#arianabrown

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Made it to this online moment. Gracias @arianathepoet & @migrantscribble 💕🔥💕🔥 #afromexicanpoetics #arianabrown #alanpelaez (at Irvine, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_D7wKoDNXI/?igshid=1n5rtws2mhfiu

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Ariana Brown - "Dear White Girls in my Spanish Class" @WANPOETRY

[texasgrandslam2014]

Competitor Profile: Ariana Brown

Age: 20

Place of residence: Austin, TX

Place of Birth: San Antonio TX

Day job?  Director of UT Spitshine Poetry, Youth Mentor and Assistant Coach at Theyspeak Youth Slam, Editor at Timbermouse, Student at UT

Years of poetry slam experience?

3

How has your poetry changed since you started slamming?

I’m not sure if there has been a big difference. I was still in high school when I started performing. I think I grew out of being cliche and angsty, as most poets who are just starting do. I wouldn’t say slam has changed my poetry, so much as I have grown as a poet.

What do you tell yourself before you get on stage?

Usually before I get on stage, I’m running the lines of my poem. I usually have the first line of my poem in my head so I don’t forget it. Sometimes I pray. I ask my father to come on stage with me so I feel less alone. As an introvert, it is hard for me to draw attention to myself. I remind myself that it’s important for me to share where I’ve been so I won’t go back there again.

What’s it like being an introvert in the slam scene?

Sometimes it’s the worst and sometimes it’s the best.

The most important thing is to stay present in your poems. So I try to stay present in the mindset throughout the slam, so it is hard for me to talk to people while I am trying to stay focused. I’ve been to slams where a lot of truth is ignored for things that are more flashy. It’s been important to teach myself to keep a level of integrity. It’s been important for me to perform well, and to gain the attention of a crowd without doing things that I don’t want to do for the sake of a score.

What they are most excited about for Texas Grand Slam?

Doing new poems for sure. I slammed at TGS last year & it was not what I expected it to be. I was just coming from my second year at Brave New Voices. I expected it to be more like a youth slam than it was. I’ve been writing a lot more. I don’t know what’s going on, the last two months I have been turning out a bunch of poems that I’m super excited about. I’m looking forward to being around a bunch of people I have not met and hearing brand new poems.

Your name has been dropped a few times when I’ve asked this question before. Who are you most excited to slam with?

I actually don’t know a lot of people who are in my bout. Sam Sax, he’s my new friend. He’s really cool, he’s at my house almost every weekend. I’m really excited about slamming with everybody, i feel like its a good caliber of poetry. The first time I won Austin Poetry Slam, I feel like I won on an easy night. I won a again a few weeks ago. This last time, I feel like I earned it. I was challenged. I’m really looking forward to challenge that TGS poets are bringing this year.

How many hours or miles are you travelling to get to TGS this year?

2ish hours

Most embarrassing slam story?

It was 2010. My best friend at the time and i were the only two people at our highschool who wrote and performed around the city. We were supposed to do a group piece at this church. We thought we were so profound. We had gone to the church to practice, we thought everything would be fine. The first few lines were together and the first solo line was mine. I completely dropped what I was supposed to say. I went on to the next part of the poem that I remembered, I ended up dropping ¾ of the poem. We barrelled through it. We got off stage and the look on my friend’s face was terrible. I went outside and started crying. It was so embarrassing. I haven’t forgotten a poem on stage since.

All-time favorite line or stanza of poetry?

Oh lord. I have so many. Can I give you two? Okay.

“Speak every time you stand so you do not forget yourself.” - Anis Mojgani.

That one is always relevant.

And

“You’ve got to be willing to be brave enough to be the only one who knows you’re afraid.” - Ebony Stewart.

I’m sure there are other wonderful lines with great imagery, but these stay with me. I find myself telling them to people more than any other lines.

How has coaching a college team and a youth team changed your approach to slam?

I think I’m constantly reminded of why I do this. I was on a team two years in a row and I was coached by other people. When I started coaching, it enforced everything I knew about poetry and people. I’ve had to coach a lot of people who are not like me. It’s reinforced everything that I think is great about slam. It’s brought me closer to slam. It’s shown me what slam is capable of, depending on what you come to it with.

What do you consider the most important aspect of a performance poem?

Honesty, for me, is the most important thing in any sort of poem. I think it’s easy to cross the line between vulnerability and manipulation. I don’t like to be betrayed by a poem. Since slam is based on points, it’s sometimes too easy to cross that line.

Staying present is also very important to me. It issuch an opportunity and privilege to get up on stage and to talk about whatever you want to talk about in front of people who are there to listen to you. To not be fully present in a poem is disrespectful, since not everyone who needs a platform is given one. The stage should be treated carefully. Come with something to give.

Where can we find out more about your poetry?

I do have chapbooks that I will be bringing with me to TGS. You can also purchase them on my website, arianabrown.com. I’m on facebook, if you want to follow me on tumblr, private message me for the link. I am on twitter, but unless you’re ready for black girl rage most of the time and tejano lyrics the rest of the time, that might not be for you.