She skips about nine lines and finishes it as best she can. Then the next competitor gets up and only remembers about four lines of her poem before her mind goes blank. Even at the national level, poets forget their lines, Brown tells the audience. He explains it by saying that adrenaline got the competitors through the first couple of rounds, but by the end, stamina and practice come into play. They come from cultures that are more expressive.
White people have to learn to do that.
The parts Brown says he likes best about slams are making contact with the students and showing people what slamming is really all about. In shows like Lollapalooza where people didn't know how to stage poetry, the people that lasted were the buffoons.