Shaun Srivastava wins the third Sedona Poetry Slam of the 2011-12 National Poetry Slam Season

Photo courtesy of Tara Graeber

Shaun Srivastava wins the third Sedona Poetry Slam of the 2011-12
National Poetry Slam Season.

Shaun Srivastava wins the third Sedona Poetry Slam of the 2011-12 National Poetry Slam Season.

Calibration: Christopher Fox Graham, of Sedona, “Poetic Babysitting”

Round 1
Random Draw
Calibration: Gary Every, of Sedona

The Klute, of Phoenix, 23.3, 22.3 after 1.0 time penalty, 3:28
Spensor Troth, of Flagstaff, 26.2, 25.2 after 1.0 time penalty, 3:25
Michelle Peterson, of Sedona, 20.2, 3:02
Lauren Perry, of Phoenix, 25.7, 2:45
Tara Pollock, of Flagstaff, 24.7, 2:42
Ryan Brown, of Flagstaff, 29.2, 3:02
Mary Elizabeth Skene, of Sedona, 25.3, 2:05
Josh Wiss, of Flagstaff, 28.4, 2:26
Rowie Shebala, of Phoenix, 25.8, 1:55
nodalone, of Flagstaff, 28.7, 2:40
Valence, of Flagstaff, 26.2, 2:46

Teaser: Aaron Johnson, of Phoenix

Round 2
Reverse Order

Valence, of Flagstaff, 23.8, 2:46, 50.0
nodalone, of Flagstaff, 27.5, 2:51, 56.2
Rowie Shebala, of Phoenix, 28.8, 2:36, 53.8
Josh Wiss, of Flagstaff, 24.6, 2:20, 53.0
Ryan Brown, of Flagstaff, 24.5, 1:25, 53.7
Tara Pollock, of Flagstaff, 26.5, 25.0 after 1.5 time penalty, 3:35, 49.7
Lauren Perry, of Phoenix, 27.3, 2:17, 53.0
Michelle Peterson, of Sedona, 25.6, 20.1 after 5.5 time penalty, 4:59, 40.3
Spensor Troth, of Flagstaff, 24.8, 3:07, 50.0
The Klute, of Phoenix, 29.5, 29.0 after 0.5 time penalty, 3:15, 51.3

Mary Elizabeth Skene, of Sedona, left the slam before round 2

Aaron Johnson, of Phoenix, was the feature poet at the Sedona Poetry
Slam on Feb. 18.

Feature: Aaron Johnson, of Phoenix

Sorbet: Sasha Anderson, of Flagstaff

Round 3
High to Low (Top 7)

nodalone, of Flagstaff, 28.7, 3:10, 84.9
Rowie Shebala, of Phoenix, 26.8, 2:52, 80.6
Ryan Brown, of Flagstaff, 29.2, 3:07, 82.9
Lauren Perry, of Phoenix, 27.8, 2:47, 80.8
Josh Wiss, of Flagstaff, 28.4, 2:24, 81.4
The Klute, of Phoenix, 29.7, 1:33, 81.0
TIE: Valence, of Flagstaff, 27.3, 1:59, 77.3
TIE: Spensor Troth, of Flagstaff, 26.5, 2:42, 76.5

Final Scores

nodalone, of Flagstaff, 84.9

Ryan Brown, of Flagstaff, 82.9

Josh Wiss, of Flagstaff, 81.4

The Klute, of Phoenix, 81.0
Lauren Perry, of Phoenix, 80.8
Rowie Shebala, of Phoenix, 80.6
Valence, of Flagstaff, 77.3
Spensor Troth, of Flagstaff, 76.5
Tara Pollock, of Flagstaff, 49.7
Michelle Peterson, of Sedona, 40.3
Mary Elizabeth Skene, of Sedona, 25.3

Women of the World Poetry Slam qualifier

Lauren Perry, of Phoenix, 80.8
Rowie Shebala, of Phoenix, 80.6
Tara Pollock, of Flagstaff, 49.7
Michelle Peterson, of Sedona, 40.3
Mary Elizabeth Skene, of Sedona, 25.3

Scorekeeper: Alun Wile
Cameramwoman: Azami

Sedona National Poetry Slam Team
Slamoff Point Standings
7 points
Ryan Brown, of Flagstaff
6 points
nodalone, of Flagstaff ✓
5 points
The Klute, of Phoenix ✓
Rowie Shebala, of Phoenix ✓
4 points
Josh Wiss, of Flagstaff
3 points
Christopher Fox Graham, of Sedona
Frank O'Brien, of Prescott
Lauren Perry, of Phoenix
Tara Pollock, of Flagstaff
2 points
Christopher Harbster, of Flagstaff
Spencer Troth, of Flagstaff
Valence, of Flagstaff
Mikel Weisser, of Kingman
1 point
Jahnilli Akbar, of New York City
Bert Cisneros, of Cottonwood
Ellenelizabeth, of Sedona
Evan Dissinger, of Flagstaff
Gabbi Jue, of Flagstaff
Jack Egan, of Sedona
Gary Every, of Sedona
Josh Goldberg, of Oak Creek Ranch School
Michelle Peterson, of Sedona
Kendra Kenj Shebala, of Flagstaff
Mary Elizabeth Skene, of Sedona
0.5 points
Sasha Anderson, of Flagstaff
Gary Bowers, of Phoenix
Danielle Silver, of Sedona
✓ = won a Sedona Poetry Slam

Mikel Weisser performs in the third round of the Sedona Poetry Slam, 12-3-2011

Mikel Weisser performs in the third round of the Sedona Poetry Slam on Dec. 3, 2011

>

Order your tickets now for Sedona Poetry Slam tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 18

Aaron Johnson features at the Sedona Poetry Slam on Saturday, Feb. 18
Order your tickets now to reserve the discount price of $7.

Sedona's Studio Live hosts a poetry slam Saturday, Feb. 18, starting at 7:30 p.m. featuring longtime Phoenix poet Aaron Johnson and hosted by Sedona poet Christopher Fox Graham.

All poets are welcome to compete for the $100 grand prize. The prize is funded in part by a donation from Verde Valley poetry supporter Jeanne Freeland.

The slam will the third of the 2011-12 season, which has been more moving, more energetic and more intense because this year as poets compete for a slot in Sedona's first National Poetry Slam Team.

After four years of collaborating with the Flagstaff and Phoenix metro area poetry slam scenes, the Sedona scene has the reputation and strength to send its own team to the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C., in August. The eventual four-poet team 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.

Aaron Johnson

Aaron Johnson likes pinball machines, shortbread cookies, graphic novels, and skateboard competitions. However, Johnson is most likely to found at a poetry slam or rock show, smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee. As a young teen, he worked at Arby's. It was where he saw a lefthander chop off his thumb in a roast beef slicer. Being a lefty too, Aaron was permanently scarred for life and began writing and performing poetry.

Courtesy photo

Aaron Johnson likes pinball machines, shortbread cookies, graphic
novels, and skateboard competitions. However, Johnson is most
likely to found at a poetry slam or rock
show, smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee.

Johnson was the 2001 International Poetry Interpretation champion. From 2002 to 2005, he studied communication theory and English at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, participated and coached award-winning speech and debate team.

In 2004, he founded Boardwalk Open Mic and published "Irony Stinks," then "Watering the Poetry" chapbook in 2005. He also participated in his first the National Poetry Slam, held in Albuquerque, N.M., alongside Graham, Logan Phillips and Meghan Jones.

He was the 2006 Southwest Shootout Regional Slam director and represented Flagstaff at the Individual World Poetry Slam.

Photo by Christopher Fox Graham

Aaron has performed in theaters, bars, poetry
slams, high schools, universities,art galleries,
comic book stores, street corners, book stores,
living rooms, and in 45 states, in just the past
four years.

After moving to Phoenix in 2008, he formed the musical act "Spoken Circus" alongside Megyn Neff and Marykate Glenn, won the Phoenix Grand Slam and represented Phoenix at IWPS.

He published "Chainsawsmoking" in 2009 and was the KABAM! Book Festival featured author in Kingman. Alongside Ed Mabrey, Myrlin Hepworth and The Klute on the Phoenix National Poetry Slam Team, Johnson's team semi-finals at the 2009 National Poetry Slam in Minneapolis.

In 2010, he returned to the KABAM! Book Festival as a featured author and joined the First Friday Night Live writing staff and promotion crew as well as founding the Pink Slip Poetry Slam in downtown Phoenix.

KABAM! Book Festival brought him back as a featured author a third time in 2011 and he created Encyclopedia Show: Arizona.
In 2011, his chapbook "Roach Killer for Her" was translated into Spanish and he became director of First Friday Night Live at The Firehouse in Phoenix. He also founded Lawn Gnome Publishing.

This year, he has been asked to return as a featured author to KABAM!, been a featured performer at The Encyclopedia Show: Arizona, serves as producer and writer of First Friday Night Live Writer and opened Lawn Gnome Bookstore. He was also featured painter for February's Solo Art Exhibition at Jones Gallery, and city of Phoenix Public Art Grant Recipient for "Dumpsterdiving Haiku" to be installed on Phoenix's busy 7th Avenue and McDowell intersection.

Aaron has performed in theatres, bars, poetry slams, high schools, universities, art galleries, comic book stores, street corners, book stores, living rooms, and in 45 states, in just the past four years.

Sedona Poetry Slam

Photo by Harley Deuce

The Feb. 18 slam will be hosted by Graham, who
represented Northern Arizona on the Flagstaff team 
at five National Poetry Slams between 2001 and 2010.

To compete in the slam, poets need at least three original poems, each three minutes long or shorter. No props, costumes or musical accompaniment are permitted. All types of poetry are welcome.

The Feb. 18 slam will be hosted by Graham, who represented Northern Arizona on the Flagstaff team at five National Poetry Slams between 2001 and 2010.

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

Women of the World Poetry Slam Qualifier

This slam is also the qualifier for Sedona's representative to the International Women of the World Poetry Slam, to be held in Denver March 7-10. Highest ranked female or female-identified poets from Sedona earns the slot.

Eligibility: Poets who live their lives as women are eligible to participate in the Women of the World Poetry Slam. Competitors are eligible from certified venues or as individuals from areas without certified venues (a.k.a. “Storm” poets). Certified venues have a window of time to enter before individuals not associated with certified slams are able to enter. All certified venues must have a competition to determine their contestants.

All competitors must be PSI members in good standing and must agree to participate in the event following the rules of Slam as well as the Code of Honor, and must allow for PSI to videotape their performances for PSI owned product.

Sedona National Poetry Slam Team

Competing poets earn points with each Sedona Poetry Slam performance between Dec. 3 and Saturday, May 5. Every poet earns 1 point for performing or hosting and 1/2 point for calibrating. First place earns 3 additional points, second place earns 2 and third place earns 1.

Based on points, the top 12 poets in May are eligible to compete for the four slots on the Sedona Poetry Slam Team, which will represent the community and Studio Live at the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C.

All poets are eligible in the slamoff except those already confirmed members of or coaching another National Poetry Slam or College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational or Brave New Voices team. Poets can compete for multiple teams during a season and still be eligible to compete in the Sedona team.

Future slams will take place on Saturday, March 10, featuring Seth Walker from Austin, Texas; Saturday, April 7, featuring Mesa poet Bill Campana; and May 5, featuring Brooklyn, N.Y., poet Sean Patrick Mulroy.

For poetry slam standings, videos from past slams, and updates, visit foxthepoet.blogspot.com.

What is Poetry Slam?

Founded in Chicago in 1984, 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.

Tickets are $7 in advance and $12 the day of the event, available at Golden Word Books and Music, 3150 W. SR 89A, and online at studiolivesedona.com.

Studio Live is located at 215 Coffee Pot Drive, West Sedona. For more information, call (928) 282-2688.

Sedona National Poetry Slam Team

Slamoff Point Standings

4 points 

Ryan Brown, of Flagstaff 

The Klute, of Phoenix 

Rowie Shebala, of Phoenix   

3 points 

Frank O'Brien, of Prescott

2 points 

Christopher Fox Graham, of Sedona 

Christopher Harbster, of Flagstaff 

Lauren Perry, of Phoenix 

Tara Pollock, of Flagstaff 

Mikel Weisser, of Kingman 

nodalone, of Flagstaff 

Josh Wiss, of Flagstaff

1 point 

Bert Cisneros, of Cottonwood 

Ellenelizabeth, of Sedona 

Evan Dissinger, of Flagstaff 

Gabbi Jue, of Flagstaff 

Jack Egan, of Sedona 

Jahnilli Akbar, of New York City 

Josh Goldberg, of Oak Creek Ranch School 

Kendra Kenj Shebala, of Flagstaff 

Spencer Troth, of Flagstaff 

Valence, of Flagstaff   

0.5 points

Danielle Silver, of Sedona 

Gary Bowers, of Phoenix 

Gary Every, of Sedona

Aaron Johnson features at the Sedona Poetry Slam on Saturday, Feb. 18

Aaron Johnson features at the Sedona Poetry Slam on Saturday, Feb. 18


Sedona's Studio Live hosts a poetry slam Saturday, Feb. 18, starting at 7:30 p.m. featuring longtime Phoenix poet Aaron Johnson and hosted by Sedona poet Christopher Fox Graham.

All poets are welcome to compete for the $100 grand prize. The prize is funded in part by a donation from Verde Valley poetry supporter Jeanne Freeland.

The slam will the third of the 2011-12 season, which has been more moving, more energetic and more intense because this year as poets compete for a slot in Sedona's first National Poetry Slam Team.

After four years of collaborating with the Flagstaff and Phoenix metro area poetry slam scenes, the Sedona scene has the reputation and strength to send its own team to the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C., in August. The eventual four-poet team 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.

Aaron Johnson

Aaron Johnson likes pinball machines, shortbread cookies, graphic novels, and skateboard competitions. However, Johnson is most likely to found at a poetry slam or rock show, smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee. As a young teen, he worked at Arby's. It was where he saw a lefthander chop off his thumb in a roast beef slicer. Being a lefty too, Aaron was permanently scarred for life and began writing and performing poetry.

Courtesy photo

Aaron Johnson likes pinball machines, shortbread cookies, graphic
novels, and skateboard competitions. However, Johnson is most
likely to found at a poetry slam or rock
show, smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee.

Johnson was the 2001 International Poetry Interpretation champion. From 2002 to 2005, he studied communication theory and English at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, participated and coached award-winning speech and debate team.

In 2004, he founded Boardwalk Open Mic and published "Irony Stinks," then "Watering the Poetry" chapbook in 2005. He also participated in his first the National Poetry Slam, held in Albuquerque, N.M., alongside Graham, Logan Phillips and Meghan Jones.

He was the 2006 Southwest Shootout Regional Slam director and represented Flagstaff at the Individual World Poetry Slam.

Photo by Christopher Fox Graham

Aaron has performed in theaters, bars, poetry
slams, high schools, universities,art galleries,
comic book stores, street corners, book stores,
living rooms, and in 45 states, in just the past
four years.

After moving to Phoenix in 2008, he formed the musical act "Spoken Circus" alongside Megyn Neff and Marykate Glenn, won the Phoenix Grand Slam and represented Phoenix at IWPS.

He published "Chainsawsmoking" in 2009 and was the KABAM! Book Festival featured author in Kingman. Alongside Ed Mabrey, Myrlin Hepworth and The Klute on the Phoenix National Poetry Slam Team, Johnson's team semi-finals at the 2009 National Poetry Slam in Minneapolis.

In 2010, he returned to the KABAM! Book Festival as a featured author and joined the First Friday Night Live writing staff and promotion crew as well as founding the Pink Slip Poetry Slam in downtown Phoenix.

KABAM! Book Festival brought him back as a featured author a third time in 2011 and he created Encyclopedia Show: Arizona.
In 2011, his chapbook "Roach Killer for Her" was translated into Spanish and he became director of First Friday Night Live at The Firehouse in Phoenix. He also founded Lawn Gnome Publishing.

This year, he has been asked to return as a featured author to KABAM!, been a featured performer at The Encyclopedia Show: Arizona, serves as producer and writer of First Friday Night Live Writer and opened Lawn Gnome Bookstore. He was also featured painter for February's Solo Art Exhibition at Jones Gallery, and city of Phoenix Public Art Grant Recipient for "Dumpsterdiving Haiku" to be installed on Phoenix's busy 7th Avenue and McDowell intersection.

Aaron has performed in theatres, bars, poetry slams, high schools, universities, art galleries, comic book stores, street corners, book stores, living rooms, and in 45 states, in just the past four years.

Sedona Poetry Slam

Photo by Harley Deuce

The Feb. 18 slam will be hosted by Graham, who
represented Northern Arizona on the Flagstaff team 
at five National Poetry Slams between 2001 and 2010.

To compete in the slam, poets need at least three original poems, each three minutes long or shorter. No props, costumes or musical accompaniment are permitted. All types of poetry are welcome.

The Feb. 18 slam will be hosted by Graham, who represented Northern Arizona on the Flagstaff team at five National Poetry Slams between 2001 and 2010.

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

Women of the World Poetry Slam Qualifier

This slam is also the qualifier for Sedona's representative to the International Women of the World Poetry Slam, to be held in Denver March 7-10. Highest ranked female or female-identified poets from Sedona earns the slot.

Eligibility: Poets who live their lives as women are eligible to participate in the Women of the World Poetry Slam. Competitors are eligible from certified venues or as individuals from areas without certified venues (a.k.a. “Storm” poets). Certified venues have a window of time to enter before individuals not associated with certified slams are able to enter. All certified venues must have a competition to determine their contestants.

All competitors must be PSI members in good standing and must agree to participate in the event following the rules of Slam as well as the Code of Honor, and must allow for PSI to videotape their performances for PSI owned product.

Sedona National Poetry Slam Team

Competing poets earn points with each Sedona Poetry Slam performance between Dec. 3 and Saturday, May 5. Every poet earns 1 point for performing or hosting and 1/2 point for calibrating. First place earns 3 additional points, second place earns 2 and third place earns 1.

Based on points, the top 12 poets in May are eligible to compete for the four slots on the Sedona Poetry Slam Team, which will represent the community and Studio Live at the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C.

All poets are eligible in the slamoff except those already confirmed members of or coaching another National Poetry Slam or College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational or Brave New Voices team. Poets can compete for multiple teams during a season and still be eligible to compete in the Sedona team.

Future slams will take place on Saturday, March 10, featuring Seth Walker from Austin, Texas; Saturday, April 7, featuring Mesa poet Bill Campana; and May 5, featuring Brooklyn, N.Y., poet Sean Patrick Mulroy.

For poetry slam standings, videos from past slams, and updates, visit foxthepoet.blogspot.com.

What is Poetry Slam?

Founded in Chicago in 1984, 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.

Tickets are $7 in advance and $12 the day of the event, available at Golden Word Books and Music, 3150 W. SR 89A, and online at studiolivesedona.com.

Studio Live is located at 215 Coffee Pot Drive, West Sedona. For more information, call (928) 282-2688.

Sedona National Poetry Slam Team

Slamoff Point Standings

4 points 

Ryan Brown, of Flagstaff 

The Klute, of Phoenix 

Rowie Shebala, of Phoenix   

3 points 

Frank O'Brien, of Prescott

2 points 

Christopher Fox Graham, of Sedona 

Christopher Harbster, of Flagstaff 

Lauren Perry, of Phoenix 

Tara Pollock, of Flagstaff 

Mikel Weisser, of Kingman 

nodalone, of Flagstaff 

Josh Wiss, of Flagstaff

1 point 

Bert Cisneros, of Cottonwood 

Ellenelizabeth, of Sedona 

Evan Dissinger, of Flagstaff 

Gabbi Jue, of Flagstaff 

Jack Egan, of Sedona 

Jahnilli Akbar, of New York City 

Josh Goldberg, of Oak Creek Ranch School 

Kendra Kenj Shebala, of Flagstaff 

Spencer Troth, of Flagstaff 

Valence, of Flagstaff   

0.5 points

Danielle Silver, of Sedona 

Gary Bowers, of Phoenix 

Gary Every, of Sedona

Sedona Poetry Slam season's final list of features

2012 Sedona Poetry Slam Season

Upcoming features:

Saturday, February 18
Feature: Aaron Johnson, Phoenix, AZ

Saturday, March 10
Feature: Seth Walker, Austin, Texas

Saturday, April 7
Feature: Bill Campana, Phoenix, AZ

Saturday, May 5
Feature: Sean Patrick Mulroy, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Past features:

Saturday, December 3
Feature: Jahnilli Akbar, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Saturday, January 7
Feature: Ryan Brown, Flagstaff, AZ

Jahnilli Akbar, Sedona Poetry Slam 12-3-2011, teaser poem

Featured poet Jahnilli Akbar performs between the first and second rounds of the Sedona Poetry Slam on Dec. 3, 2011

(My camerawoman started the tape a few seconds too late, so the first few words are cut off. My apologies.)

New York City poet Jahnilli Akbar.

Jahnilli Akbar is a 22-year-old poet and activist, born in Chicago and raised in northern Mississippi. Currently he splits his time between Harlem and Brooklyn, N.Y.

Akbar’s poetry is best defined as an artistic mesh of alternative black, Semitic and queer life in America.

Akbar won the 2010 Rookie of the Year award at the Wade-Lewis Invitational, the second largest colligate slam in the country with more than 100 participants, held at the State University of New York at New Paltz.

Akbar is also the recipient of the 2011 Fresh Fruit Festival Queer Poet of the Year Award. He is a known face on the underground New York City art scene, as part of a movement called the Bushwick Renaissance, and as a member of Ground- Floor Collective, a leftist, African diaspora-based, predominately lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer group of artists. The Ground-Floor Collective, the Brecht Forum & Malcolm X Grassroots Movement curates the annual Black August art show, a fundraiser for political prisoners abroad.

Many stages, venues and spaces have hosted Akbar’s poetry, including Nuyorican Poets’ Café, Bowery Poetry Club, Louder Arts, NYC Intangible Poetry Slam, SUNY New Paltz and the Brooklyn Museum, all in New York, the Seattle Poetry Slam, Chicago’s Mental Graffiti Slam and Wordplay Chicago.

In early November, Akbar published his first book, “Chronicles of a Contemporary Alternative American Negro,” and headed out on tour.

Ryan Brown performs in the first round of the Sedona Poetry Slam on Dec. 3, 2011

Ryan Brown performs in the first round of the Sedona Poetry Slam on Dec. 3, 2011

Flagstaff poet Ryan Brown has attended three National Poetry Slam
competitions in 2008, 2009 and 2010 as a member of the FlagSlam team,
getting as far as the semi-finals round in 2009.

Ryan Brown is a poet's poet in every sense of the word. The mountain town of Flagstaff, is known for a poetry slam scene where poets come together as a community, and  Brown has been at the center of the growth as the FlagSlam Poetry Slam's slammaster since 2008.

A slammaster is the administrative representative of a poetry slam scene and its de facto leader.

Brown has attended three National Poetry Slam competitions as a member of the FlagSlam team, getting as far as the semi-finals round in 2009. At the helm of Flagstaff's slam scene, Brown has brought in featured poets such as Andrea Gibson and Gypsee Yo to help reinvigorate the poetry community in a town now bursting with poetic flavor. After a three-month hiatus spent farming in Hawai'i at the tail end of 2010, Brown has shifted the FlagSlam's location to Sundara Boutique and Gallery, which is quickly becoming one of Flagstaff's best venues for performance art.

An English major at Northern Arizona University, Brown has been writing and performing poetry for over four years, collaborating often with poets such as Frank O'Brien, John Cartier, and Sedona's Jessica Guadarrama and Christopher Fox Graham. He writes with the future in mind, his poems often revolving around the intimacy of human relationships.

Due to graduate from NAU in 2012, Brown also cultivates obsessions with baseball, skateboarding, and coffee, spending most of his time at school or at work, living the life of a pedestrian in a town where every destination is reachable on foot. Keys, wallet, cell phone, pen, and notepad: The essential tools for this particular poet.

Valence performs in the first round of the Sedona Poetry Slam on Dec. 3, 201

Valence performs in the first round of the Sedona Poetry Slam on Dec. 3, 2011

Photo by Tara Graeber

Tyler Sirvinskas, aka Valence

Tyler Sirvinskas, aka Valence, is a poet among other things.
Valence has been a slam poet since 2010 and new to the format of slam, but not to the art of writing.
After living 14 years in Chicago, he has spent six years and
counting in Arizona.

Josh Wiss performs in the first round of the Sedona Poetry Slam, 12-3-2011

Josh Wiss performs in the first round of the Sedona Poetry Slam on Dec. 3, 2011

Josh Wiss, Sedona National Poetry Slam Team, Sedona Poetry Slam, Studio Live

nodalone performs in the first round of the Sedona Poetry Slam, 12-3-2011

nodalone performs in the first round of the Sedona Poetry Slam on Dec. 3, 2011

Photo by Tara Graeber

Shaun Srivastava, aka nodalone, was a member
of the 2011 Flagslam National Poetry Slam Team.

Shaun Srivastava, aka nodalone, is a member of the 2011 Flagslam National Poetry Slam Team.

Originally from East Lansing, Michigan, nodalone moved to Flagstaff in 2008 to attend Northern Arizona University.

He will complete degrees in both exercise science and psychology in 2012, with plans to pursue a master’s degree in psychology.

While quietly writing poetry for many years, nodalone has only recently begun performing his spoken word at slams and various events throughout Arizona.

Preferring to use his platform to address current political, cultural, and social issues, the poet gives a performance that captures the power of the issue in a personal and passionate style.

The Klute performs in the first round of the Sedona Poetry Slam, 12-3-2011

The Klute performs in the first round of the Sedona Poetry Slam on Dec. 3, 2011

The Klute, aka Bernard Schober, competed at the National Poetry Slam six times, for the Mesa Slam Team in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006, and the Phoenix Slam Slam Team in 2008 and 2009. He has led two of those teams to the NPS semi-final stage, ranking him among the best of the best nationwide. He was also the Mesa Grand Slam champion in 2005 and 2010.

Photo by Jessica Mason-Paull

Standing more than 6 feet tall and always bedecked in
a black trench coat, the Klute is hard to miss. When
poetry escapes his lips at full blast, he’s hard not to hear.

In an era when most artists and poets shy away from confronting politics, the Klute stands apart.

He has earned a reputation for in-your-face political commentary and over-the-top humor targeting Neo-Conservative politicians, crass laissez-faire commercialism and Goth subculture.

Originally from south Florida, The Klute writes almost exclusively in free verse, making his poetry conversational and relevant to even those who see poetry as something to avoid.

Standing more than 6 feet tall and always bedecked in a black trench coat, the Klute is hard to miss. When poetry escapes his lips at full blast, he’s hard not to hear.

The Klute has released three poetry chapbooks, "Escape Velocity," "Look at What America Has Done to Me" and "My American Journey," which prompted a cease and desist order from the attorneys of former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

“Despite the heat, [The Klute] wears a black trench coat almost everywhere he goes and if the setting permits, he’ll blast through enough slanderous commentary to make Andrew Dice Clay blush,” according to Phoenix 944 Magazine. “Today, his addiction for getting in front of the microphone and spitting out everything from a Dick Cheney haiku to a long-winded prose on race car driving to the late Hunter S. Thompson is as strong as his love for vodka and absinthe. If anyone’s seen ‘The Klute’ in action, they’d know it. If they haven’t, they must.”

Mikel Weisser performs in the first round of the Sedona Poetry Slam, 12-3-2011

Mikel Weisser performs in the first round of the Sedona Poetry Slam on Dec. 3, 2011

Spencer Troth performs in the first round of the Sedona Poetry Slam, 12-3-2011

Spencer Troth performs in the first round of the Sedona Poetry Slam on Dec. 3, 2011

Christopher "You Phonik" Harbster performs in the first round of the Sedona Poetry Slam, 12-3-2011

Photo by Saar Ingelbert

Christopher "You Phonik" Harbster

Christopher "You Phonik" Harbster performs in the first round of the Sedona Poetry Slam on Dec. 3, 2011

Jack Egan performs in the first round of the Sedona Poetry Slam, 12-3-2011

Jack Egan performs in the first round of the Sedona Poetry Slam on Dec. 3, 2011

Buy your tickets now for the Sedona Poetry Slam on Jan. 7

Sedona’s Studio Live hosts a poetry slam Saturday, Jan. 7, starting at 7:30 p.m. featuring Flagstaff Slammaster Ryan Brown.

Click here to buy your tickets now

All poets are welcome to compete for the $75 grand prize.

The slam will the first of the 2011-12 season, expected to be more moving, more energetic and more intense because this year, poets will be competing for a slot in Sedona’s first National Poetry Slam Team.

After four years of collaborating with the Flagstaff and Phoenix metro area poetry slam scenes, the Sedona scene has developed the reputation and strength to muster its own team to send to the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C., in August. The eventual four-poet team 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.

Ryan Brown

Flagstaff poet Ryan Brown has attended three National Poetry Slam
competitions in 2008, 2009 and 2010 as a member of the FlagSlam team,
getting as far as the semi-finals round in 2009.

Ryan Brown is a poet's poet in every sense of the word. The mountain town of Flagstaff, is known for a poetry slam scene where poets come together as a community, and  Brown has been at the center of the growth as the FlagSlam Poetry Slam's slammaster since 2008.

A slammaster is the administrative representative of a poetry slam scene and its de facto leader.

Brown has attended three National Poetry Slam competitions as a member of the FlagSlam team, getting as far as the semi-finals round in 2009. At the helm of Flagstaff's slam scene, Brown has brought in featured poets such as Andrea Gibson and Gypsee Yo to help reinvigorate the poetry community in a town now bursting with poetic flavor. After a three-month hiatus spent farming in Hawai'i at the tail end of 2010, Brown has shifted the FlagSlam's location to Sundara Boutique and Gallery, which is quickly becoming one of Flagstaff's best venues for performance art.

An English major at Northern Arizona University, Brown has been writing and performing poetry for over four years, collaborating often with poets such as Frank O'Brien, John Cartier, and Sedona's Jessica Guadarrama and Christopher Fox Graham. He writes with the future in mind, his poems often revolving around the intimacy of human relationships.

Due to graduate from NAU in 2012, Brown also cultivates obsessions with baseball, skateboarding, and coffee, spending most of his time at school or at work, living the life of a pedestrian in a town where every destination is reachable on foot. Keys, wallet, cell phone, pen, and notepad: The essential tools for this particular poet.

To compete in the slam, poets need at least three original poems, each three minutes long or shorter. No props, costumes or musical accompaniment are permitted. All types of poetry are welcome.

Photo by Harley Deuce

The Dec. 3 slam will be hosted by Sedona poet Christopher Fox
Graham, who represented Northern Arizona on the Flagstaff
team at five National Poetry Slams between 2001 and 2010.

The Jan. 7 slam will be hosted by Sedona poet Christopher Fox Graham, who represented Northern Arizona on the Flagstaff team at five National Poetry Slams between 2001 and 2010.

Sedona National Poetry Slam Team

Competing poets earn points with each Sedona Poetry Slam performance between Dec. 3 and Saturday, May 5. Future slams will take place on Saturdays, Feb. 18, March 10, April 7 and May 5. Every poet earns 1 point for performing or hosting and 1/2 point for calibrating. First place earns 3 additional points, second place earns 2 and third place earns 1.

Based on points, the top 12 poets in May are eligible to compete for the four slots on the Sedona Poetry Slam Team, which will represent the community and Studio Live at the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C. All poets are eligible in the slamoff except those already confirmed members of or coaching another National Poetry Slam or College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational or Brave New Voices team. Poets can compete for multiple teams during a season and still be eligible to compete in the Sedona team.

What is Poetry Slam?

Founded in Chicago in 1984, 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.

Tickets are $7 in advance and $12 the day of the event, available at Golden Word Books and Music, 3150 W. SR 89A, and online at studiolivesedona.com. Click here to buy your tickets.

Studio Live is located at 215 Coffee Pot Drive, West Sedona.
For more information, call (928) 282-2688 or visit http://studiolivesedona.com.

Lauren Perry performs in the first round of the Sedona Poetry Slam, 12-3-2011

Photo courtesy of AvantNoir.com

Lauren Perry performs in the first round of the Sedona Poetry Slam on Dec. 3, 2011

Gary Every calibration poem at the Sedona Poetry Slam on Dec. 3, 2011

Gary Every performs a calibration poem at the Sedona Poetry Slam on Dec. 3, 2011,

Flagstaff Slammaster Ryan Brown features at the Sedona Poetry Slam on Jan. 7

Sedona’s Studio Live hosts a poetry slam Saturday, Jan. 7, starting at 7:30 p.m. featuring Flagstaff Slammaster Ryan Brown.

All poets are welcome to compete for the $75 grand prize.

The slam will the first of the 2011-12 season, expected to be more moving, more energetic and more intense because this year, poets will be competing for a slot in Sedona’s first National Poetry Slam Team.

After four years of collaborating with the Flagstaff and Phoenix metro area poetry slam scenes, the Sedona scene has developed the reputation and strength to muster its own team to send to the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C., in August. The eventual four-poet team 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.

Ryan Brown

Flagstaff poet Ryan Brown has attended three National Poetry Slam
competitions in 2008, 2009 and 2010 as a member of the FlagSlam team,
getting as far as the semi-finals round in 2009.

Ryan Brown is a poet's poet in every sense of the word. The mountain town of Flagstaff, is known for a poetry slam scene where poets come together as a community, and  Brown has been at the center of the growth as the FlagSlam Poetry Slam's slammaster since 2008.

A slammaster is the administrative representative of a poetry slam scene and its de facto leader.

Brown has attended three National Poetry Slam competitions as a member of the FlagSlam team, getting as far as the semi-finals round in 2009. At the helm of Flagstaff's slam scene, Brown has brought in featured poets such as Andrea Gibson and Gypsee Yo to help reinvigorate the poetry community in a town now bursting with poetic flavor. After a three-month hiatus spent farming in Hawai'i at the tail end of 2010, Brown has shifted the FlagSlam's location to Sundara Boutique and Gallery, which is quickly becoming one of Flagstaff's best venues for performance art.

An English major at Northern Arizona University, Brown has been writing and performing poetry for over four years, collaborating often with poets such as Frank O'Brien, John Cartier, and Sedona's Jessica Guadarrama and Christopher Fox Graham. He writes with the future in mind, his poems often revolving around the intimacy of human relationships.

Due to graduate from NAU in 2012, Brown also cultivates obsessions with baseball, skateboarding, and coffee, spending most of his time at school or at work, living the life of a pedestrian in a town where every destination is reachable on foot. Keys, wallet, cell phone, pen, and notepad: The essential tools for this particular poet.

To compete in the slam, poets need at least three original poems, each three minutes long or shorter. No props, costumes or musical accompaniment are permitted. All types of poetry are welcome.

Photo by Harley Deuce

The Dec. 3 slam will be hosted by Sedona poet Christopher Fox
Graham, who represented Northern Arizona on the Flagstaff
team at five National Poetry Slams between 2001 and 2010.

The Jan. 7 slam will be hosted by Sedona poet Christopher Fox Graham, who represented Northern Arizona on the Flagstaff team at five National Poetry Slams between 2001 and 2010.

Sedona National Poetry Slam Team

Competing poets earn points with each Sedona Poetry Slam performance between Dec. 3 and Saturday, May 5. Future slams will take place on Saturdays, Feb. 18, March 10, April 7 and May 5. Every poet earns 1 point for performing or hosting and 1/2 point for calibrating. First place earns 3 additional points, second place earns 2 and third place earns 1.

Based on points, the top 12 poets in May are eligible to compete for the four slots on the Sedona Poetry Slam Team, which will represent the community and Studio Live at the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C. All poets are eligible in the slamoff except those already confirmed members of or coaching another National Poetry Slam or College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational or Brave New Voices team. Poets can compete for multiple teams during a season and still be eligible to compete in the Sedona team.

What is Poetry Slam?

Founded in Chicago in 1984, 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.

Tickets are $7 in advance and $12 the day of the event, available at Golden Word Books and Music, 3150 W. SR 89A, and online at studiolivesedona.com.

Studio Live is located at 215 Coffee Pot Drive, West Sedona.
For more information, call (928) 282-2688 or visit http://studiolivesedona.com.

Ryan Brown, Aaron Johnson, Bill Campana and Sean Patrick Mulroy to feature in Sedona

With the first slam of the 2012 Sedona Poetry Slam season down, these are our upcoming feature poets

•  Saturday, Jan. 7: Ryan Brown, Flagstaff, AZ 
•  Saturday, Feb. 18: Aaron Johnson, Phoenix, AZ
•  Saturday, March 10: To be announced.
•  Saturday, April 7: Bill Campana, Phoenix, AZ. Also National Poetry Month
•  Saturday, May 5: Sean Patrick Mulroy, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Many thanks to Jahnilli Akbar, of Brooklyn, N.Y., who rocked the first slam on Saturday, Dec. 3.