Spokesman

Issue date: 4/15/05 Section: Spoken Word

Those who love and appreciate the art of poetry, would probably say it's great to be Delrica Andrews. One of the hottest Slam Masters for the Baltimore/DC scene, author of her own chapbook, one of the founding members of the Moon Song Performance Ensemble, and a member of the Mocha Hut Poetry Workshop. Andrews lives a life full of wonderful experiences and culture. And she is even more blessed to witness on a weekly basis the beauties of humanity unfold on the mic.

SW: How long have you been on the Slam Circuit and how did you get involved?
DA: I have been involved in the slam circuit since 1999. At the time, my friend, Denise Johnson, former member of the DC/Baltimore Slam Team had asked me to come along with her to Café MYTH for the MYTH Poetry Series (now named DC Slam). I immediately fell in love with the slam and haven't left it since. I started helping then slam master Nicki Miller by being her door person, then her webmaster and one day ... I became the host. In January 2004, Nicki stepped down as slam master for both DC Slam and SLAMicide in Baltimore and passed the venues on to me.

SW: What inspired you to perform?
DA: Me? Perform? Hahahahahahaha! I don't really consider myself a performer yet. I'm just getting comfortable with occasionally being called a poet. It's weird. I just get up and try to put some emotion behind my words when I read them off the page. I think what inspired me to "perform" was the need to cure a really, REALLY bad case of stage fright that I've had since 7th grade. I was singing in the school talent show with a group of girlfriends when my voice completely disappeared. I tried to lip synch so that we could get through the rest of the song, but in the middle of everything, the other two girls' voices cracked and we stood in front of the school paralyzed with embarrassment. To make matters worse, the girl with the deepest and possibly worst voice in the entire school walked up from the audience, took the mic from us and finished the song! Talk about embarrassing!!! I have always been able to perform in a play, but not do anything on the stage that was remotely personal. So this was an opportunity to break away from that.

SW: Is stage fright still a factor?
DA: Most definitely! Still working through it, but I've gotten MUCH better at it since I started.

SW: What are you poems usually about?
DA: Now...I'd love to give you my standard response which is, "I just write what the little voices in my head tell me to," but that may be taken as me being a smart alec or just being crazy (which has yet to be determined ... *nervous laughter*). But seriously, I try to write about everything. I try to explore as many angles of humanity as I can (hence, the belief that I'm listening to the voices in my head.)

Continued...

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