WUSLam, Washington University’s premier spoken word poetry group, hosted its final slam, Exec Slam: Battle of the Lineages on April 19 in the Village Black Box. Members of the the group’s executive board competed in a three-round slam to determine which “house”—that is, exec member and their lineage—would come in first place. The poets’ scores were determined by five judges randomly selected from the audience. Though the event was competitive, the camaraderie among the members of WUSLam was clear, and all of the poets who performed did an incredible job. The slam was run and organized by the non-executive members of WUSLam’s Performance Crew (P-Crew).

One wouldn’t blame a poet for being nervous during the first round, because it would be understandable if they were anxious about their first performance of the night. However, this was not at all the case with WUSLam’s performers. From the moment each artist stepped onstage, they delivered top-of-the-line performances, and both the performers’ and the audience’s energy were palpable.

Poems from the first round had topics including texting, anxiety and the relationships between a mother and a daughter. A highlight of the round was junior Ruth Durrell’s “Oxymoron,” in which she discussed the dichotomy of being the child of one black parent and one white parent, saying, “Part of me is stomped by the boot and part of me is the boot / I am the whipped and I am the whip.” Her piece went into great detail about the nuances of being of both the oppressed and the oppressor, and it was absolutely stunning. The chilling performance showcased both Durrell’s incredible talent and the deeply-rooted history of racism in the US.

Another highlight of the first round was Keralyn Siebrass’ “An Apology in Advance.” Siebrass started off the poem, “I don’t text without a purpose,” and delivered a hilarious and detailed list of strange texts she’s sent at even stranger times. This comedic enumeration turned into a heartfelt piece about on how Siebrass’ anxiety forces her to check in on her loved ones often, and maybe that’s not such a bad thing. Overall, it was a multidimensional piece that was refreshing to watch and listen to.

Once all of the scores were tallied, the first round concluded and the poets came onstage again — this time in order of who scored highest to lowest — to perform their next pieces. Already off to a great start, the poems only got better during the second round.

The poets were incredible and so were the topics they slammed about; it is always mind-blowing to witness in real time just how talented my peers are. During this round, sophomore CeCe Heard performed a piece entitled “More Black” which was, in a word, phenomenal. Using both humor and stunning accuracy, Heard slammed about the struggles of being black in America, saying that, upon being asked to be “more black,” she should have said that, if she did, she might expect police to “Shoot me because I committed the fashion crime of matching a hoodie with my black skin / I should’ve said, ‘do you want me to walk around with bullet holes in my chest, my head, my neck, my back.’”

The final round contained a continuation of the night’s already wonderful material, with poems on social anxiety, the complexities of gender identity, and the lack of media attention given to children of color who go missing. Junior Victoria Taylor’s “A Love Poem to My Body Hair” was a treat to watch during this round. With both hilarious wit and sentimentality, Taylor slammed about what it’s like to have — and try to remove — an abundance of body hair, telling her body hair, “You are only here to insure my health/ To ensure my safety,” before following up with, “I’m sorry I wax you off all the time… / And pluck / And shave.”

While the final scores were being calculated, CeCe Heard and Victoria Taylor performed group pieces they performed when they competed at the College Poetry Slams Invitational, a national competition for collegiate poets and poetry teams. The performers are already very talented individually, so it was really great to watch them perform together. They delivered two pieces, one being the stunning “Dolls,” in which they talked about the histories and struggles of black women in America. The hard-hitting poem ended with the powerful line, “watch us be a magic more powerful than you could ever imagine.”

WUSLam’s exec slam was simply amazing. The breadth and depth of material was an experience not often had at student group events, and all of the poems were thrilling to watch. This was the group’s final slam of the semester, and it was a magnificent note to end on.