Carlos Robson smiled and laughed as one girl in the crowd was louder than the rest in applause for his last poem. Throughout the performance Robson thanked the audience for their participation during his poems through cheers, snaps or claps. In the Lankford Student Ballroom, Lancer Productions hosted him as a slam poet on Friday, Nov. 17 at 8 p.m.
“I love anytime that the audience is there and interacting with me,” said Robson.
Robson started poetry in college and has been practicing it for 13 years; it started out in a dance class where he had to make a rap for his class. He prefers to do storytelling poetry, but also tries to broaden his horizon.
By explaining the difference between poetry that is written versus spoken, he told the audience how they became united. Spoken poetry was not accepted by the academics, it was thought to be too loose and not intellectual enough for it to then be transferred to books. Times have changed though and many slam poets are now able to write their own collections of poems or do other forms of writing along with their tours. This was also the time he explained how to become a slam poet and the obstacles faced: especially when competing against others.
“I really enjoyed that he was really real with us, and actually real with what he thought, you could tell his emotions but it didn’t affect his performance,” said psychology sophomore Alaina Scott. “I definitely enjoyed his persona on stage, and how real it was.”
The lighting in Lankford ballroom was soft, students sat on arm chairs and couches as Robson spoke. The meaning of his poems changed with his tone as he imitated different people, each one carrying a different message. “Sam” was his first poem, in which he thanked his first hero for teaching him about making an impact. He gave examples of violence against African Americans in history and how Sam fought against it leading up to delivering the last line, Robson said, “I’m not writing a black power poem, I’m trying to writing a power poem, for Sam.”
Sophomore Rowan DeLoach said, “I really liked the fact that he brought up the Trayvon situation, and just situations that people don’t really like to talk about."
She added, “The last poem (stuck with me) definitely, my grandparents aren’t the greatest, and I can relate that they aren’t always the greatest but deserve respect still.”
Having a diverse audience helped Robson reach more people as he spoke against social injustices such as mistreatment of those with disorders or against American racism. Not everyone in the crowd had attended a slam poetry event before, but when asked more hands went up than Robson had been expecting.
“This is my first slam poetry event, so I don’t have much to compare it to,” said communication science and disorders junior Hannah Auerbach. “I thought it was interesting hearing him talk about the difference between written and spoken poetry, I find written poetry to be harder to understand.”
During his time on stage, Robson read his audience just as he does for every show, and when mentioning that he was a liberal the audience nodded their acceptance which led to some of his poems. Some of his poems spoke of disabilities and race mostly, but Robson want people to know that he tries to be more of an entertainer than an informer. After all these years, he said is the one thing he has learned how to interact with the audience.
“If you know what you want to do, college is the time to do it, and if you don’t know what you want to do, now is the perfect time to not know,” said Robson. “I know it’s four years long, I know the stress that surrounds your college experience, but there no greater point in your life you get to experience these great things.
