BEMIDJI — Slam poetry is a form of catharsis for Claire Nelson.
Thriving in a competitive format, the Bemidji area nurse secured a first-place victory at the Watermark Art Center’s final Poetry SLAM! event of the season on Thursday at Fozzie’s Smokin’ Bar-B-Q.
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“I’m very grateful,” Nelson said after her win. “I’m happy to listen to all the other poets, and honestly, just being here was the win.”
With 10 participating at the start of the evening, each poet arrived with three prepared poems under three minutes of reading time each. Judges selected from the audience gave each reading a score on a scale of 1 to 10, with cash prizes given to the top three performers.
After the first round, the poet pool was reduced to seven to compete in the second round, after which only the top three would compete in the final round to determine first, second and third place.
Alongside Nelson, Thomas Barrett secured second place and Nishiime earned third. Thursday’s placement was a switcheroo of sorts for Nelson and Barrett compared to the most recent Poetry SLAM! in February.
“Last time, it was reversed,” Nelson said. “Thomas won and I got second, so now we just flip-flopped.”
As only her second time competing in a Poetry SLAM! event, Nelson has no plans to stay in the audience once future competitions come to fruition.
“I feel like this is the only time I can let all of my emotions out,” she left off. “I like to write about surviving, the things I go through and how it feels to survive.”
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A collaborative effort
Close to 15 years strong, Poetry SLAM! has found a home in various bars across Bemidji, including Red Stu Breakfast Bar and Keg N’ Cork.
“These started because I had seen some (Poetry SLAM! events) in the Twin Cities and thought it would be a good idea to have them here,” Emcee Marsh Muirhead said. “I knew there were people who would like these.”
Muirhead serves as part of the which provides critical funding for slam poetry events. Alongside Fozzie’s donating their space several times over, Sundown Records has served as a year-long sponsor for the events, highlighting a collaborative effort to keep Poetry SLAM! in Bemidji.
“If we didn’t have funding through the endowment, we wouldn’t be able to do this. If Fozzie’s hadn’t donated their space, we wouldn’t be able to do this,” said Leah Grunzke, outreach coordinator at Watermark Art Center. “This takes money to pull off, so we rely on the people who support the arts in our community.”
A slightly newer development, the Watermark Art Center offered its inaugural StorySlam event in 2023, following a similar format where participants share their own five-minute true stories to a crowd for the chance to win cash prizes.
StorySlam events switch off with its poetic counterpart on a month-to-month basis from September to May or June, with Muirhead and Grunzke rotating as emcees.
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“I’m kind of the poetry guy and she’s the story person,” Muirhead mentioned.
Both lines of events offer an opportunity for all to be creative, whether in story form or poetry.
“These are open to everybody regardless of skill level. We’re all about making spoken word performance accessible to everybody,” Grunzke added. “Regardless of your age, socioeconomic background, political affiliation or gender expression, everyone is welcome to watch and perform.
“We’re here to expose each other to different ideas and get a sense of who our neighbors are and who our community is.”
Muirhead shared similar sentiments, particularly the multigenerational turnout of such events.
“(Poetry SLAM!) is full of youth and a good deal of diversity,” he said. “It’s really heartwarming to see such a neat, mixed crowd. That’s why we continue and why these are successful.”
Pending funding for next season, Poetry SLAM! will return in the fall to bring the community together once again.
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“A lot of us may feel isolated, whether it’s because of politics, social media or coming out of winter,” Grunzke left off. “For someone to come here, hear their own inner voice reflected back to them and to hear voices that are saying things that they never heard before… the takeaway is that we’re all in this together.”
More information on upcoming events can be found on the and
The Trust Project
