Zachary Kluckman has been a poet for 20 years. He says he’s been invited to read and perform his work in locations as far as Kenya. He’s written poems that have racked up hundreds of thousands of views each. His work has been published in hundreds of prestigious journals all over the world. He’s performed on over 100 stages and won several poetry-writing prizes. To say he’s been a part of the slam poetry scene for a minute is an understatement, and he has two important bits of advice for novice poets: read everything you can and show up to poetry events. He says when the time comes and it feels right, open your mouth and speak. He likens poetry slams to support groups, and wants poets of all styles and skill levels to know they are welcome and they belong at events like the Chicharra Poetry Slam Festival. The event will take place at multiple venues across Albuquerque running from Thursday, March 20 at 6 p.m. until March 23.
“I know it’s scary and I know it can be awkward and terrifying, but you don’t have to do anything,” Kluckman says. “You don’t have to share necessarily — at least not in the beginning — but show up, come out to events, listen to what’s being done. Watch how people are writing, how they’re performing, how they’re connecting the dots between their spirit and the other spirits in the room, if you will. And just take it in. Learn from exposure, learn from experience.”
For this year’s second annual Chicharra Festival, 75 of the top poets and spoken word artists in the nation are scheduled to compete in individual and team categories at some of the coolest locations in the city. Thursday and Friday nights involve individual competitions, and the champion stages take place Saturday where winners compete for a championship belt, a trophy, a national or regional title and their cut of $5000 in prize money. Unfortunately, registration is full this year. But other than the Final Competition, all the events are free, so people of all ages can get their poetry fix this week.
“Really anything goes,” Kluckman says. “We’re very much about free speech. One of the things I love about poetry is that it is one of the last bastions for free speech: a platform for folks of any background to be able to stand up and tell their story.”
Kluckman serves as this year’s festival director and was named ABQ The Magazine’s 2024 Best Local Poet. He says the free three-day poetry festival is the second largest event of its kind in the nation, second only to the Southern Fried Poetry Slam, which will be held this year in Knoxville, Tennessee. Not only is the festival an entertaining, enlightening and, at times, cathartic experience, it’s a perfect networking opportunity for poets like Kluckman, who as a novice didn’t have the cash to enroll in an MFA program while raising four children on his own.
Kluckman says the ‘90s were the highlight of the slam scene. And after Albuquerque hosted and won the National Poetry Slam in 2006, there was an epic surge of interest in poetry in the state.
“You could go to a poetry slam every week. There were open mics and thriving communities of poetry all over the place. It sort of dwindled over time, especially after 2018 when the National Poetry Slam basically disappeared along with most of the large festival events. What we found was there was this void, because there was no longer this national body regulating and putting on these big festivals.”
With the Chicharra Festival, organizers aim to bring back that golden age of slam poetry to the Duke City. Kluckman says last year’s event was not only a huge success, but an emotional experience for those who poured out their hearts — and their tears — to the community of local poets.
“I talked to one poet. I was like, ‘Are you okay? Are you doing all right?’ because I was worried they were triggered or something,” Kluckman says “They said, ‘I’ve just been holding it in this whole time, and I had no idea poetry could be this beautiful. I just had to let it happen.’ So we had poets and audience members and staff members all crying. The release of emotions was overwhelming. And that’s the beauty of the whole thing.”
The festival isn’t named “Chicharra” by accident. Chicharra is, after all, the Spanish word for that most noisy of insects, the cicada. Kluckman says people need a platform to speak up and to defend their freedom, now more than ever. He doesn’t beat around the bush when saying our current administration is wreaking havoc on our civil liberties and is dangerous to the people he cares about — women, people of color, migrants and the LGBTQ+ community. This festival also gives Albuquerque a chance to celebrate the communities who are at risk. Kluckman says that this festival and others like it are not about promoting any particular ideology or philosophy. Rather, The Chicharra Festival is about protecting human rights.
“Art has the ability to inspire people in a way that protests and other actions may not. Poetry and art allow us to emphasize the individual first,” he says. “Honestly, what’s happening is disgusting and terrifying. In the community around me and communities that I’m in touch with nationwide, the sense of fear is so overwhelming that it’s freaking palpable, and there has to be a response.”
The festival offers several panel discussions and workshops with local laureates, National Book Award finalists, MFA directors and Pushcart Prize winners. Other events include open mics at various venues, a Haiku Championship at Guild Cinema, a Nerd Slam at the gazebo in Old Town and an erotica reading at Albuquerque Social Club for poetry fans ages 21 and older. Don’t miss the afterparty at Fuzzy Bunny (515 Central Ave. SW) starting at 11 p.m. on March 22. The event will be upstairs, so you gotta sneak in through the alley.
While the festival is designed to promote and celebrate free speech, there are a few caveats. In addition to the traditional rules of slam, plagiarizing another poet’s work will result in an immediate removal from the competition. If your performance is inspired by another poet or samples their work, you’d better credit them. Any form of hate speech or unwanted actions against anyone will get you a zero score on your poem and expulsion from the event. Poets are required to sign and agree to the Chicharra Code of Ethics before competing.
“We definitely still have multiple communities that are doing monthly events, but it’s kind of spread a little thinner than it used to be,” Kluckman admits. “We have such a rich history in the genre, so many tremendous poets have come through or lived in or come from our state. I just want to remind everyone of that and reconnect us all again.”
Since there are so many events at different venues, you might want to check the full Chicharra Festival’s schedule here: cicadapoetryslamfestival.com.
For tickets to the competition finals go to cabq.gov/artsculture/south-broadway-cultural-center/events/chicharra-poetry-slam-festival-champions-stage.
Chicharra Poetry Slam Festival
March 20 – 23
Finals on March 22, 7 p.m.
South Broadway Cultural Center
1025 Broadway Blvd. SE
The finals are $10 for kids and $25 for adults
All other events are free