National Poetry Slam 2011 cypher, Gray Brian Thomas

Gray Brian Thomas performs a a poem outside Le Meridian Hotel in Cambridge, Mass., during the 2011 National Poetry Slam.

I met Gray Brian Thomas at the home of Jesse Parent in Salt Lake City, a few hours before we faced off in the team slam at the Utah Arts Festival in June. He opened the slam with "Life in Reverse," a brilliant poem about reversing time.


An excerpt:
"... Fathers would pour gallons of themselves
into small square bottles, then take the bottles
to local liquor stores
and place them on crude shelves


the liquor store owners
would give the fathers back their paychecks 
in small
but gracious increments ..."


I got to know him better at the afterparty in the hotel where he performed in the cypher.


At NPS 2011, the Salt Lake City team made semi-finals and Thomas quickly produced a small chapbook, "A Better Word is Needed" which I proudly acquired.