Poetry Slam Brings a New Art to Halstead Ave.

It's not easy to get a read on Eric Zork Alan.

The leader of the first ever slam poetry event to take place in Harrison can either be a shy, quite and polite man, or a press-seeking, name dropping and outgoing public speaker. It really depends on which of his poems he is sharing with you.

Alan, whose supporters lovingly refer to him as Zork, hosted a slam poetry event Tuesday evening at the Harrison Veterans Building. Four members of a White Plains-based spotlight group started the evening by sharing their poetry with an audience of about 45 people. The mic was then open for public participation.

Poems ranged in topic from the beauty of sharing nature to love and appreciation for American soldiers and their families. Poets themselves were of many different backgrounds, ages and ethnicities—but they all shared a love for the spoken and written word.

"It's a very encouraging, loving, environment for anybody that gets up there and reads," said Alan. "The poetry isn't about hearing me, it's about hearing everyone, particularly the community voices and just trying to open up the doors to that."

Although there wasn't enough interest to hold an actual poetry slam Tuesday night, Alan had a few volunteers walk through how the process works. Invented in the mid '80s by a Chicago construction worker, slam poetry has a variety of formats. Typically two poets will share their work one after another and judges randomly selected from the audience will score their work. The idea, Alan says, isn't to be competitive, but to draw interest to the artists' work.

"A lot of times people don't realize it's their obligation to entertain somehow," Alan said. "It tries to structure a whole night to make a poetry event entertaining, so much so that people who don't like poetry might come there."

The first event in Harrison drew a lot of Alan's supporters from outside of town, but was well-attended for the first poetry slam to take place in Harrison. The Harrison Council For the Arts set up the evening as a way to bring this art form to locals in town. Suzanne Schatzle, of the council for the arts, said she has been trying to bring an event like this to Harrison for years.

Alan, who has written a book of his poems and dedicated his life to the craft of poetry, said it was at an event like this that he began to fall in love with the art years ago.

"I've hated poetry all my life until I was 32—hated it—and I accidentally became sort of a poet," he said.

The hope is that others in the audience will enjoy the performances and gain an appreciation for poetry, some might even go on to do some writing of their own.

"It is so encouraging to hear every voice of every kind," Alan said. "Just to encourage everyone to be the great poet that they are."