Exploring Spoken Word with Eve Addams
Nov. 26, 2025
Eve Addams is a Denver-based poet whose work mixes storytelling with elements of magical realism to explore love, language, religion, trauma, and time. She is a member of the 2025 Mercury Slam Poetry Team and a 2x Moth StorySlam winner. Her spoken word piece, “Airport Security,” appears in our autumn issue.
Tell us about yourself.
I grew up outside Chicago and in my adult life, have lived at over 15 addresses, visited over 30 countries, and worked over 40 jobs. The one consistent has been writing. It exists somewhere between something I have to do and something I want to do, but I am glad every time that I do it.
I was introduced to spoken word with Amanda Gorman’s 2021 inauguration poem, The Hill We Climb. But it wasn’t until 2023, a few days after October 7th, that I stumbled into slam poetry. I wrote out a poem where I processed my emotions as a Jewish person who had dated a Palestinian, and looked for open mics near me. The earliest one was that night at what was at the time The Mercury Cafe. I went knowing nothing, and when I got there discovered that it was not an open mic but a slam – and there were some rules. I was supposed to have 3 poems prepared that were under 3 minutes. Since I was already there, I split my poem into two and figured I wouldn’t make it to the final round. I was wrong. I ended up speed reading both parts as my ‘third poem, ‘dropping some lines to fit it in. It was both encouraging and humbling, and to this day is one of the things I like most about slam poetry: in its best form, anyone can walk in and you don’t know what will happen.
What did you learn (about yourself, craft, or life in general) through the process of creating the piece?
Spoken word artists often draw on anger as an emotion to fuel their performances, but this is the first piece that I tried engaging with it more seriously. I realized that for my personal craft, to engage with anger means finding the hope and belief systems behind it. If I am to express anger in a piece, I want to leave the audience (and myself) a direction or avenue to land it with purpose.
What has drawn you to spoken word?
I see spoken word as a dance with the audience. You have the opportunity to lead listeners on a journey through place, space, and emotion, and at the same time, follow the energy they give back to adjust delivery and pacing. It’s the most emotionally intimate interaction I’ve found as an artist, and I treasure that connection.
What have been the biggest influences in your creative life?
I was lucky to grow up in a family that encouraged creativity by living it. My mother is an artist and actress; my father is a photographer and videographer; my grandmother is a musician; my nana was a sculptor and painter. So many of my aunts, uncles, and cousins also play music, paint, or photograph, and both of my grandfathers danced. They have all influenced my creative life by encouraging every aspect of it and demonstrating that creativity lasts a lifetime.
It continues to be humans who cultivate my creative curiosity. I love Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s writing for its beauty while engaging with darkness; I draw from Chanel Miller’s simultaneously certain and gentle observation in both writing and art; Johnny Osi’s spoken word performances have pushed what I thought to be possible in embodying emotion and engaging audiences, and his editing workshops show me the value and potential of writing communities and coaches; Matthew Brown’s poetic lyricism challenges me to expand the vocabulary with which I describe a given moment; and Ryan Boyland’s exploration of fairy tales and creation in performance poetry demonstrate how to create rich visual worlds without needing trauma to drive the whole story.
How do you make expression a part of your daily life, or how do you find a balance between that and other responsibilities?
I used to be someone who only wrote on paper (and only when I wasn’t going to be interrupted). While that’s still when I feel most creatively free, I’ve found the best way to build in expression to daily life is to turn to my notes app on my phone in those moments when I’d typically be scrolling – and recording voice memos with lines that come to me when driving.
What do you think when you hear, “the good life”?
Wanting to be exactly where you are.
Thank you, Eve, for sharing such a powerful piece with us and for spending time on this Q&A. We appreciate you being a part of our growing community and wish you the best!
