Canadian slam poet R.C. Weslowski features at the Sedona Poetry Slam Saturday, March 29, at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre

One of Canada's best known performance poets, R.C. Weslowski, features at the fourth Sedona Poetry Slam of 2014, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 29, at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre, 2030 W. State Route 89A, Suite A-3.

Weslowski was the 2012 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Champion and has represented English Canada twice at the World Cup of Poetry in Paris, France, finishing second and fifth overall.

Weslowski has recently being performing his own one person shows "The Wet Dream Catcher" and "The Cruelest Phone Book in the World" at various Canadian Fringe Theatre Festivals. Weslowski has also been published in Quills, One Cool Word and most recently CV2. Weslowski also organizes youth poetry events inn Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and has co-hosted the poetry radio show Wax Poetic for the past 13 years.

As a performer R.C. Weslowski is a five-time member of the Vancouver Poetry Slam Team and has performed at Festival across Canada, including: The Calgary International Poetry Festival, The Winnipeg Writer's Festival, The Saskatchewan Festival of Words, The Vancouver Folk Festival, The Vancouver Storytelling Fesival, Music West, The Canadian Festival of Spoken Word.

As an event organizer R.C. Weslowski was the artistic director for the 2005 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word and the publicity coordinator for the 2007 Individual World Poetry Slam.

Weslowski has also performed his poetry on the Eiffel Tower while snorting the remains of Orson Welles and along the Rhine River in Germany while debating Schopenhauer with a schnauser. But aside from all that he will literally blow your brain apart and put it back together again using nothing but his voice. Seriously

All Canadian nationals and expatriates living in and visiting Sedona and the Verde Valley are specially encouraged to attend.

All poets are welcome to compete for the $75 grand prize and $25 second-place prize. The prize is funded in part by a donation from Verde Valley poetry supporter Jeanne and Jim Freeland.

The slam is the fourth the 2014 season, which will culminate in selection of Sedona's third National Poetry Slam Team, the foursome and alternate who will represent the city at the National Poetry Slam in Oakland, Calif., in August. Poets in the slam come from as far away as Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff, competing against adult poets from Sedona and Cottonwood and youth poets from Sedona Red Rock High School's Young Voices Be Heard slam group.

Future slams take place Saturday, April 26, and Saturday, May 17. The final Grand Poetry Slam takes place Saturday, June 7, to determine the team.

Slam poets will need three original poems, each lasting no longer than three minutes. No props, costumes nor musical accompaniment are permitted.

All types of poetry are welcome on the stage, from street-wise hip-hop and narrative performance poems, to political rants and introspective confessionals. Any poem is a "slam" poem if performed in a competition. All poets get three minutes per round to entertain their audience with their creativity.

The poets will be judged Olympics-style by five members of the audience selected at random at the beginning of the slam.

Poets who want to compete should purchase a ticket in case the roster is filled before they arrive.

The local poets will share the stage with 300 of the top poets in the United States, Canada and Europe, pouring out their words in a weeklong explosion of expression. Sedona sent its five-poet first team to the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C., and its second to the 2013 NPS in Boston and Cambridge, Mass.

The slam will be hosted by Sedona poet Christopher Fox Graham, who represented Northern Arizona on seven FlagSlam National Poetry Slams in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2012 and 2013. Graham has hosted the Sedona Poetry Slam since 2009.

Tickets are $12.

Contact Graham at foxthepoet@yahoo.com to sign up to slam.

What is Poetry Slam?

Founded in Chicago in 1984 by construction worker Marc Smith, poetry slam is a competitive artistic sport. Poetry slams are judged by five randomly chosen members of the audience who assign numerical value to individual poets' contents and performances. Poetry slam has become an international artistic sport, with more than 100 major poetry slams in the United States, Canada, Australia and Western Europe.