Students will be able to perform their original poetry at 7 p.m. Wednesday in 7th Street Underground.

Officially called “Rhythm And Words Poetry Slam,” Tylen Elliott, the main stage coordinator of University Board said this is the first event main stage has put on for the year and they’re hoping to get around 10 performers.

UB Main Stage usually deals with events involving the performing arts such as rapping or singing. He said they wanted to bring a new form of performance arts this year.

“When you think of poetry you think of rhymes and words,” Elliott said.

The poetry slam will be able to give students a creative outlet and expression on campus, which is why such an event is important, he said.

Elliott said there are no specific categories for the poetry slam, but they did something similar to this last year.

New to this year’s poetry slams are some of the performers and the implementation of a social media aspect. He said audience members will be able to tweet or Instagram their reactions of the performance while it is happening on a screen behind the performer.

Elliott said they want to encourage the performers to have confidence because of a certain amount of confidence it takes performing in public spaces.

“(It’s) to encourage students to think outside the box,” Elliott said.

Roberto Hodge can be reached at 581-2812 or rlhodge@eiu.edu