Chosen by the five judges in the audience after three rounds of high-energy, competitive spoken word at the Sedona International Film Festival's Mary D. Fisher Theatre, the top three poets at the Saturday, March 9, Sedona Poetry Slam earned spots to compete at the BlackBerry Peach Poetry Slam's Arizona Championship, to be held in Phoenix on Friday, April 19.
From a field of 14 competing poets, the top three slam poets earning Sedona's berths are:
Lizard the Wizard, with a score of 82.2
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| Lizard the Wizard, photo by Christopher Fox Graham |
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| Sondraya Bradley, photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers |
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| Jason Lalli, photo by Christopher Fox Graham |
The other competors included Adrienne Peters of Phoenix, Cylie Naylor of Scottsdale, Eric Hoff of Sedona, "Moose" of Phoenix, Roger Blakiston of the Village of Oak Creek, Bear Smith of Sedona, Gary Every of Cottonwood, LMB of Prescott and Rex Arrasmith of Sedona.
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| Athena Zelda Nebula Skye Sylvia Diana Fox Graham, photo by Christopher Fox Graham |
BlackBerry Peach
The top three poets will earn Sedona's three spots at the BlackBerry Peach National Poetry Slam's Arizona State Championships, sponsored by the Arizona State Poetry Society.
Three poets each from open poetry slams in Sedona, Mesa, Prescott, Phoenix and Flagstaff will compete at the 15-poet slam held by Ghost Poetry Slam and hosted by Ben “B-Jam” Gardea on Friday, April 19.
The overall state champion will win trip sponsored by the ASPS to represent Arizona at the National Federation of State Poetry Societies' BlackBerry Peach National Slam from June 5 to 8 in Roswell, Ga.
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| B-Jam, photo by Sedona Poetry Slam |
A regular competitor at the Sedona Poetry Slam, B-Jam is a Phoenix native, married father of three children. Gardea overcame both alcoholism and a rare hip disease that made him unable to walk. After getting sober and a total hip replacement, he had two goals: To share his poetry and and hike a mountain in Sedona. Three years later, B-Jam is the 2023 ASPS State Poetry Slam champion, ranked 10th nationally and has curated writers workshops, featured at poetry events, won a grant to publish a poetry book and is the host and producer of the popular PHX Poetry Slam.
“Poetry has changed my life and I want to be a caretaker of the artform for future generations to explore and become part of, because I know that poetry can make the most profound impact on human beings,” B-Jam said.
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| B-Jam, photo by Sedona Poetry Slam |
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