Listening to Adrienne Nadeau deliver one of her poems is like hearing a jazz musician riff on a familiar melody—there’s a cool, street-smart sense of traditional art veering off the beaten path.
Coming from Tampa, Fla., Nadeau, senior consultant for Technomic Inc., found herself drawn to the slam-poetry community in Chicago, where, outside of her job researching convenience trends, she is a nationally known performance artist.
Q: How and when did you start?
A: I’ve been writing ever since I can remember, stories mostly. When I was 19 and at the University of Tampa, I was a creative-writing major. I stumbled upon an open-mike night. I thought it was a traditional poetry reading, but it was actually a spoken-word event, slam poetry. After it was over, I was driving away and I pulled my car over to call my parents. I told them this is my new genre.
Q: What was it about slam poetry that moved you?
A: Performance art as a rule is exciting and evocative. The one thing the spoken word does well is that it makes our human struggle accessible. If you look at more traditional poets, they’ll write about love, heartache or family, but it’s hard to access. It’s rooted in form or language and feels stilted. With slam poetry, you’re viscerally pulled into a story. You get a physical response.
Q: What are some of the themes that attract you?
A: I write about the small moments and the meaning behind them. That’s what I love about Chicago … how weird things are and how weird they’ll let you be. One of the poems I’m working on is about a bearded lady. But there are all kinds of interesting topics young writers are addressing: racial equality, the feminist movement, the distribution of wealth. All challenging and evocative.
Q: How would you describe Chicago’s poetry scene?
A: I think there is a general sound or attitude that’s prevalent throughout Chicago. It’s reflective and vulnerable. When I moved to Chicago, a well-known poet here, J.W. Basilo, came up to me and said you need to write poetry that hurts, and [then] come back.
Q: Wow, that sounds harsh.
A: My mother was watching my best friend give me a critique once and she said, “He’s so tough on you.” But I’ve always felt the people who care about you are the hardest on you. It’s because they respect you the most.
Q: So you’ve seen bad poets.
A: Bad poets are boring. They don’t give anything to the audience. They want to make themselves look good and talk about how great they are at their jobs or with women. They won’t push the language, or they’ll be lazy and take the audience’s time for granted.
Q: Do you see yourself doing this full time?
A: I’m very lucky. I’ve developed a national reputation that allows me to travel and tour. My next goal is to get a small collection of my work published, but I don’t see this as a full-time job. I like my job, but this adds a tremendous amount of value and I’m glad it’s part of who I am.
Q: One last thing. Do you use swear words?
A:I love swearing. Of course I don’t do it at work, but well-used curse words can be effective.
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