Sedona Poetry Slam on Saturday, May 9, to select two representatives for BlackBerry Peach state tournament
The penultimate installment of the season arrives Saturday, May 9. Performance poets will bring high-energy, competitive spoken word to Sedona's Mary D. Fisher Theatre starting at 7:30 p.m.
Poets from around Arizona will compete in three rounds of original work, with two winners earning berths at the BlackBerry Peach Poetry Slam's Arizona Championship, to be held at the Rebel Lounge in Phoenix on Wednesday, June 10.
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| Poet Josh Wiss, photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers |
A poetry slam is like a series of high-energy, three-minute one-person plays, judged by the audience. Slam poetry is an art form that allows written page poets to share their work alongside theatrical performers, hip-hop artists and lyricists.
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| Poet Layla Tenney, photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers |
Poets come from as far away as Phoenix, Tucson, Prescott and Flagstaff, competing against local poets from Sedona and Cottonwood, college poets from Northern Arizona University and youth poets from Verde Valley high schools. 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 and inspire the audience with their creativity.
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| Poet Valence, photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers |
Anyone can sign up to compete in the slam for the $75 grand prize and $25 second-place prize. To compete in the slam, poets will need three original poems, each lasting no longer than three minutes. No props, costumes nor musical accompaniment are permitted. The poets are judged Olympics-style by five members of the audience selected at random at the beginning of the slam.
Email foxthepoet@yahoo.com to sign up early to compete or by the Friday before the slam, or sign up at the door the day of the slam.
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| Host Christopher Fox Graham, photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers |
Tickets and Venue
The Mary D. Fisher Theatre is located at 2030 W. SR 89A, Suite A-3, in West Sedona. Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 at the door. For tickets, call 928-282-1177 or visit SedonaFilmFestival.org.
The last Sedona Poetry Slam of Saturday, June 6. The prize money is funded in part by a donation from Verde Valley poetry supporters Jeanne and Jim Freeland.
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| Poet Paul Jones Jr., photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers |
Email foxthepoet@yahoo.com to sign up early to compete or by the Friday before the slam or at the door the day of the slam. For more information, visit sedonafilmfestival.com or foxthepoet.blogspot.com.
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| Sedona Youth Poet Laureate Anya Blue Lior, photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers |
BlackBerry Peach
The top two poets will earn Sedona's spots at the BlackBerry Peach National Poetry Slam's Arizona State Championships, sponsored by the Arizona State Poetry Society.
Sedona's poets will compete against poetry from Flagstaff's FlagSlam, Prescott Poetry Slam, the PHX Poetry Slam and Body Slam in Phoenix, Margot Berlin's Poetry Open Mic in Mesa and Tucson Slam Poetry will compete at the 14-poet slam held by Ghost Poetry Slam at the Rebel Lounge.
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 July 23 to 26 in Overland Park, Kansas. ASPS will cover flight, hotel, registration as well as a lunch/dinner package.
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| Poet Tempest Black, photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers |
Founded at the Green Mill Tavern in Chicago in 1984 by Marc Smith, poetry slam is a competitive artistic sport designed to get people who would otherwise never go to a poetry reading excited about the art form when it becomes a high-energy competition. Poetry slams are judged by five randomly chosen members of the audience who assign numerical value to individual poets' contents and performances.
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| Sedona Poet Laureate Gary Every, photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers |
Poetry slam has become an international artistic sport, with more than 100 major poetry slams in the United States, Canada, Australia and Western Europe. Slam poets have opened at the Winter Olympics, performed at the White House and at the United Nations General Assembly and were featured on "Russell Simmons' Def Poets" on HBO.
Sedona has sent four-poet teams to represent the city at the National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C., Boston, Cambridge, Mass., Oakland, Calif., Decatur, Ga., Denver and Chicago.
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