Jordan Woods

INART 005
The Mayhem Poets Review
The Mayhem Poets
After attending The Mayhem Poets on Thursday, January 28th, I was very pleased by
the way three people can bring an entire room together. The three talented poets, who met at
Rutgers University, created a very unique trio. The three expressed themselves in many different
forms from beat boxing to rhyming to slam poetry. They hit all kinds of topics through the
performance and created both an uplifting atmosphere and a depressing atmosphere depending
on what the subject matter was. After attending this event, I am glad that I got to witness slam
poetry and all the other forms of poetry, and even though there were parts I did not like, I would
attend another slam poetry night if I could, especially if these three were performing.
Although there were some dark poems about death and a homeless mother, the three
poets filled the gaps with comedy that made the crowd forget the feelings of sorrow or remorse.
This allowed the audience to become involved with their performance. What I also liked about
the show was how the poets interacted with the audience. During the middle of the show, two of
the poets came down into the stands and sat among the audience, creating a comedy scene. They
also used audience members on stage to help them with a poem, even though the two audience
members were only saying one word. The audience participation made the poem exciting and
comical for the crowd.
One aspect of the performance that I did not like was how liberal the poets were. As I
have various conservative views, I did not agree with the message of a few of the poems that the
three artists performed. While some members in the audience enjoyed those various poems and
took them to heart, I did not. I also wish that they had done more dancing. After viewing the
three poets on YouTube before the performance, I saw them dance and move a lot more on stage.
This would have created a third dimension to the performance and would have made it more
enjoyable for me to follow.
There were various factors that shaped my opinion of the performance. Obviously, the
subject matter and opinions shared were too liberal for my liking, as I am a more conservative
person. The performers could enhance their performance by sharing more neutral, bipartisan
views or having poems that reflect the strong opinions of both political sides. That way, they
could appeal to a larger audience. On the other hand, I really enjoyed how each piece of poetry
flowed together from one scene to the next.
In spite of these criticisms, I really believe that this group of poets and writers is very
talented, and at the end of the day, I would probably attend another one of their events.