Jesse Parent is the SlamMaster for Salt City Slam poets, as well as one half of the internationally touring improv group JoKyR and Jesster. He performs poetry on Saturdays at Baxter's Café and Wednesdays at Mestizo Coffeehouse; and he performs improv with Laughing Stock at the Off Broadway Theatre on Friday and Saturday nights.

How would you describe your performing style? I am always looking to affect or be affected, whether it's with an audience or anyone on stage with me. Theatre in any form needs to engage an audience, and to do that you need to invest yourself in that experience on an emotional level. If you don't care what you're saying, why should an audience?

What's your performing arts background? I had extensive experience in theatre while in college back in Massachusetts. However, I always enjoyed ad-libbing and going off script, so improvising was very appealing to me. In 2001, I found a group called Knock Your Socks Off (KYSOff) in the Trolley Square Mall and took some workshops with them. In 2002, I performed with them in the Chicago Improv Festival. I was exposed to a wonderful variety of what improv is and could be. More than just quick laughs and jokes, this could be theatre. After KYSOff broke up in 2003, I teamed up with the artistic director of the group, Joseph Kyle Rogan, and we began touring nationally as JoKyR and Jesster.

How did you get into performance poetry? In Dec. 2006, I walked in to Cup of Joe's in downtown Salt Lake City and watched and participated in a poetry reading. I kept coming back and started to write, a concept that had always intimidated me. I also began to participate in poetry slams -- poetry competitions where random audience members judge the poets' work. To my surprise, I won a spot on the 2007 Salt City Slam team and competed in the National Poetry Slam in Austin, Tex. I stuck around and became the SlamMaster, or organizer, for the Salt City Slam team and won a spot on the 2008 team that went to Madison, Wisc. as well.

What do people find at a poetry slam that they might not expect? That it's actually fun and entertaining. I always avoided poetry readings because I expected a certain degree of angst-ridden teenager poems about gossamer wings and butterflies. But I was pleasantly surprised at the diversity of the poets. There are some that will make you cry, some that will make you laugh, and some that will get you off your feet without you even knowing it. That doesn't mean I love every poem I hear, but there are a lot of great spoken word artists in our community.

Why is poetry important? Poetry is the purest attempt at capturing emotions in words. A feeling, an experience, in an undiluted form. While everyone is different, we have feelings or issues to express that have resonance with other human beings and show us that we are not alone.

What's your proudest moment as a poetry slammer? The proudest moments of any slam or performance are not necessarily the scorecards, but the people who heard your work and took the time to pull you aside and tell you that they were truly affected by it and enjoyed it. That's better than a trophy, any day.

What do you have coming up that we should be aware of? The team selection slam to determine the five members of the 2009 Salt City Slam team is being held at Baxter's Cafe (1615 South State St.) Saturday, March 28, at 8:30 p.m. There will be an open mike beforehand, and then the top eight performance poets in Utah will go at it to fight for a position on this year's team. Entry is free, as always, but we will be asking for a $5 suggested donation to help raise money to send the team to the National Poetry Slam in West Palm Beach, Fla.

More info: www.myspace.com/saltcityslam, www.jokyrandjesster.com