Spoken word artist Michael Jasso calls his art, “Poetry that lets you say everything real that you wouldn’t say in polite society.” His specific art form is the poetry slam, which he began organizing in Visalia when he was just out of high school. A poetry slam is a competition where poets perform before a live audience and panel of judges. Poetry is judged as much on enthusiasm and style as on content.

The subjects can be heavy, revealing inner turmoil, but sometimes they’re humorous. It’s an art form that is not widely known, and Michael is proud that he has been chosen the Arts Consortium’s Artist of the Year, not just for himself, but for the recognition of spoken word art. “It’s a major milestone opportunity, to bring poetry to the community,” he said.

For the last 15 years as a spoken word artist, Michael has run the Loud Mouth Poetry Slam in Visalia and traveled across California and out of

state as a poet, emcee, workshop facilitator, slam coach and certified poet-teacher. He is currently the Loud Mouth Grand Slam Champion. But he says he was a late bloomer to poetry. He was into sports, writing and different art forms, but it wasn’t until he took creative writing as a sophomore at Redwood High School that he found his niche.

The class wrote poetry, short stories and prose and shared what they wrote. They also learned about slam poetry. Michael started watching videos of well-known slam artists such as Saul Williams and Taylor Mali. “I was into sports—not the best—and worked backstage in theater productions, but I thought spoken word might be a unique opportunity. My priority was to do something different.”

Unstuffy poetry

Poetry slams began in Chicago in the 1980s, designed to move poetry recitals from structured, stuffy academia to more accessible locations, using terms that everyday people could understand and enjoy. A month after graduating from Redwood, Michael started the Loud Mouth Slam. “I’d already been scouting potential venues, and Howie and Sons offered me the best deal,” he said. A couple of years ago, he moved the monthly competition to Arts Visalia. In August, the group celebrated their 13th anniversary, having just come back from regional competition in Portland, OR, where their team took several awards.

Michael says he is living the whole starving artist life, and supplements his income as an Uber driver, which he says is the perfect job for someone trying to be a full-time artist because you can set your driving hours around your art. He has brought some well-known spoken word artists to his slams and has been published in several poetry anthologies, including last year’s “Burn after Reading & Other Remains.”

Teaches writing poetry

A certified poet-teacher affiliated with the statewide non-profit, California Poets in the Schools, Michael does several trainings throughout the state each month, most recently in Hollister, where he was training teachers how to teach poetry. Last summer he did a four-session training to teach participants how to write poetry at the Book Nook in downtown Visalia. He will be doing a workshop for the social justice class at Redwood High School.

He uses various timed prompts to get students thinking. He often starts with one-minute mental warm-ups which he compares to athletes doing warm-up sprints. He’ll give participants one minute to write on such words such as hope, disillusionment or longing. Then he’ll have them do 12-word prompts. He’ll say, “Write your life history in a 12-word sentence.” Next he’ll tell them to choose

one word from that sentence and write a 12-word sentence around that word. Michael carries a little notebook with him everywhere or jots notes on his phone to write down ideas and then lets those ideas “marinate.”

“I write down ideas and concepts, but I don’t go back to them for several months,” he said. He spends much of his time coaching his slam team, giving critiques and feedback on both the poetry and presentation. He said speaking poetry is a balance between writing and performing. “In school I took theater and debate classes, which were as helpful as just the creative writing classes.”

Catharsis

Michael has attended retreats in the mountains where you write “the poem that you never get to read. At the end, you throw it into the fire. “Poetry offers room for catharsis. It’s not therapy, but it can be therapeutic.”

Fellow poet Bryan Medina, who has run the Fresno poetry slam for 24 years, was an early mentor for Michael. They now consider their shows sister slams. “I saw a hunger in him and wanting to do something for Visalia,” Bryan said. “He has really excelled in going to slams, and he’s such a great man.” The two slams sometimes share poets. “Our shows are very strong,” said Bryan. “We’re both affiliated with art museums and have great talent, people who talk about things they feel in their bones. Great young talent that have things to say.” 

What’s next

Michael wants to use his time as Artist of the Year to bring poetry to the community. “It opens up opportunities,” he said. “I’d like to get a whole manuscript printed by a publisher.” He would also like to establish a poet laureate in Tulare County. “California has a state poet laureate, and some counties and cities have them, including Fresno. “We haven’t had a Tulare County poet since Wilma McDaniel [known as the Okie Poet] was named poet laureate 50 years ago,” said Michael. “This area has a history in literary arts—William Saroyan, Gary Soto and Jack Kerourac.”

Michael would like to see a literacy legacy by having an annual poetry event. “We currently have a regional competition in California. I would like to make it even wider.”