year, there will be 14 participants, sharing a poem for up to three minutes to the audience. The judges will narrow the best poets to the top four, with that lucky first-place winner receiving a trophy and walking away with $1,000 cash. In addition to being a competition, the event will be full of fun, music, and a good vibe.
The slam continues to grow as it enters its 12th year, attracting poets not only from North Carolina but also from places like Virginia, South Carolina, Chicago, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, to showcase their poetic touch on the stage.
Award-winning spoken word artist, poet, speaker, and author, LeJuane “El’Jae” Bowens, is behind the slam. The Detroit-born poet shared his excitement about hearing the poets, especially the new voices, and the different poetic styles they will bring.
Bowens, who came to Fayetteville via the military, has received countless successes since he started his journey as a poet. According to the Fayetteville Arts Council website, Bowens has worked with the John Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts and has performed at numerous festivals, including the National Folk Festival, the Big Ears Festival, and the Arts in the Heart of Augusta Festival. The Lima, Ohio native leads the Detour Slam Team in Fayetteville, NC, which secured the nation’s 4th position at the 2023 Southern Fried Poetry Festival. Additionally, he has appeared on Poetry Slam Inc. and All Def Poetry on YouTube. He also hosts Nerd Slam competitions at numerous comic cons across the US.
FOUNDATION OF THE POETRY SCENE
Bowens attributes the poetry slam’s popularity to its founder, Neil Ray, who proposed creating a poetry scene in Fayetteville in 2012.
“Ray is like the godfather of the poetry scene in the Fayetteville, NC, area,” Bowens said.
According to Bowen, the poetry Slam started as a two-day event in which Ray brought a few poets together to help put Fayetteville’s poetry scene on the map.
He described Fayetteville as often overlooked, saying that when people think of North Carolina poetry, they only think of Raleigh, Charlotte, Greensboro, Asheville, and Winston-Salem.
“He wanted to do something to get the word out about the Fayetteville poetry scene,” he stated.
THE GROWTH OF THE POETRY SLAM
After Ray stepped away from the poetry festival, Bowens saw its potential. He didn’t want to see it go away, so Bowens had to figure out ways to keep the event going. The Army veteran reached out to businesses to establish a partnership to host the poetry festival. He shared that many establishments believed in and saw the potential in the poetry festival, sponsoring their space for Bowens to host the poetry festival.
Visionary Leaders of the Fayetteville, NC Poetry Scene, LeJuane “El’Jae” Bowens and Neil Ray; Courtesy of LeJuane Bowens
Lido’s, now Charley’s Pub, hosted the first poetry event in downtown Fayetteville. In his fourth-fifth year of organizing, the poetry slam grew in popularity, receiving proclamations from the city and governor’s office, a testament to the thriving poetry community the visionaries built together, validating the impact of our shared love for this art form.
“It’s out there. Everybody in the state knows about it.” “Tons of people always ask about it each year, and tons of poets attend,” Bowens stated.
The year 2021 marked the final year of the festival before it transformed into a slam competition, with the slam typically serving as the main premiere when it was still a festival event. Bowens shared that the number of attendees is growing each year, with online ticket sales for Saturday’s event selling out.
“The registration opened up at midnight on a certain day, and the website that we use crashed twice because so many people were trying to get tickets to get the slots to compete right,” he continued.
The rapid ticket sales for this week’s poetry slam are a testament to its success and its progress.
FAYETTEVILLE POETRY SCENE
Bowens sees the light in the city’s poetry scene, which is creating a renaissance of its own, like other North Carolina cities.
“Fayetteville is a transient city that reflects what was happening then compared to now.” So right now, we’re at a rebirth and a growth in poetry,”
LeJuane “El’Jae” Bowens
“There are approximately eleven poetry events taking place in the city throughout the month, with new poetry slams starting next month and counting,” he continued.
He adores the audience, who find the quality of the spoken words in an artistic form to be both entertaining and educational. Poetry represents Bowens’ love for his art. When more people in the community appreciate his art, he experiences a moment of awe.
FUTURE EVENTS
Next month, Bowens will host more poetry slams in addition to the ones he hosts in venues like The Sweet Palette on the first Friday of each month and Tea and Poetry (TAP) every third Thursday, each month, at Winterbloom.
He’s bringing back poetry versus events with more artistic forms of expression, such as music, comedy, acting, and monologues, in addition to poetry. By the end of this year, he hopes to announce another significant event he has planned for 2025.
Bowens also hosts creative writing and performance workshops under his company, Poetry-N-Motion, LLC. He runs a monthly workshop series at the Arts Council called the Slam Academy, with the next one taking place on the fourth Friday of the following month.
PURPOSE OVER POPULARITY MOMENT
Bowens shared that for Neil Ray, seeing his birth event come to life over a decade later means a lot to him.
Left: 2023 SERC Poetry Slam winners behind LeJuane “El’Jae” Bowens (L) & Host/National Touring Comedian, Ace Brown (R) – Tracey Morrison/The Exclusive Press; Right: Attendees at the 2023 SERC Poetry Slam at the Fayetteville Arts Council – Courtesy of LeJuane Bowens
“The vision was bigger than Neil had expected. He always knew it was going to be something good, but he never expected it to be on this level of where the event is at now,” he stated.
Ray planted and nurtured the seed, providing Bowens with the watering can to continue nurturing the poetry slam and flowering his dream alive.
It is all what he had envisioned, and Bowens is glad to bring purpose over popularity in celebrating poetry in the community with the poetry slam.
