Alex Copeland & Jensen McRae "Trumpets"

 

Alex Copeland and Jensen McRae, performing at the 2015 Get Lit Classic Slam in Los Angeles

Iain Kohn, Pathum Madigapola & Khamal Iwuanyanwu "Wearing Different Faces"

Iain Kohn, Pathum Madigapola & Khamal Iwuanyanwu, performing at the 2015 Get Lit Classic Slam in Los Angele

Seth Walker features at the final Sedona Poetry Slam of the 2022-23 season

The Sedona Poetry Slam has reached the final slam of the season before the summer break Saturday, May 13. Performance poets will bring high-energy, competitive spoken word to the Mary D. Fisher Theatre starting at 7:30 p.m.

Seth Walker

Between rounds, one of the best known performance poets in the country will feature on the stage.

Seth Walker is a poet, playwright, songwriter, and musician born in Baton Rouge, La., raised in Texas and now living in Phoenix. His upbringing in the southern United States is reflected in his work, which often explores themes of love, loss and the human experience. For five years, he toured nonstop across the United States and Canada, performing at poetry venues almost every night.

Walker's poetry is known for its raw emotion and its ability to capture the beauty and complexity of everyday life. His work often incorporates elements of nature, and he has been praised for his ability to use the natural world as a metaphor for human emotion and experience.

Overall, Walker's poetry is a testament to the power of language and its ability to evoke deep emotions and connect people to one another. His work is a reminder that even in the midst of pain and hardship, there is still beauty and meaning to be found in the world.

The Slam

If you have told your friends you were going to attend a poetry slam this year, but haven't yet, this is your last chance to see what you've been anticipating.

A poetry slam is like a series of high-energy, three-minute one-person plays, judged by the audience. 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.

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 and Flagstaff, competing against adult poets from Sedona and Cottonwood, college poets from Northern Arizona University and youth poets from Sedona Red Rock High School.

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.

BlackBerry Peach

Also expected to compete is B-Jam, aka Ben Gardea, who was chosen last month by Sedona's judges to represent all of Arizona against more than 40 other top poets at the BlackBerryPeach National Slam Poetry Competition held June 21 to June 26, in Des Moines, Iowa, sponsored by the National Federation of State Poetry Societies and the Iowa Poetry Association. He is the Arizona State Poetry Society's official state representative.

Mary D. Fisher Theatre is located at 2030 W. SR 89A, Suite A-3, in West Sedona. Tickets are $12. For tickets, call 282-1177 or visit SedonaFilmFestival.org.

The Sedona Poetry Slam will return for its 15th season the fall.

The prize money is funded in part by a donation from Verde Valley poetry supporters Jeanne and Jim Freeland.

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.

For more information, visit sedonafilmfestival.com or foxthepoet.blogspot.com.

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 Simmon's 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.

Amina Iro and Hannah Halpern, "The Way the World Sees Us"

Amina Iro and Hannah Halpern, from DC's Youth Slam Poetry Team, compete at the 2014 Common Ground Awards The Common Ground Awards are produced by Search for Common Ground, an international peacebuilding organization working to end violent conflict in 35 countries around the world,

Sierra DeMulder, "Today Means Amen"

Sierra DeMulder is an internationally-recognized poet, educator, and podcast host. She is a two-time National Poetry Slam champion, a five-time published author (The Bones Below, New Shoes on a Dead Horse, We Slept Here, Today Means Amen, and Ephemera forthcoming in June 2023), and the co-host of Just Break Up, a globally popular advice podcast that has been downloaded more than 4 million times. Sierra lives in upstate New York with her wife and daughter.

"A Finger, Two Dots Then Me," the short film of Derrick C. Brown's poem

Derrick C. Brown is a novelist, comedian, poet, and storyteller. He is the winner of the 2013 Texas Book of The Year award for Poetry. He is a former paratrooper for the 82nd Airborne. He is the owner and president of Write Bloody Publishing, which Forbes and Filter Magazine call “…one of the best independent poetry presses in the country.” He is the author of eight books of poetry and four children’s books. The New York Times calls his work “…a rekindling of faith in the weird, hilarious, shocking, beautiful power of words.” He lives in Los Angeles. Derick Brown kicks it at the NORAZ Poetry Grand Slam in April 2006

Solli Raphael, "We breathe in, we breathe out."

Solli Raphael from Coffs Harbour in New South Wales delivers an encore performance at the Australian Poetry Slam national final to a full house at the Sydney Opera House, becoming the competition's youngest winner in 2017

Remembering Danny Solis

Danny Solis was my first slam hero, a powerhouse of the Southwestern slam scenes. His poetry was awesome to behold. 

We bouted numerous times at Southwest Shootout, he sincerely complimented how I managed NPS bouts in Chicago and we slammed beers and spit poetry over his gloriously oversized bonfires in Albuquerque. Danny's group poems were legendary and he made ABQ the model for how to bring group poems to NPS. 

Slam poets nationally are sharing their stories of fights and fallouts, forgivenesses and friendships with Danny. He was tough and tough to love for many, stubborn and bold, instumental, influencial and unforgettable. If Danny was in the room, everyone knew it. 

At the National Poetry Slam in Seattle in 2001, I remember Danny Solis and Taylor Mali, two giants in slam and idols I had watched on DVDs before going to nationals, argue at the Slam Family meeting about a rule in the slam rulebook. There was a question whether a team had broken it or the spirit of the rule. Both were making good points in between other speakers. Then PSi President Mike Henry called on Bowerbird, who had his hand up for the longest time and was roughly between them along the back wall.

Bowerbird said, "I'm just happy to be here with all you poets." Danny and Taylor had the biggest laughs and it shattered the tension. I realized that even in disagreement, we slam poets argue because we want slam to be as fair as we can make it so everyone enjoys the stage.

One slammaster described to one of our rookies poets as half-Chicano, half-Klingon with his dreadlocks and bandana. He'd argue with you, slam with you and drink with you after.

We always had a good friendship. He always had a kind word in person or a sweet comment about my kids online. He enjoyed seeing me appear in ABQ or at NPS and I did him. Our slam scenes in Arizona and New Mexico have always been cultural and spiritual cousins; we were the same territory once after all. 

We modeled our budding Flagstaff Poetry Slam in 2001 on how he ran Albuquerque: full of support, respect and love for our poets, especially our newbies.

We are his echoes.

ROCHESTER — Danny Solis once wrote that “the body swims in the lake of the soul.”

Solis, a poet, artist, activist and father who helped marginalized and young artists find their voice died suddenly in his sleep Thursday [April 6].

Solis arrived in Rochester from Albuquerque, New Mexico, nearly 10 years ago to a snowstorm in May. He said in a 2016 interview it was the first time in his memory he didn’t go out for Cinco de Mayo.

Nonetheless, Solis remained in Rochester and shared his talent as a slam poet and his love of other creatives to encourage and amplify artists in his adopted community.

Solis was a champion slam poet, established an annual Day of the Dead celebration and received multiple awards for his contributions to the community including the 2020 Mayor’s Medal for artistic and cultural achievement.

His death while traveling to New York to speak and perform at a poetry event has shocked the local art community. However, artists who credit him with helping them find their voice, say his contributions will live on in the voices he helped amplify.

“Danny convened us into family, convened us into this rag-tag community of artists,” said Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara, an honored fiction author and writer who met Solis when she moved to Rochester about seven years ago.

“To watch him get youth to step into their own power was amazing,” Nfonoyim-Hara added. “He cultivated this safe, fertile ground particularly for marginalized youth.”

Nfonoyim-Hara took a writing workshop from Solis when she first moved to Rochester and immediately took to him, his writing and his advice, she said.

McKay Bram worked with Solis in curating events. His ability to perform poetry live paired with her art of improvised dance and artistic movement, she said.

“It was great to work with someone who had such faith in what I was doing because I don’t always have faith in what I’m doing,” Bram said.

Sometimes Solis’ words and music would inspire her movement which would in turn inspire him more.

“When we first talked, it felt like we’d known each other even though we’d just met,” Bram said.

That was a common reaction from people who met him, said Andrea Zoss, Solis’ ex-wife and mother of their son, Teagan.

“He was not afraid to talk to anyone,” Zoss said. “I can’t make my dad laugh, but Danny, this guy in a bandana dating his daughter, could make my dad laugh.

The two enjoyed spending time watching animals at the Albuquerque Zoo before they moved to Minnesota, she said.

It wasn’t in a salesman-like way, but an honest curiosity that drew Solis to other people, she added. Solis loved children and animals — especially dogs. It was a trait that took some getting used to.

“He had brilliant, nuanced thoughts about art, life and science but he would also point out, ‘Hey look at that doggo,’” she said. “Even if we were in deep conversation, if he saw a dog, he would interrupt and say, ‘Look, a dog.’”

Pointing out a dog would be about the only time Solis would appreciate being interrupted in a conversation, Zoss added.

That was just one side to a complex man, she added. Describing him is difficult, she said.

“It’s like showing you a grain of sand and saying this is a beach, you just have to imagine a lot more of these,” Zoss said.

A Go Fund Me has been set up to help with a memorial for Solis.

Khamal Iwuanyanwu, "Sepia"

Khamal Iwuanyanwu, performing at the 2015 Get Lit Classic Slam in Los Angeles, CA.

Button Poetry is committed to developing a coherent and effective system of production, distribution, promotion and fundraising for spoken word and performance poetry.

We seek to showcase the power and diversity of voices in our community. By encouraging and broadcasting the best and brightest performance poets of today, we hope to broaden poetry's audience, to expand its reach and develop a greater level of cultural appreciation for the art form.

Danny Sherrard performs in Flagstaff, 2007

Danny Sherrard wows the crowd at the Applesauce Teahouse in Flagstaff in November 2007

Born in Seattle, Washington on August 29, 1985, Sherrand he won the Individual National Poetry Slam competition in 2007, becoming the youngest competitor at that time to win such a title. In 2008 Sherrard won France's Poetry World Cup where he competed against national champions from 15 countries.

Sherrard was on the Seattle poetry slam teams in 2007 and 2008 and the 2009 HawaiiSlam team.

At the beginning of 2009 Danny Sherrard toured with the spoken word group The Spilljoy Ensemble composed of himself, Jon Sands, Shira Erlichman and Ken Arkind.

Sherrard's first book, "Cast Your Eyes like River Stones into the Exquisite Dark," was released in 2009 through Write Bloody Publishing.

Lydia Gates, "Changeling"

Lydia Gates represented the Flagstaff Poetry Slam as the Flagstaff Slam Champion at the All-Arizona Slam Championship in Maricopa. She also is the Slam Master for the Flagstaff Poetry Slam. Gates is a queer autistic performance poet and novelist who lives Flagstaff, Arizona with her wife Lucy and their three adorable feline monster children. She is the managing organizer of FlagSlam, a poetry slam in Northern Arizona that was established in 2000. Her poetry collections, "I Was an Empire" (2017), "She Dreams the Moon" (2018), and "Changeling" (2021) are available on Amazon. Gates also writes as Kirke Vincent.

"A Love Letter to Poets" by Jennifer Weston

Jennifer Weston performing "A Love Letter to Poets" at The Rebel Lounge in Phoenix, on Feb. 16, 2022.

Ghost Poetry Show is committed to creating a community of writers from the greater Phoenix area (and beyond) to share their work on stage. We take pride in having poets that have never performed their work in front of anyone, all the way up to poets that have competed at the national level. No matter gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or age anyone can take the stage and compete in the three round poetry slam.

Sedona Poetry Slam, in partnership with the Northern Arizona Book Festival, on Saturday, April 1

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, April 1, as an event co-hosted by the annual Northern Arizona Book Festival, happening simultaneously from Friday, March 30, through Sunday, April 2 in Flagstaff.

Performance poets will bring high-energy, competitive spoken word to Sedona's Mary D. Fisher Theatre starting at 7:30 p.m. The winner of the April 1 slam also wins Arizona State Poetry Society's slot for the 2023 BlackBerryPeach National Slam Poetry Competition, hosted by the National Federation of State Poetry Societies in cooperation with the Iowa Poetry Association.

This second annual national championship slam poetry competition will be held in Des Moines, Iowa June 21 through June 26, 2023

A poetry slam is like a series of high-energy, three-minute one-person plays, judged by the audience. 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.

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 and Flagstaff, competing against adult poets from Sedona and Cottonwood, college poets from Northern Arizona University and youth poets from Sedona Red Rock High School. 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.

Mary D. Fisher Theatre is located at 2030 W. SR 89A, Suite A-3, in West Sedona. Tickets are $12. For tickets, call 282-1177 or visit SedonaFilmFestival.org.

The final poetry slam of the season will be held Saturday, May 13.

The prize money is funded in part by a donation from Verde Valley poetry supporters Jeanne and Jim Freeland.

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. For more information, visit sedonafilmfestival.com or foxthepoet.blogspot.com.

Northern Arizona Book Festival

The Northern Arizona Book Festival returns with live and virtual programming for all ages, including readings from multiple local and regional authors, poetry slams, workshops and a day of interactive activities and live performances for all ages.

Among the events, spoken word aficionados can see some of the best poets in the state throughout the day on April 1. National Poetry Slam competitors, performance poetry organizers and spoken word artists
Lydia Gates of Flagstaff
Christopher Fox Graham of Sedona
Lauren Perry of Phoenix
MC Tristan Marshell of Phoenix
Cylie Naylor of Phoenix
will host a spoken word roundtable discussion and performance at the Flagstaff Public Library from to 2 to 3:30 p.m. The poets will then come down the hill to Sedona for the poetry slam at 7:30 p.m.

Established in 1997, the Northern Arizona Book Festival is a literary nonprofit based out of Flagstaff. It coordinates readings, panels,workshops, contests, and more that reflect the literary interests and cultural issues that define life on the Colorado Plateau and Northern Arizona. As part of its regular programming, the NOAZBF includes the Indigenous Writers' Symposium, Young Readers' Festival, and the Flagstaff Off-the-Page Lit Crawl. Throughout the year, the NOAZBF collaborates with and supports literary events including the Flagstaff Poetry Slam, Northern Arizona Playwriting Showcase, the Northern Arizona UniversityMFA Program, Cinder Skies Reading Series, Juniper House Reading Series, Off the Rails Poetry Series and numerous small, independent publishers in Northern Arizona.

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 Simmon's 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.

BlackBerryPeach

The BlackBerryPeach National Slam Poetry Competition will be held June 21 thought June 26, in Des Moines, Iowa. The National Federation of State Poetry Societies in cooperation with the Iowa Poetry Association is sponsoring the second annual national championship slam poetry competition. Competitors are expected from across the country and will be limited to 40 of the top spoken word poets.

Each of the 33 NFSPS member states will be eligible to enter their best poets in the competition. State poetry societies will select representatives, primarily via competitions held or via other NFSPS approved selection processes. The Sedona Poetry Slam was selected as Arizona's state competition. 

A number of entries will be available to recognized slam venues and long standing poetry organizations. The NFSPS advises these poetry entities to send independent competitors have won non-NFSPS sponsored slams in 2023. Long standing poetry venues and organizations will be invited to pay or have their registration confirmed for representatives beginning March 1.

Former BlackBerryPeach Poetry Prize Finalists are eligible to register immediately during the same period as State Poetry Societies. Individual poets can register starting April 1.

Competition Format: 

All poems in the competition will have a 3 minute time limit. The grace period for Prelims is 10 seconds. The grace period for Finals Stage is 20 seconds.

Prelims

There will be two venues hosting 2 bouts apiece the first two nights: an early bout from about 6pm to 8pm and a late bout from 8:30pm to 10:30pm. In other words, there will be a total of 4 bouts each of the first two nights, 8 prelim bouts total. The venues will likely be in the host hotel. Up to 10 poets will compete in each bout. There will be two rounds in each bout, with the order in the first round taking place by random draw and the order in the second round determined by first round finish (high score goes first in second round). There will be five (5) judges scoring each poem on a scale of 1 to 10, utilizing one decimal place to give further nuance to the scores. For example, one poem may score a 9 while a slightly better poem may score a 9.1 or 9.2. All five judges will give a score but for prelim purposes the highest score and the lowest score will be dropped. The remaining three scores will be added to give the poet a score for the round. The scores for each of the two rounds will be added together and the highest cumulative score shall be given a ranking of 1, the next highest a ranking of 2, and so on, with the lowest cumulative score awarded a ranking of 10. After 2 nights of prelims, the 12 highest ranked poets (lowest numbers) will advance to the Finals with the 13th highest poet serving as the sacrificial poet to begin finals rounds. Ties for final stage will be broken by comparing the cumulative scores of the poets in question over both days of prelims. If there is still a tie, the dropped judges scores over the two days will be added back in and the resulting new cumulative scores will be compared. If there is still a tie, there will be either an additional poet added to Finals, or a tie break slam held to determine who advances. Poems may not be repeated in any prelim round, including any tie break round.

Finals

Finals will be held on Saturday night in the host hotel. Finals will consist of three rounds. Scores are cumulative for the last two rounds only; the second round will begin with a clean slate. Order in the first round will be by random draw. Order in the second and third round will be determined based on the cumulative scores of the poets, from high score to low score. After the first round, the highest 8 scoring poets progress to the second round. After the second round the top 4 scoring poets advance to the final round. Scores are cumulative for the last two rounds. The highest cumulative scoring poets wins. Poems from prelims may be repeated in the Finals. In case of a tie, the poets may decide to be co-champions or they may do another unscored round judged by the panel.

Prizes

First place prize money will be $2000

Second place prize money will be $1000

Third place prize money will be $500

Fourth place prize money will be $250

Fifth place thru 12th place prize money will be $125

Sacrificial poet will receive $100

"Some Bullshit" by B Jam, aka Ben Gardea

B Jam, aka Ben Gardea, performing "Some Bullshit" at The Rebel Lounge in Phoenix, on March 9, 2022.

>Ghost Poetry Show is committed to creating a community of writers from the greater Phoenix area (and beyond) to share their work on stage. We take pride in having poets that have never performed their work in front of anyone, all the way up to poets that have competed at the national level. No matter gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or age anyone can take the stage and compete in the three round poetry slam.

"I Hate" by Tomi Simmons

Tomi Simmons performing "I Hate" at The Rebel Lounge in Phoenix, on Feb 7, 2022.

Ghost Poetry Show is committed to creating a community of writers from the greater Phoenix area (and beyond) to share their work on stage. We take pride in having poets that have never performed their work in front of anyone, all the way up to poets that have competed at the national level. No matter gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or age anyone can take the stage and compete in the three round poetry slam.

"Sunflower" by Stevie Adams

Stevie Adams performing "Sunflower" at The Rebel Lounge in Phoenix, on March 9, 2022.

Ghost Poetry Show is committed to creating a community of writers from the greater Phoenix area (and beyond) to share their work on stage. We take pride in having poets that have never performed their work in front of anyone, all the way up to poets that have competed at the national level. No matter gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or age anyone can take the stage and compete in the three round poetry slam.

I'm performing at the I ❤ Pluto Festival on Feb. 18, 93 years after Pluto was discovered from Flagstaff's Lowell Observator

I'm honored that Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff has asked me to perform the poems "To the Planet Formerly Known as Pluto" and "Clyde Tombaugh" at the 2023 I ❤ Pluto Festival at the Orpheum Theater on Feb. 18.

I'll be sharing the stage with Lowell Observatory Historian Kevin Schindler, who will relive Clyde Tombaugh’s day of discovering Pluto, 93 years ago.

The keynote is Astronaut Nicole Stott, who flew with the space shuttle Discovery on missions STS-128 and STS-133, space shuttle Atlantis on STS-129 and twice to the Internation Space Station on Expedition 20 and Expedition 21. Stott will talk about her career and wrote a book "Back to Earth: What Life in Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet – And Our Mission to Protect It."

She creatively combines the awe and wonder of her spaceflight experience with her artwork to inspire everyone’s appreciation of our role as crewmates here on Spaceship Earth.

She is a veteran NASA Astronaut with two spaceflights and 104 days as a crewmember on both the International Space Station (ISS) and the Space Shuttle. Personal highlights of her time in space include performing a spacewalk (10th woman to do so), flying the robotic arm to capture the first free-flying HTV, painting a watercolor (now on display at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum), working with her international crew on science that is all about improving life on Earth, and of course the life changing view of our home planet. She is also a NASA Aquanaut. In preparation for spaceflight she was a crew member on an 18-day saturation dive mission at the Aquarius undersea laboratory.

Nicole believes that the international model of peaceful and successful cooperation we have experienced in the extreme environments of space and sea holds the key to the same kind of peaceful and successful cooperation for all of humanity here on Earth.

On her post-NASA mission, Nicole is a co-founder of the Space for Art Foundation — uniting a planetary community of children through the awe and wonder of space exploration and the healing power of art.

"Dear Pluto"

By Christopher Fox Graham

April 20, 2012

To the planet formerly known as Pluto,

Though we will never meet

I think I know you

I am a speck of organic matter

standing on the surface of your sister

my people and I

are converted from ice and dust

electrified into existence

by the mere circumstances

of your sister Earth and nephew Moon

dancing with tide pools

when they were still in their infancy

mere molecules slammed together

and held onto each other in strings

which took billions of years

to mistake themselves in their reproduction

to form this all-too-young boy

sending you this letter

forgive my impetuousness, dear Pluto

but compared to you,

I only have a second

before this organic matter caves in on itself

becomes dust and water to form something new

all I have is my voice

and I beg you to listen

because although we will never meet

I think I know you

I’m not sure if you will receive this letter

In the time it takes to reach you,

I could bounce between here and the sun 16 times

measured on your timescale

my country is not even a year old yet

You’re farther away from the sun

than any of your siblings

and while the rest of those planets circulate in lockstep

in the same elliptical orbit

yours is full of highs and lows

as you rise above the plane

and drop beneath it

because you’re either bipolar

of just refuse to conform

be glad you’ve been able to do it so long

here, those who are different

either by choice or accident

wind up getting bullied, brutalized or crucified

and while I could explain what those words mean

let’s hope that by the time one of us stands on your surface

we’ve forgotten what they mean, too

At Lowell Observatory in the hills overlooking Flagstaff

astronomer Clyde Tombaugh picked you out from the black

he watched you wander at the edge of the solar system

and noted how you keep your distance

from everyone else like you

I know what it feels like to be alone, too

there are times when people here

believe the sun is so far away they don’t feel warm anymore

and they stare out into the black

and wonder what’s like to just let go

I’m glad you’ve stayed with us, dear Pluto

you show us that even when the universe is terrifying cold

there’s some light to hold on to

some reason to keep moving

and even out there you and your moon Charon

prove you can find love anywhere

since we began to worship stars

we have followed your siblings

the rocky worlds, the gas giants

to us, if they were bigger than an asteroid or moon

and weren’t furnaces like the sun,

they were a planet

deserving the name of a god

an astrological house

and a certain amount of inexplicable reverence

you were nine children of a yellow sun

on the rural edge of the galaxy

but now because your size doesn’t fit new rules

the International Astronomical Union on my world

has decided you are no longer a planet

you don’t meet the qualifications anymore

you no longer govern an astrological house

they took you away from you were to us

because some ink on paper said you didn’t matter anymore

they put you a box labeled “dwarf planets” or “Plutoids”

only to be ostracized from your brothers and sisters

by faceless strangers at the stroke of pen

here, we label people too,

segregate them into boxes

based on the color of their skins

or which one of those gods they called out to while dying

or whether they love someone with the same or different parts

or in what way they their throats make noises to communicate

or even by where they were born

as if point of origin means anything

on a planet spinning 1,600 kilometers per second,

where specks like me have wandered to every part of it

tell me, dear Pluto

can you see the borders of our nations from out there?

it seems that’s all we can see down here sometimes

can you tell us apart?

if we one day reach you

dig our fingers into your dirt

would you care about what language we used

to tell each other 

how beautiful the moment was?

Dear Pluto,

I know what it feels like to be small

I’m still a little boy, too

playing grown-up games

wondering what happens

when there’s nothing left to orbit anymore

Though we will never meet

you don’t have to answer this letter if it ever reaches you

but I think you know me,

I am a tiny voice on your sister Earth

and you are Pluto, the ninth planet of the sun

"Clyde Tombaugh"

A companion poem to "Dear Pluto"

January 27, 2016

The Kansas boy stares into the sky

counting stars with his fingers

pretending he can touch each one

playing piano keys with constellations

the spheres make music most us will never hear

but he orchestrates symphonies

oboes in Orion

clarinets in Cancer

violins in Virgo

percussion rumbling off supernova timpanies

snare drums on the skin of black holes

while spinning quasars keep perfect rhythm

the boy, now a teen measures stars with his telescopes

built from leftover parts

shaping steel and mirrors

to bend the light down into his hands

he wants to hold the weight of stardust 

in his palm

the boy, now a man,

works on Mars Hill

the evening shift at Lowell Observatory

scouring the images for differences

one single speck out of place

but these were skies he could paint from memory

on a night like tonight

a cold February

the man became a boy again

when he found a spot 

hide-and-seeking with him

telling him the stars and planets were looking back at us

an undiscovered instrument 

making music he was the first to hear

a ninth symphony he held for a moment

heard alone, echoing in solitary discovery

before he shared it with the world

76 years later,

nine years after his death

mankind's ship in a bottle

broke the bonds of earth to reach out

and find New Horizons

in the cold dark of space

in a case no bigger than heart of a boy

now 2.97 billion miles from Kansas

from Mars Hill

from our entire history

are the ashes of the man who first heard the music

after six years alone in the dark

he traveled farther than anyone in history

to visit a world unseen by human eyes

and last July, the man became a boy again

matching his imagination to the globe in front of him

visiting an undiscovered country held for a moment

a solitary discovery

before he shared it with the world

at that distance, signals and light take 4 and half hours to reach home

in those hours, 

Clyde Tombaugh,

you had a world captivated in the silence

waiting 4 billion years

for someone to visit

what did you talk about?

did she ask 

what the sun feels like 

when so much closer?

how it warms your skin in summer?

did she tell you her story?

what it’s like to be so far away, alone in night?

how her years pass in centuries?

did you tell her about us?

about Kansas

about Mars Hill

about what it feels like to hold stardust in your palm?

did you tell her there were 7 billion boys and girls back home

waiting to see her for the first time?

was she eager to meet you since she first saw you

playing hide and seek with your telescopes

or counting stars with your fingers

or did she just sing a song?

one half of an unfinished duet

a harmony you already knew

something slow and beautiful

a secret 

only two lovers 

can understand

Astronaut Nicole Stott, from right; Alden Tombaugh, son of Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh; Alden's wife Cherylee Tombaugh; poet Christopher Fox Graham; Athena Zelda Nebula Skye Sylvia Diana Fox Graham; and Kevin Schindler, historian of Lowell Observatory, who organized the Night of Discovery event at the Orpheum Theater in Flagstaff.
I was honored to perform poems about Pluto and Clyde Tombaugh. Alden was very complimentary and asked for copies (which I had pre-printed and shared with Kevin, Alden and Nicole).

Athena had a great time and ate loads of food. Lowell's senior astronomer also announced a 2,430-km diameter asteroid between Jupiter and Mars is now officially called (28724) Stott.

"Fun For The Whole Family" by The Klute, aka Bernard Schober

The Klute, aka Bernard Schober [Feb. 8, 1973-July 18, 2022], performing "Fun For The Whole Family" at The Rebel Lounge in Phoenix, on March 23, 2022.

Klute was beloved in Arizona and the national slam community 

Ghost Poetry Show is committed to creating a community of writers from the greater Phoenix area (and beyond) to share their work on stage. We take pride in having poets that have never performed their work in front of anyone, all the way up to poets that have competed at the national level. No matter gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or age anyone can take the stage and compete in the three round poetry slam.

"Nice Guys" by Stacy Eden

Stacy Eden performing "Nice Guys" at The Rebel Lounge in Phoenix, on March 9, 2022.

Ghost Poetry Show is committed to creating a community of writers from the greater Phoenix area (and beyond) to share their work on stage. We take pride in having poets that have never performed their work in front of anyone, all the way up to poets that have competed at the national level. No matter gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or age anyone can take the stage and compete in the three round poetry slam.

"Hell" by Thomas Cooper

Thomas Cooper performing "Hell" at The Rebel Lounge in Phoenix, on March 9, 2022.

Ghost Poetry Show is committed to creating a community of writers from the greater Phoenix area (and beyond) to share their work on stage. We take pride in having poets that have never performed their work in front of anyone, all the way up to poets that have competed at the national level. No matter gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or age anyone can take the stage and compete in the three round poetry slam.