Sacri?cial Poets share passion

Will McInerney, a junior peace, war and defense major, is usually a quiet person, with a look that suggests he is always pondering.

But when he goes under the bright spotlight on the stage of an open microphone poetry reading, he sends the crowd at Mansion 462 on Franklin Street on an emotional roller coaster ride.

McInerney’s last poem on societal pressures led to a conclusion with a homosexual Eagle Scout hanging himself. McInerney slowly counted down the seconds of life left in the boy while he glanced over societal woes.

McInerney is a member of the Sacrificial Poets, a Chapel Hill-Durham area group that competes in national slam tournaments. Poems go far beyond the words on the page, as members use emotion and gestures to convey a message.

“In open-work poetry, you can tell a lot about a person through their poems,” said McInerney, the treasurer of the Sacrificial Poets. “They tend to be real personal and passionate. In order to convey the message, you have to be passionate and be telling your story.”

During the year, the team holds slams which allow different poets to compete during the year. During slams each performer recites three poems before a panel of judges made up of five random audience members.

“The demographics are really split and you essentially have representatives from all races, genders, sexual orientation,” said senior Kane Smego, director of youth arts and educational programming for Sacrificial Poets.

“You get to listen to all different kinds of stories — from family stories, to crazy fantasy future poems.”

Each April, the top poets are invited back for one last slam before finalizing the team, which competes nationally during the summer. The team is composed of six members, with a few alternates. The whole audition process is then repeated during the school year.

The name Sacrificial Poets has a dual meaning.

“In poetry slams, the sacrificial poet is the poet who opens the slam competition to give the judges a chance to practice scoring before the start of the competition,” Smego said.

The name also honors the sacrifices of former team member Ira Yarmolenko, who was killed in May 2008.

Smego said he first got involved in 10th grade after attending a poetry workshop that featured lessons from renowned poets.

Since the event, poetry became a passion for Smego, who has had poetry published in the Chapel Hill News. He has also competed on the Chapel Hill Slam Team and in the national competition Brave New Voices, which was the subject of the HBO television series hosted by Queen Latifah.

McInerney said he plans to continue writing and performing poetry, as it helps convey his personal issues.

“A lot of my poetry focuses on political issues,” he said. “I tell a lot on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It’s an area I’ve been to and that I’m passionate about.”



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