The penultimate installment of a series is often one the best, and that will be the case as the Sedona Poetry Slam returns for its penultimate slam of the season Saturday, May 3. Performance poets will bring high-energy, competitive spoken word to Sedona's Mary D. Fisher Theatre starting at 7:30 p.m.
It will also be the Sedona Poetry Slam's qualifier for the BlackBerry Peach state poetry slam with the top three poets representing Sedona in the state slam.
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. 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.
Open Slam
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 at the door the day of the slam. Poets who want to compete should purchase a ticket in case the roster is filled before they arrive.
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 282-1177 or visit SedonaFilmFestival.org.
The last poetry slam of the season will be on Saturday, May 31.
The prize money is funded in part by a donation from Verde Valley poetry supporters Jeanne and Jim Freeland.
For more information, visit sedonafilmfestival.com or foxthepoet.blogspot.com.
For a full list of slam poetry events in Arizona, visit azpoet.com.
BlackBerry Peach
The BlackBerry Peach Arizona finals will be held Saturday, May 16, at the PHX Poetry Slam, Heritage Headquarters, 515 E Grant St., Phoenix, hosted by Ben "B-Jam" Gardea.
There will be 15 poets in the state slam with the three from the Prescott Poetry Slam already selected on March 16 and the Mesa slam chosen on March 22. The long-running Flagstaff Poetry Slam will select its poets on April 16 and the home Phoenix Poetry Slam choses its poets on April 18.
The Sedona Poetry Slam on May 3 promises to bring some of the best poets in the state hoping to win the last three berths in the competition.
All 15 poets will compete in the first round, with five in the second and the top three in the third. Doors open 7 p.m., show starts 8 p.m.
The top three poets from that competition will be sponsored to compete at the BlackBerry Peach National Poetry Slam held July 23 to 27th in Albuquerque, N.M., hosts by the National Federation of State Poetry Societies.
All poets at the finals will receive a trophy for being finalists.
What is Poetry Slam?
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.
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.
