DETROIT – Former track and field sprinter Deonte Osayande has exhausted his eligibility at the University of Detroit Mercy, but that does not mean that he is done competing. Osayande has joined four other individuals forming a team that will compete in the 2011 National Poetry Slam.

Osayande made his mark on the Titan program by posting his name in the Titan Top 10 list in multiple events. He walks away from campus with the third fastest 100-meter dash time, the fourth-best 60-meter dash time, and he also cracked the Top 10 in the 200 and 400-meter dash.

Off the track, Osayande is one of the 2010-11 Presidential Ambassadors for the University of Detroit Mercy.  In 2010 he was runner up in the Dudley Randall Poetry Contest and in the Howling Wolf Chapbook Contest.  In this year's Howling Wolf Chapbook Contest he was a co-winner of the competition alongside Allison Bohn and will have a book co-written by the two published by the university in the near future.

He is a member of the 2011 Detroit Neo Minds Poetry Slam Team that competed at the Rustbelt Regional Poetry Slam.  He has read at the University of Toledo, University of Detroit Mercy, University of Michigan Dearborn and Michigan State University.

His poetry appears on online quarterlies such as Troubadour21 and Renaissance City, Detroit Mercy's literary magazines [sic] 16, [sic] 17 and [sic] 18 and the upcoming 31st issue of Bredcrumb Scabs magazine.  He released a self published chapbook entitled Quills of Fire in 2010.

What is a Poetry Slam?
In a poetry slam, members of the audience are chosen by a host to act as judges for the event. In the standard slam, there are five judges. After each poet performs, each judge awards a score to that poem. Scores generally range between zero and ten. The highest and lowest score are dropped, giving each performance a rating between zero and thirty points.

A single round at a slam consists of performances by all eligible poets. Most slams last multiple rounds, and many involve the elimination of lower-scoring poets in successive rounds. A standard elimination rubric might run 8-4-2, with eight poets in the first round, four in the second, and two in the last. Some slams do not eliminate poets at all.

Props, costumes, and music are generally forbidden in slams. Additionally, most slams enforce a time limit of three minutes (and a grace period of ten seconds), after which a poet's score may be docked according to how long the poem exceeded the limit.

What is the National Poetry Slam?
The National Poetry Slam is the annual poetry slam championship tournament, wherein four- to five-person teams from all over North America and Europe gather to compete against each other for the national team title. The 2011 National Poetry Slam is shaping up to be the greatest National Poetry Slam yet, taking place in Boston for this year.

Members of Deonte Osayande's Team:

Natasha Miller

Miller is a Detroit native that was crowned as Detroit Poetry Slam team's Grand Slam Champion in 2007. She has also been a Women of The World Poetry Slam finalist two years in a row, ranking as the third female slam poet in the world in 2008. Miller has awed audiences across the country at universities, festivals and numerous venues. She has premiered on stages with celebrity actors and comedians Oscar award winning Mo'nique, Star of the movie “Paper Hearts” Charlyne Yi, Brandon T. Jackson, actor Malcolm Jamal Warner, legendary poet Jessica Care Moore, hip-hop artist Talib Kweli, and many more. Natasha is currently ranked as the number 5 female slam poet in the world.

Omari Barksdale

Barksdale is a poet that has represented Detroit as a member of the last 6 Detroit Slam teams and the 2007 Rust Belt Championship Slam Team. He has performed at over 50 Universities /Colleges nationwide and has also been privileged to share the stage with many great leaders and artists including but not limited to The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, Chairman Fred Hampton, Jr., Erykah Badu, Common, Talib Kweli, The Last Poets, Afeni Shakur, Chuck D, KRS-One, Professor Griff, Dead Prez, Amiri Baraka, X-Clan, and many more.

Gabriel Israel Green

Green is another poet from the Detroit. Although he's only been performing for about a year and a half, he's already published two books of poetry. Green is attending college in hopes of becoming a teacher.

Christopher Jones

Jones started writing and performing in Oct. 2009. He was a member of Detroit's 2011 Midwest Rustbelt Regional Poetry Slam Team. He attended the University of Detroit Mercy ('98-01) before moving to Houston, Texas. Now that he's returned home he teaches poetry as a volunteer at Osborn, Central, and Detroit School of Arts High Schools.