Racism. Feminism. Affirmative Action. Love. Money. Stereotypes. Sex appeal. Playstation. Meat.

These were among the subjects dealt with in the poetry of 27 competing Penn State students Saturday at the second HUB Late-Night Poetry Slam, a 160-minute display of artistic expression reaching the ears of more than 100 people.

Performers signed up upon arrival and judges were picked from the audience in this emotional and informal gathering.

The loudest applause out of the early poetic recitations was reserved for Jon Dandrea (sophomore-international politics), who composed an original poem about meat. The crowd was in hysterics for most of the humorous poem, "Ecce Cibus" (translated as "Behold Meat"), which included a section, "I love meat. It can't be beat. Without it, no meal is complete."

After a few more serious compositions, a student who went by the pseudonym Poet Aster stirred things up with his crude -- yet hysterical -- verse, "Once upon a toilet."

Following this irreverent display was a sincere, deeply affecting pair of poems by Dru Herger (senior-theatre and English), "If I can," and "Rounding Out," featuring lines such as, "My pen-to-paper orgasm deconstructs this personal prison."

Herger's deep, passionate verse nailed three votes of 10 from the five judges and moved her into first place.

The next reading was another tongue-in-cheek entry, "Oh Destiny...," the purposely pretentious, showy doggerel recited with appropriate airs by Avi Nocella (sophomore-English). After reciting it, he tore his poem up onstage and ran back to his seat.hough this display of humorous performance art won appreciation from the crowd, the judges were not as impressed and Herger remained in the lead.

Competition emerged from Ryan McConnell (freshman-journalism), with his comical poem, "From a frat guy," a flippant imagining of what a fraternity member's poetic response would be to the "Goth chicks" who tear him up in verse.

McConnell drew favor from the audience and judges, and moved into a first-place tie with Herger.

The last hour-and-a-half presented a few noteworthy performances, including Raina Leon's (senior-journalism) impressive, half-sung poem, "The Accident." Leon's performance brought her to within a tenth of a point of tying Herger and McConnell.

After the last act at 12:30 a.m., they were still tied on top. The event's host, Jerad Sorber, announced that because of the deadlock, there would be a "read-off" to determine the winner.

McConnell went first, rattling off another crowd-pleaser, a "love" poem about his Playstation, which received moderate appreciation from the judges.

Herger followed this with a more serious love poem, the tender "Join Me," which received a high rating from the judges and won her first place.

"I didn't think I was going to win," Herger said afterward. "There were so many talented people and I loved how many different kinds of poets there are: political ones, funny ones, half way through I thought to myself, 'How am I ever going to possibly beat so many people?' "

Sorber said a diverse range of focuses emerged in the late-night Poetry Slam. In his opinion, the event created a "forum that is not threatening for a wide range of opinions and ideas."