"Enraptured" by Randy Warren

Enraptured
By Randy Warren

It seems for most my life,
we’ve been waiting for the day.
The day everything changes,
and all the bad things go away.

We had Harmonic Convergence.
Millennium came and went.
We watched for love’s emergence,
but those dates, made not a dent.

And now with 2012 a-looming,
all of us are now assuming
that we soon will go a-zooming
to our final fate.

But I for one am truly hoping
that we all can stop our moping
and begin our fruitful groping
for another date:

The Rapture.

For those of you who aren’t aware,
the Rapture is that last day where
the dead will rise up from their graves
and all good Christians will be saved!

Their bodies will evaporate,
their mortals souls will elevate.
The trumpets sound,
and all around ... there’ll be no Christians to be found.

And what becomes of all the rest?
Those poor souls who just “did their best”,
and spent their Sundays sleeping in,
and actually enjoyed their sin?

Well, first we’ll form the cleaning crews
collecting jewelry, clothes and shoes,
and other things, too much to mention,
the Christians dropped in their ascension.

And then there’ll be a global pause,
a massive dropping of the jaws,
as all us sinners comprehend
that what for some has been the end
for us is only the beginning
of a Golden Age of Sinning!

A cheer will sound around the Earth,
to herald humankind’s rebirth!

We’ll walk buck-naked down the street!
Have intercourse with those we meet!
We’ll do hard drugs in public spaces,
sloppy grins upon our faces!

We’ll never go to work again!
If China wants to win, it can!
Economy, esch-monomy,
we’ll now have our autonomy!

A new world springs up overnight
where we’ll just have no need to fight.
We’ll finally have our world peace
once everybody gets a piece!

A fun and happy global nation
with no need for masturbation.
Though that action will continue,
but for show, in public venues!

Folks will feel good all the time!
They’ll give up on the social climb.
With no one left to judge our actions,
life will be pure satisfaction!

Money will just be green paper.
Credit cards become pan scrapers.

Ecstasy will be the norm,
As we expand to our true form!

... and yes, one day, far down the line
there will from heaven come a chime
as Christ himself descends upon us
to lay his massive trip upon us.

Hopefully we’ll make him see
that all throughout eternity
all of God’s creatures, great and small
just want to smile, and have a ball!

And even though we only prayed
on accidents while getting laid,
or trying to help our sports team win,
perhaps He’ll see that all our sin
was just us trying to be God too,
and act like God appeared to do

by being all things, dark and light.
Keeping the peace...helping the fight.
Robbing one man to pay another.
Hating Mom...and loving Mother.

We’ll ask Christ, can we take the blame,
when his own Dad made up the game?
And set up rules in contradiction
to our human predilections?

How could we expect to win
when God made us to lust for sin?

Perhaps then Christ will see our side
and come to Earth where He’ll reside
and live amongst us as an equal
and help us write the bible’s sequel!

“The Bible Two – The Fun Begins!!!”
Where it’s all good, and no one sins,

and everything is all okay,
and everybody gets their way,
and every day is Saturday.
and everybody, straight or gay

just laughs and sings and plays all day,
and never once
bothers to pray.

Because it’s all just really good,
and everyone feels like they should
and Paradise is here and now
and no one ever wonders how.

So yes, I’m waiting for the day
when Rapture takes them all away.
Until then, I’ll just watch the sky
and listen for the trumpet’s cry

And hope that when that day does dawn,
and we can finally get it on,
that one commandment we employ:
“Thou shalt always, be in Joy”

Copyright 2010 © Randy Warren

According to his bio, Randy Warren is an ascended master of the material illusion. He has come to Earth to assist in smoothing the transition into the new age. While here, he enjoys many forms of expression, including poetry. Feel free to contact him and offer him money for his myriad talents.

"T.S. Eliot's Lost Hip Hop Poem" by Jeremy Richards

T.S. Eliot's Lost Hip Hop Poem
By Jeremy Richards

Let us roll then, you and I,
the evening stretched out against the sky
like a punk ass I laid out with my phat rhymes.

The eternal footman is no one to fuck with.
Alas, he shall bring the ruckus.

You think that you can step
to this, and Lo, I hear your steps like Lazarus
echoing through my soul.

Bring the bass.

Straight out of Missouri,
Harvard University in your face.
I've got ladies in waiting all over
the place, singing each to each;
do I dare eat a peach?

You are damn right I’ll each a peach.
Who shall stop me, with my Prufrock hip hop
non-stop, clippity clop, clippity clop
I hear the horses carrying the wassailers,
I'm ready to impale their ears with my rhymes
rolling off of my parched tongue
the way trousers roll off my ankles.

I get it done better than John Donne.
Pound for pound, like Ezra Pound,
no other literati around can confound
the post-Victorian quickness I bring
to the microphone, though I shall die alone.

But not before I rock the house.
Watch me douse you in my eternal flames
of a freaky-ass style, my crew has the flow
with European tangent, Kto vahsh otsiets saychoss--
the Russian for Who's your daddy now.

For I will tell you.
That I have scuttled across the floors of ancient clubs,
and yea, knowing that you may never return,
I will tell you this:
That I have been over to a friend's house
for dinner, and lo, the food was not any good.

The macaroni, soggy. The peas, mushy.
And the chicken tasted of wood,
like the wooden coffin I've created for myself;
if this is going to be that kind of party
I will stuff my desire in the mashed potatoes.
But I tell no lie, I will show you fear
in a handful of hip hop,

making your body rock, your soul shudder,
your utter disbelief when the old school,
the ancient school, returns
from dusty book covers and scorned lovers
to reign again on the open poetry mic.
Bring the pathos! Bring the pathos!
You wannabe MCs just can't stop...

...'till human voices wake us,
and we back the fuck up

into eternity.

Copyright © Jeremy Richards

Jeremy Richards is a writer, actor, and radio host living in Seattle. His work appears widely, including in “The Spoken Word Revolution Redux,” The Poetry Foundation, McSweeney's, The Morning News, Rattle, and on National Public Radio's “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.”

In tours and competitions, Richards was a two-time member of Seattle's National Poetry Slam team, a three-time winner of the Bumbershoot Poetry Slam and was invited to perform on HBO's Def Poetry.

His new collection, “An Inaccurate Theory of Everything,” was recently released from Destructible Heart Press.

Jeremy Richards' website
Jeremy Richards' Livejounral

"Unsolicited Advice to Adolescent Girls with Crooked Teeth and Pink Hair" by Jeanann Verlee

Unsolicited Advice to Adolescent Girls with Crooked Teeth and Pink Hair
By Jeanann Verlee

When your mother hits you, do not strike back.
When the boys call asking your cup size, say A, hang up.
When he says you gave him blue balls, say you’re welcome.
When a girl with thick black curls who smells like bubble gum stops you in a stairwell to ask if you’re a boy, explain that you keep your hair short so she won’t have anything to grab when you head-butt her.
Then head-butt her.
When a guidance counselor teases you for handed-down jeans, do not turn red.
When you have sex for the second time and there is no condom, do not convince yourself that screwing between layers of underwear will soak up the semen.
When your geometry teacher posts a banner reading: “Learn math or go home and learn how to be a Momma,” do not take your first feminist stand by leaving the classroom.
When the boy you have a crush on is sent to detention, go home.
When your mother hits you, do not strike back.
When the boy with the blue mohawk swallows your heart and opens his wrists, hide the knives, bleach the bathtub, pour out the vodka. Every time.
When the skinhead girls jump you in a bathroom stall, swing, curse, kick, do not turn red.
When a boy you think you love delivers the first black eye, use a screw driver, a beer bottle, your two good hands.
When your father locks the door, break the window.
When a college professor writes you poetry and whispers about your tight little ass, do not take it as a compliment, do not wait, call the Dean, call his wife.
When a boy with good manners and a thirst for Budweiser proposes, say no.
When your mother hits you, do not strike back.
When the boys tell you how good you smell, do not doubt them, do not turn red.
When your brother tells you he is gay, pretend you already know.
When the girl on the subway curses you because your T-shirt reads: “I fucked your boyfriend,” assure her that it is not true.
When your dog pees the rug, kiss her, apologize for being late.
When he refuses to stay the night because you live in Jersey City, do not move.
When he refuses to stay the night because you live in Harlem, do not move.
When he refuses to stay the night because your air conditioner is broken, leave him.
When he refuses to keep a toothbrush at your apartment, leave him.
When you find the toothbrush you keep at his apartment hidden in the closet, leave him.
Do not regret this.
Do not turn red.
When your mother hits you, do not strike back.

Copyright © Jeanann Verlee

I met Jeanann Verlee for the first time this year at the 2010 National Poetry Slam in St. Paul, Minn. I didn't speak with her much, but I saw her before this poem with the NYC-louderARTS Team in a black box theatre during the second bout on the first night. Most awesome poem.

Jeanann Verlee is an author, performance poet, editor, activist, and former punk rocker who collects tattoos and winks at boys. Her work has been published and is forthcoming in a variety of journals, including The New York Quarterly, FRiGG, PANK, decomP, Danse Macabre, and The Legendary, among others. Her poems have also been included in various anthologies such as “Not A Muse: The Inner Lives of Women” and “His Rib: Poems Stories and Essays by Her.” Verlee’s first full-length book of poems, Racing Hummingbirds (Write Bloody Publishing, 2010), earned the Independent Publisher Book Award Silver Medal in Poetry.

She has represented New York City three times at the National Poetry Slam under two of the most highly-regarded poetry performance series in the nation: Urbana Poetry Slam and The louderARTS Project. Verlee was the highest-scoring individual poet at the 2008 National Poetry Slam Finals, was the 2009 NYC-Urbana iWPS Champion, and represented NYC-louderARTS at the 2010 Women of the World Poetry Slam. She co-curates the Urbana Poetry Slam reading series at the Bowery Poetry Club and serves as writing and performance coach for this three-time NPS Championship venue. She has performed and facilitated workshops at schools, theatres, bookstores, dive bars and poetry venues across North America.

Educated in theatre performance and creative writing, Verlee was co-author and performing member of national touring company, The Vortex: Conflict, Power, and Choice!, has been commissioned by universities for a number of guerrilla theatre events spotlighting domestic violence under MSCD’s Theatre for Social Change, and was a charter member of New York City’s annual Spoken Word Almanac Project. A fan of letter-writing campaigns and constructing protest signs, Verlee is also an ardent animal rights and humanitarian activist who has organized and participated in numerous social actions.

Her first poem was drafted in pencil on the inside cover of a collection of Grimm’s Fairy Tales at the age of 7. She won her first writing contest for a short story at the age of 11 and in the same year became the youngest recipient of Parade Magazine’s Young American Ambassadors prize for an essay contest. Hoping to echo S.E. Hinton’s young author milestone, Verlee was determined to write a novel by the age of 16. With three drafts completed by the autumn of her 15th year, she almost reached her goal. Instead, however, found herself blindsided by the insurmountable distraction of tattooed boys, the perpetual chore of dying her mohawk pink, and a life-altering diagnosis of bipolar disorder. A hardcopy of the unfinished manuscript remains in a fireproof safe in her studio apartment.

She lives in New York City with her best pal (a rescue pup named Callisto) and a pair of origami lovebirds. She believes in you.

"Immigrants" an SB 1070 satire poem by Randy Warren

"Immgrants"
By Randy Warren
performed at the Sedona Poetry Slam in June

The other day, right here in Arizona,
I made a point for America.

I knocked on the door of the Gonzalez family.
(I had to wait until 6, because they all work)
When the door opened, I unfurled my proclamation.

It spoke of God, and Country, and Destiny,
and a bunch of other shit that sounds good,
and feels good to say.

I indicated to the Gonzalezes
the fresh American flag
I had just planted in their lawn.

A brand-new flag,
with 53 bright and shining stars.

Star 51 stood for Puerto Rico, of course.
Star 52, for the pending statehood of Halliburtistan.
And star 53, I explained to the Gonzalezes,
represented the very land on which we stood.
The recently annexed, half-acre state
of South Arizona.

Well, they immediately became angry,
(as their kind are prone to do),
but I was prepared.

I explained to them,
as patiently as I could,
that God works in ways mysterious to Man,
even to the white man. It’s true.

I explained how God’s plan
is invisible to us,
and like all things invisible
it can only be seen when it touches things,
moves things.

Like how Wonder Woman’s jet
can only be detected
when you see the birds dodge out of the way.

Well, the Gonzalezes were unfamiliar with Wonder Woman,
but I had made my point:

Because I was there to take their land,
it must mean that God sent me.
Otherwise...how did I get there?

I stumped’em with that one.

Right on cue the van pulled up
to take them all home to Mexico
where they could be with their families.

Well for some reason that set them off.
The father starts yelling,
saying we’d better get off his property.

His property.

It’s that sense of entitlement,
that really gets to me.

I explained to him,
in the most simple terms I could,
that this was not his property,
and that he and his family were squatting on government land.

He began to get violent,
(another weakness of his people),
and we were forced to Tase him.

This upset his wife and children,
who became agitated,
and we were forced to tase them.

They were zip-tied together and loaded onto the truck.

And yes it was messy,
and I always hope things will go so much smoother.

But you just can’t teach,
those who refuse to learn.

That’s why God invented the Taser.

I must say,
it boggles the mind,
that these people are so reluctant to go back home.

I mean, if Mexico is really so bad,
how come so many people vacation there?

I pray on that, I do,
and even God seems to have no answer.

Even God, has no answer.

As for the Gonzalezes, they are fine.

Though they were jailed for trespassing and resisting arrest,
we got them out on a work-release program.

And God, in his infinite love and wisdom,
has made the sweetest lemonade,
from this sour mess.

The Gonzalez family,
you will be happy to hear,
is now the official landscaping team,
of the great state,
of South Arizona.

As federal prisoners they get paid a few dollars each day,
which from a public-funds standpoint is recession-friendly.

And they get to feel the pride of a hard day’s work,
a pride that I hope they pass on to their children.

So once again, God’s will is manifest
with a minimum of violence.
Praise the Lord.

You know,
some nights I sit out on my patio,
and I watch the sun set over this great nation.

I think of how our european ancestors struggled
to leave their homelands,
and come to this new frontier,
in hopes of finding joy, and freedom, and prosperity.

How they left everything behind
with nothing but a dream.
The American Dream.

And when I think,

of all our people sacrificed
to come to this great land,
well, it just turns my stomach,
to think that we could lose it all
to some damned immigrants.

Thank you,
and praise God.

Copyright 2010 © Randy Warren

According to his bio, Randy Warren is an ascended master of the material illusion. He has come to Earth to assist in smoothing the transition into the new age. While here, he enjoys many forms of expression, including poetry. Feel free to contact him and offer him money for his myriad talents.

"A Simple Poem" by Emanuel Xavier

A Simple Poem
By Emanuel Xavier
from "Bullets & Butterflies: queer spoken word poetry"

I want you to continue writing
because I will not always be around

With lips that will never touch mine
read your poems out loud
so that the words are left engraved on the wall
make me feel your voice rush through me
like a breeze from Oyá

I want to hear about Puerto Rico
about sisters with names like La Bruja
about educating youth about AIDS
I want to hear about life in the Boogie Down Bronx
surviving on the Down Low
don't leave out stories about men
you have loved and still love

I want you to write poems that you will never read
press hard on the paper so that the ink runs deep
hold the pen tight so that you control the details
prove to me that I inspire you
reveal yourself between the lines
hear my praise with each flicker of the candle
Write a poem for me

Do not choose a fresh page from a brand new journal
use paper that has been crumbled and tossed
thrown out by a spineless father only to be recycled
Save a tree for future poets to write under

Rewrite me into someone more attractive
stronger than life has made me
make me tough and sexy, aggressive like a tiger
stain the pages with cum, lube, the arousal you find
at the sight of naked boys, draw me sketches
bring the words to life with images
make me a man with this poem

Read it in front of the audience
with hidden messages just for me
be real and tell me why
I am only worth a haiku

Your epics are meant for others
I already know,
use red ink to match the blood from these wounds
with brutal honesty
let me die with your last sentence

Then resurrect me with rhyme
read from your gut
let me hear the wisdom of mi abuelo in your voice
let me find my father in you
remind me of all the men that left me broken promises

In your eyes I want to see a poem
when you bring me to tears
with painful memories
buried beneath your thick skin

Between teeth gapped like divas,
I want to hear quotes from books
I never read

Make me believe you want to be a poet

Make my heart break,
tell me why you could never love me
with just a few words
leave me lost and insecure
feel the admiration of others
bask in their desire
forget that I am there

Pound your fists in the air with passion
go off about politics, poverty, machismo and hate
scream poems that don't give a fuck
about traditions, slamming or scores
save your whispers for those who make love to you

Write a poem for me that makes me want to puff a joint

A poem that loses control
unafraid to be vulnerable
for once just make me believe
it is all worth letting go
when the smoke clears
I will understand
the reason
I am just another face
in the crowd

I want you to continue writing
because I will not always be around

Copyright © Emanuel Xavier

Emanuel Xavier is an American poet, spoken word artist, author, editor, literary events curator, and actor born and raised in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn, N.Y. He is a significant voice to emerge from the Nuyorican poetry movement using political, sexual and religious themes throughout his work. His background is Puerto Rican and Ecuadorian.

He self-published his debut poetry collection, Pier Queen, in the fall of 1997 through his own independent publishing house, Pier Queen Productions.

Signature poems such as "Bushwick Bohemia," "Deliverance," "Every Latino," "Nueva York" and "Tradiciones" helped him gain notoriety in New York City's underground arts scene.

In 1998, with the support of Willi Ninja and spoken word poetry icon Bob Holman, Xavier founded the House of Xavier and created the annual Glam Slam competition. Held once a year, first at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and then at Bowery Poetry Club, the poetry slam competition featured four open categories such as Best Erotic Poem in Sexy Underwear or Lingerie.

Winners of each category received a trophy and went on to compete for the Grand Prize title of Glam Slam Champion. The event aspired to bring together poetry slams and ball culture in a unique and vibrant contribution to the downtown arts scene.

In 2008, after a decade of staging the annual House of Xavier's Glam Slam spoken word poetry competition in NYC, he passed the torch over to Basque/Spanish performance poet, Ernesto Sarezale, who introduced the event to a London audience at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in the United Kingdom.

The poetry collection "Americano," his first official publication, was released by Suspect Thoughts Press in 2002 and helped establish Xavier as a figure in the people of color literary arts movement with signature poems such as "Children of Magdalene", "Nearly God" and the title poem.

In 2005, Suspect Thoughts Press published "Bullets & Butterflies: queer spoken word poetry," a collection Xavier edited. The anthology featured the work of 13 openly queer spoken word artists and new work by the editor himself including: "Legendary", "Outside" and "A Simple Poem." He has been featured on television on Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry on HBO, In The Life on PBS and hosted several editions of Out At The Center on Manhattan Neighborhood Network. He also appears in the Wolfgang Busch documentary "How Do I Look."

In 2005, he co-starred in his first acting role in the independent feature film, The Ski Trip. In 2008, he appeared in The Cult of Sincerity, which later aired on PBS. In 2008, an invitation-only online literary journal sponsored by U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization included him as a contributor to an international project. He was also invited to select finalists for Best Gay Erotica 2008.

In the fall of 2008, Floricanto Press published "Mariposas: A Modern Anthology of Queer Latino Poetry," a collection which he edited featuring the work of 17 fellow queer Latino poets. This would be one of the first books ever to gather the work of openly queer poets from the Latino community.

In 2009, his poem, "Urban Affection", was commissioned by a private collector of Walt Whitman memorabilia for the 190th birthday anniversary of Whitman.

In spring of 2009, Rebel Satori Press published a revised 10th anniversary edition of his semi-autobiographical novel, "Christ Like." The novel description is as follows: Mikey is a spirited but self-destructive survivor of sexual abuse, a gay Latino native New Yorker caught somewhere between Catholic guilt and club kid decadence looking to fit in as part of a family. Instead, Mikey delves into a demimonde of petty thieves, prostitutes, and pushers. Haunted by a father that Mikey has never met, a difficult childhood, recurring nightmares, the reality of death, and Christ, the story unfolds through the ’80’s and ’90’s following him on his journey through a fascinating world filled with Santeros, transsexuals and voguing queens.

Xavier has received the Marsha A. Gomez Cultural Heritage Award, a New York City Council Citation and is a 2008 World Pride Award recipient. In 2009, he was named one of the "25 Most Influential GLBT Latinos" by Mi Apogeo. He performs regularly throughout the United States as a spoken word artist and has also featured internationally in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Guayaquil, Ecuador, and Ghent, Belgium.

"Legendary- The Spoken Word Poetry of Emanuel Xavier", a spoken word/music collaboration with producer, El David, was released in the Winter of 2009/2010 featuring the bonus track, "Legendary (The E-Mix)." "Legendary (The Re-Mixes)" was released Spring 2010 by Hades Music on Masterbeats featuring remixes by Michael Hades, Tim Letteer, Lorant Duzgun, and El David.

If Jesus Were Gay & other poems was published by Rebel Satori Press in Spring 2010.

Emanuel Xavier's website

"Over and Over" by Michael R. Brown

"Over and Over"
By Michael R. Brown

An aging poet and teacher born in 1940,
who fought against Vietnam at home
and for civil rights in the cities,
have I increased my chances next life
of coming back as a holy man, a woman, a gazelle?

That is progress on this wheel—
although most of us are stuck in millennial rounds
as mud-carrying coolies, mastodon bait,
spinning mill spindle girls, charcoal makers,
fast food clerks notching paper crowns for spoiled kids.

Born in 1840 I took a day and a half to die at Shiloh,
parched, blind, baked in dry rough wool, basted in my blood.

In 1740, fevered on a foul ship in foreign waters,
driven by a cutting lash to climb high spars,
I lost my grip in a yaw and fell to the wooden deck,
smashing my skull like an egg.

In Bavaria in 1640 it took me two weeks to die from blood
poisoning when an oxcart crushed my leg
and animal shit entered my blood.

In 1540 a Cossack stomped me because he was drunk and I
was not.

In 1440 large black blood-filled globules burst the skin
of my underarms and groin.

In 1340 an Asian horseman took my head for scimitar practice.

In 1240 Christians trampled me in the road.

In 1140 a fever within a week of birth.

1040 at birth.

940 at birth.

840 at birth.

740 I can't remember.

640 I can't remember.

But you can't even remember that I lived.

I was a pitch blender in the Phoenician trade,
a blood stain under a pyramid block,
scattered bones in the earth of a Yangtze dam,
torn by sharks after a typhoon,
somebody's idea of dog food.

Once in a distant historical instant, I was lifted
on murmured prayers and adored, the precious future
of a group of cousins who valued their families as much as sunlight,
but that was only in a small out-of-the-way place
before what you call civilization.

Copyright © Michael R. Brown

I met Michael R. Brown when the Save The Male Tour visited Cambridge, Mass., for a feature at the Cantab Lounge. Our feature was on par, and the slam was average, but the open mic still ranks as one of the best open mics I have ever seen.

This poem was one that I remembered specifically and in 2008, as asked Brown for a copy to show my friend Nika Levikov because I couldn't find it in any of Brown's books. He e-mailed it to me.

I worked with him at the 2003 National Poetry Slam as bout manager to one of the bouts he hosted. Incidentally, that bout was where I met Delrica Andrews and "Granma Dave" Schein from the Baltimore National Poetry Slam Team, who are wholly awesome people.

Michael R. Brown has been called the "the Jerry Garcia of performance poetry" by WBUR/NPR, "ein Dichter und Weltenbummler" by Die Welt, and a "rascal-artist-angel-wonder .. .at the same time" by Paul Stokstad of "Poets at 8." Michael R. Brown has published his poetry, fiction, travel articles and columns in wide-ranging periodicals all over the world. His fourth book of poetry, "The Confidence Man," was published by Ragged Sky in 2006.

In May 2007, Brown and his partner Valerie Lawson moved to Robbinston in Down East Maine, the easternmost point in the USA, where they have been granted the editorial and publishing privileges for Off the Coast, a poetry journal founded by Arlene and George V. Van Deventer 14 years ago.

Brown has returned to teaching, now at Shead High School in Eastport. As a correspondent for the local paper, The Quoddy Tides, his beat is the Passamaquoddy reservation at Pleasant Point. He has also returned to the theater, acting in the Stage East production of It's a Wonderful Life and directing the Magnificent Liars Company in Mafia on Prozac.

Brown holds a Ph.D. in English and Education from the University of Michigan. His dissertation was a literary history of the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance directed by Robert Hayden. For 45 years he taught in high schools and universities from the South Side of Chicago to South Korea.

In 1999, he won the first Ronald J. Lettieri Award for Teaching Excellence at Mount Ida College. Brown was a finalist in the 1991 individual competition of the US National Poetry Slam.

In 1991 he held the first poetry slam in Stockholm, Sweden, and lectured on African American Literature at Stockholm University.

In 1992 he organized the US national slam, and he was on the Boston slam teams that won the US Championship in 1993 and finished third in 1995. In 1998 he won the 6th International Slam in Amsterdam. Brown won the open slam at the 2000 Provincetown Poetry Festival, and he was the hit of the 2001 Rockland Jazz and Blues Festival in New York. He has performed his poems from Jerusalem to Taipeh, Republic of China, and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to Key West, Fla. For 13 years he hosted the Boston poetry slam at the Cantab Lounge, Cambridge.

Brown was co-producer of The Culture of Peace, an international exhibit of art and poetry organized under the UN mandate for a decade of the Culture of Peace. This project has created an art and poetry exhibit and resulted in four exchanges of poets between Ireland and Massachusetts. He is general secretary of the Poetry Olympics, first held in Stockholm in 1998.

Brown's first published poem appeared in the first issue of Beyond Baroque (1969). Recently published poems have appeared in "Sensations, 100 Poets Against the War," and "Spoken Word Revolution Redux." Forthcoming will be poems in the Sacred Fools anthology "Legendary" and a biker anthology to be published by Archer Books in San Francisco. Brown conducts workshops in writing and performance. He has several times performed his poem "Chorus" as part of Beat Cafe, an original ballet choreographed by former Joffrey dancer Anthony Williams. He appeared in the documentary film SlamNation.

In the past five years he produced and directed shows by the Off-Broadway Poets and Dr. Brown's Traveling Poetry Show, an ensemble who perform their own poetry in theaters. His full-length play, The Duchess of York,was a finalist in the Cape Cod Playwrights' Competition.

Penultimate scene in "The Empire Strikes Back" if made as a silent film in the 1920s

Fucking awesome.

"An Introduction," by Randy Warren

An Introduction
By Randy Warren
performed at the Sedona Poetry Slam in June

Well first to start it seems appropriate to let you know
that I was sent to help you all remember who you are.
I know to some of you I might begin to look familiar;
that’s because we all go back together very far.

The only difference that there is between us is
I can remember all this shit while your amnesia remains.
It’s not to say that I’m superior;
I simply made the choice to be the one
to help you out of your brains.

So right now, just sit back, and relax, and reflect,
and take a deep breath, let it out and do it again.
It’s me your old pal Randy, I just came back to help you all
and you can trust me ‘cause we’re all friends.

Now all you need to know about yourself, at least to start,
is that you all are basically alone in a dream.
And you can wake up any time you know,
it’s not that there’s some external factor,
some mind-control beam.

You just like it this way
with the balls all in play.
You like the sea of probabilities
with you as the “X”.

But let me tell you,
when you stop playing the victim
then you’re basically God,
and life is basically sex.

The first thing you gotta do,
is let go of being you.

You’re gonna be you anyway,
and this’ll give you more room to play.

‘Cause you’re basically a hologram,
a projection of I-Am-That-I-Am.

And when you let your human go,
then you will instantly start to
know, and grow, and flow, and show
yourself all that you need to know
so you can start to let it go
and feel good all the time, although
there will be times when you’ll say “no”
‘cause you’re addicted to the Show.
The up and down, the ebb and flow,
is all just food for your ego,
let it go, let it go, let it go,
let it go go go go

Go within and you will see that you create reality
by your perceptions and projections
you make it real.

And now the next step is for you to drop the act
and stop reacting to the stimulus
as if you’re a seal.

If there’s a God, then He’s an It, and It’s a They,
and They are Us,
no wonder we all think so much of ourselves.

The other side of that is we’re all really God,
we all forgot while we were occupied enjoying ourselves.

And now, it’s time for us
to drop all the bullshit and just be Awesome.

And I am here to see
the spinach in the teeth of your soul,
and help you floss’em.

So that’ll do it for now, my name is Randy,
like I said I came to help you all remember who you are.

If you have questions you can reach me via email,
or to contact me directly you can wish upon a star.

Before I leave I wanna leave you with something
that’ll help you feel better,
when you feel very bad.

A simple truth that I have tested time and time again,
it’s guaranteed to lift you up when you’re feeling sad.

(deep breath!)

If there’s a God then God is you and you are God
and there is no separation, just two names for the same.

So anything that happens,
must be what you want to happen,
otherwise how could it happen,
no one to blame.

So when you find yourself resisting the present,
lamenting and resenting what is lain at your door,
just take a moment to remember you are God
and as a god you have good taste,
you only choose what you adore.

And in this moment you have chosen
you are perfectly aligned with All That Is
all of the time, you know.

There is no other truth,
that is the way it is,
there is no other way,
there is no other truth to know.

So even in the shittiest of times
it doesn’t change the simple fact
that everything is always Perfection.

And if you see the world as shit,
it may occur to you
that maybe the problem’s
your shitty perception.

And if you want to live a life of joy and happiness
the first and only step
is just to let it all in.

And when you finally let the pain fall away,
all the joy will rush in,
and life will truly begin.
My name is Randy and I came here just to be the one
to tell you all the things that you all already know.

And now that I am here,
you just relax and have no fear,
it’s time to crack another beer
and enjoy the show!

Copyright 2010 © Randy Warren

According to his bio, Randy Warren is an ascended master of the material illusion. He has come to Earth to assist in smoothing the transition into the new age. While here, he enjoys many forms of expression, including poetry. Feel free to contact him and offer him money for his myriad talents.

GumptionFest V searches for artists for festival Sept. 11 and 12 in Sedona

GumptionFest V

• Fifth annual event takes place Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 11 and 12.
• Activities last all day at several venues along Coffee Pot Drive.
• Admission is free. All art and music is supplied by donation.
• All amateur and professional artists are invited.
• To volunteer, participate or for more information, e-mail GumptionFest@gmail.com.
• After four years of promoting the grassroots arts community of Sedona and the Verde Valley, GumptionFest is looking to fill its artist ranks for the festival.

GumptionFest V searches for artists

The fifth annual GumptionFest arts festival takes place Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 11 and 12.

Led by festival founder and director Dylan Jung, the organizers are opening the search for artists, volunteers, sponsors and vendors.

The event includes activities for all ages, including art workshops and activities for young children and teenagers.

For the last four years, GumptionFest has been run as a grassroots street festival block party with a budget built on donations and goodwill.

Artists, organizers and staff aren't paid, yet the festival still has no trouble coordinating the huge volume of artists who want to contribute.

The festival simultaneously operates five venues along Coffee Pot Drive, with more than 100 artists, 40 bands and 40 solo musicians performing. Average turnout numbers about 1,200 attendees.

At the inaugural GumptionFest in 2006, the goal was to provide a full-day experience showcasing the best of the local amateur, young, underground and under-the-radar artists that call the Verde Valley home. They share the stages with local and regional professional bands and artists.

The second and third GumptionFests added an additional day to accommodate all the artists and bands who wanted to participate, while the 2009 event added a third day.

The guidelines for submission are simple: Anyone who creates art in any form is eligible.

The lineup of past years has included local musicians like Liquid Theory, Yin Yang & Zen Some, Radio Dogma, the Tarantulas, Goldmund, Dave Harvey, the Dry River Yacht Club, DJ Nate Metro and Chris Spheeris. Regional acts from Phoenix, Flagstaff and Prescott also clamor to participate.

Painters, sculptors, visual artists and photographers have art on display.
A poetry open mic also showcases the spoken word and page poets from around Northern Arizona and the Verde Valley.

For GumptionFest 5: Raiders of the Lost Art, organizers are looking for visual artists, photographers, dancers and dance troupes, musicians, bands, theater groups and poets who want to be a part of the festival for either one or two days.

Talent levels are not important: participants should range from full-time professional artists and musicians and published poets to recreational artists, part-time photographers and those who pen poems in private journals.

Youth and teen artists are also strongly encouraged to participate whether they aim to become professional artists as adults or just create art, write poetry or play music to pass the time.

Volunteers are also needed this year, so even those who don't play an instrument, paint, sculpt or write poems can help and be a part of one of the largest free arts festival in Sedona.

To participate, volunteer or contribute as a sponsor, contact GumptionFest@gmail.com or visit GumptionFest on Facebook.

Bill Hicks: A 30-30 rewrite poem, by Paulie Lipman

Bill Hicks: A 30-30 rewrite
by Paulie Lipman

Humorist Mark Twain said that
there is no humor in Heaven
Comedian Bill Hicks replied that Hell
will always have the best musicians

The only difference
between a comedian and a humorist
is that a comedian is more
damaged

Bill,
they
called you angry
You
were always in good company
Even Jesus
embraced rage's jagged blossom
as he evicted every thief squatting
in his father's house

Anger
is a gift
The cracked glass spark
that bursts in the chest of every great leader
doomed to the enlightenment that we
as humans, are capable of so much
more
but we run from every opportunity
to realize it
Love
is the fact that they never stop trying
to tell us

Laughter and Happiness
are two jilted lovers
at best

Bill
It's been 16 years
since Cancer's soft ravage
devoured your voice
Your mantle has grown dust
and your every heir apparent
knows only bitter,
cynical indifference mistaken for
righteous Anger
Love
for gullibility
I
counted myself among them
but there was no heart
to our hands
only dull, blustering thunder
inarticulate
and
too clumsy for incision
It tookyour sharp fingers
to slice through my sternum
and choke throttle my heart
back into lightning again
destructive
but illuminating
damaged
and hopeful

They call me
angry
I
am in good company

Copyright 2010 © Paulie Lipman

I have always enjoyed Paulie Lipman from Denver. He encapsulates the Denver scene, having been on six teams. I have slammed against him and seen him feature a few times.
His poem "Potential" brought me to tears at the National Poetry Slam this year in St. Paul, Minn. That goes far to say in that it is not a particularly emotionally heart-wrenching poem in an of itself, it was just a fucking good poem that touched me right then. That's good showmanship. Lipman is a great performer and a good-hearted poet, one whom I highly recommend seeing if he tours to your city.

Paulie Lipman has been at this spoken word thing for about six years. Lipman has been a part of six Denver National Slam Teams (including 2004's second-place team and 2006's National Poetry Slam champions)

Lipman has extensively toured the United States and a little Canada including many schools, from grade school to college and youth correctional facilities. He was recently published in the National Poetry Slam collection "High Desert Voices."

He also appears as the voice of Neal Cassady in the upcoming documentary “Neal Cassady: The Denver Years.” And, he can’t wait to meet you.

Pick up Paulie Lipman's new album, Inobservant at www.twistandshout.com

Read more: www.myspace.com/paulielipman

David Wile reported missing

Glendale police are searching for a missing 30-year-old former Sedona resident reported missing by his family over the weekend.

David Ian Wile, 30, a resident of Sedona from 1995 to 2006, was last seen at his home in Glendale on the morning of Saturday, Aug. 14.

Wile was scheduled to attend and photograph a competition later that afternoon at Paragon Dance Studio in Tempe.

Wile is believed to have gone missing, along with his 2003 silver Honda Accord sedan, after 11:30 a.m. He has family and friends in the Sedona area.

Wile is a white male, 5 feet, 10 inches tall, with brown eyes and brown hair, weighing 180 to 190 pounds.

If you have any information regarding Wile's disappearance or whereabouts, contact the Glendale Police Department or local law enforcement.

Mesa poet Lauren Perry headlines Sedona Summer Poetry Slam on Saturday, Aug. 28

The Sedona Summer Poetry Slam will explode at Studio Live at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 28, presenting three rounds of poetic competition as poets battle for pride and $100.

Between rounds, the audience will be entertained with a feature performance by Lauren Perry, one of the Arizona’s best slam poets.

Perry is a wildcard poet, who hails from Elgin, Ill., but has made a nest in Phoenix. Performing on Mesa National Poetry Slam Team in 2006, 2009 and 2010, she is coming up from behind with tricks in her sleeve and sharp teeth in her smile. Not to be taken lightly, she’s been the Women of the World Poetry Slam representative twice, for Phoenix in 2009 and Mesa in 2010.

The lover and creator of ZombiErotica, this year was Perry’s crowning of Ms. Zombie Beauty Queen 2010 and she has been a returning favorite of the Phoenix Valentine’s erotic festivals.

She hopes to continue spreading the loving words that one does not have to play nice to leave a mark.

Unleashing a Tommy gun spray of fast-spoken bullets, “Monsters” is her first chapbook after releasing her debut CD “Running Backwards” in 2008 and “Horror Couture” in 2010. After eight years of rabbit feet and swearing like a sailor, Lauren Perry is brought to you be Lucky Vision in techno-color dreams.

All poets are welcome to compete in the slam.

Slammers will need three original poems, each lasting no longer than three minutes. No props, costumes nor musical accompaniment are permitted.

The poets will be judged Olympics-style by five members of the audience selected at random at the beginning of the slam. The top poet at the end of the night wins $100.

Poets who want to compete should purchase a ticket in case the roster is filled before they arrive.

The 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. He has hosted and competed in poetry slams and open mics in Sedona since 2004.

Graham has performed in 40 states, Toronto, Dublin, Ireland, and London, and wrote the now infamous “Peach” poem.

Founded in Chicago by construction worker and poet Marc “So What?” Smith in 1984, poetry slam is a competitive artistic sport. Poetry slam has become an international artistic sport, with more than 100 major poetry slams in the United States, Canada, Australia and Western Europe.

For more information or to register, call Graham at (928) 517-1400 or e-mail to foxthepoet@yahoo.com.

Tickets are $5 online or $10 at the door.

Home of the Sedona Performers Guild nonprofit, Studio Live is located at 215 Coffee Pot Drive, West Sedona. For more information, visit www.studiolivesedona.com.

See video from previous poetry slams at www.YouTube.com/FoxThePoet.

For more information about the worldwide phenomena of poetry slam, visit www.poetryslam.com.

I won slam bingo at the 2010 National Poetry Slam finals

I won slam bingo with the Wile E. Coyote poem by St. Paul's Shane Holley, the second poet in the fourth round.

St. Paul wins 2010 National Poetry Slam, second year in a row

Host: Nazelah J. Jeffries is a talented and energetic performance poet, actress and vocalist based in Oakland, Calif. Born in Bamberg, S.C., nazelah had a love of performance from a very early age, taking her first dance lessons at the age of 4; at 5, she practiced for days in the mirror hoping to audition for the musical motion picture “Annie!”, only to be disappointed when the auditions never even came near her tiny town.

Nazelah discovered Poetry Slam in 1999 and began to compete, subsequently going to the National Poetry Slam Competition five times on various Bay Area teams. More recently, she and her husband, poet Dahled, produce the Oakland Poetry Slam & have coached Team Oakland to Nationals the last three years. Since 2000, she has been hosting many Bay Area spoken word events as well. She is a gifted emcee, and producers and performers alike are put at ease by her demeanor; she is currently working on two chapbooks, as well as a musical collaboration and a video project. Her love of hip-hop translates onto the stage.

- - - Round 1 - - -

Nuyorican: Jamal St. John, 27.4
Austin Neo Soul: Scott Frank, 25.9
Durham, N.C., four-poet group poem, 27.0
St. Paul: Six is Nine, 28.0

St. Paul leads 28.0 at the end of the first round
(2) Nuyorican, 27.4, -0.6
(3) Durham, 27.0, -1.0
(4) Austin Neo Soul, 25.9, -2.1

- - - Round 2 - - -

Durham, N.C., Dahsan, 26.2, 53.2
Nuyorican: Kenneth Arkind, 27.0, 54.4
St. Paul: Guante, 27.4, 55.4
Austin Neo Soul: duo, 25.9, 51.8

St. Paul leads 55.4 at the end of the second round
(2) Nuyorican, 54.4, -1.0
(3) Durham, 53.2, -2.2
(4) Austin Neo Soul, 51.8, -3.6

- - - Round 3 - - -

St. Paul: Sierra DeMulder, 27.0, 82.4
Durham, N.C., duo poem, 26.9, 80.1
Austin Neo Soul: Scott Frank, 26.3, 78.1
Nuyorican: Jarrod Singer, 27.1, 81.5

St. Paul leads 82.4 at the end of the third round
(2) Nuyorican, 81.5, -0.9
(3) Durham, 80.1, -2.3
(4) Austin Neo Soul, 78.1, -4.3

- - - Round 4 - - -

Austin Neo Soul: trio, 26.8, 104.9
St. Paul: Shane Hollen, 27.6, 110.0
Nuyorican: 27.1, 108.6
Durham, N.C., 27.7, 107.8

St. Paul wins with a 110.0
(2) Nuyorican, 108.6, -1.4
(3) Durham, 107.8, -2.2
(4) Austin Neo Soul, 104.9, -5.1

The championship team of Soap Boxing, St. Paul's Poetry Slam:
Khary J. (aka "6 is 9") is a playwright, teaching artist and poet who is glad to represent St Paul for the fourth time. He's proud of the poetry the Twin Cities is consistently producing, and hopes to remain a part of the scene in various ways in the future.

Kyle “Guante” Myhre has been Grand Slam champ of Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Madison, and was part of the 2009 National Poetry Slam champion Saint Paul team. As a rapper, he's a member of the Tru Ruts crew and has shared the stage with Talib Kweli, Sage Francis, Brother Ali, Zion I and many others. Guante is currently serving as arts coordinator of the Canvas, a Saint Paul teen arts center, and continues to lead workshops through the MN Spoken-Word Association. For more, see www.myspace.com/elguante or El Guante's blog.

Sierra DeMulder In addition to winning the 2009 National Poetry Slam with Saint Paul, Sierra DeMulder ranked 9th at the IWPS, 11th at WoWPS and coached Macalester College to Final Stage at CUPSI 2010. She was awarded Best Female Poet at CUPSI 2009 and in January 2010, her first full-length manuscript was published by Write Bloody Publishing.

Shane Hawley is a spoken word artist who dabbles in hip-hop and stand-up comedy. He is a four time member of the Minneapolis National Poetry Slam team, and a former Minneapolis Grand Slam champion. He has opened for national acts such as P.O.S, Dessa Darling, and Jeremy Messersmith. As a St. Paul native, he is eager to represent his city in his city at the 2010 National Poetry Slam.

Photos from MinnesotaMicrophone.com
Bios from www.Soap-Boxing.com

FlagSlam's bout tomorrow

Tomorrow, our bout is thus:

Seed 32, Mental Graffitti - Chicago, Ill., rank 2 105.7 points
Sead 34, Life Sentence Slam - Fairfield, Calif., rank 2, 104.2 points
Seed 49, FlagSlam - Flagstaff, Ariz., rank 3, 104.2 points
Seed 70, Ocotillo Slam - Tucson, Ariz., rank 4 100.1 points

National Poetry Slam rankings after two days

NATIONAL POETRY SLAM 2010

St. Paul, MN August 3-7

ROUND 1 RANKS
Team Rank Total Score
1 The Nuyorican Slam Team - New York City, NY 01 117.7
02 Boston - Cantab - Boston, MA 1 114.3
03 Soap Boxing - St. Paul, MN 1 114
04 Atlanta Art Amok - Atlanta, GA 1 113.8
05 San Francisco - San Francisco, CA 1 113.7
06 ABQSlams - Albuquerque, NM 1 112.1
07 SlamCharlotte - Charlotte, NC 1 111
08 Fort Worth Poetry Slam - Ft. Worth, TX 1 109.6
09 San Diego Slam Team - San Diego, CA 1 109.3
10 Loser Slam - Long Branch, NJ 1 109
11 SlamRichmond - Richmond, VA 1 108.8
12 Slam Nuba - Denver, CO 1 108.5
13 Slam New Orleans - New Orleans, LA 1 107.9
14 San Francisco - San Francisco, CA 1 107.4
15 Team Dallas - Dallas, TX 1 106.2
16 Java Monkey - Decatur, GA 1 104.4
17 Slam Free or Die - Manchester, NH 1 103.4
18 Bull City Slam - Durham, NC 1 102.3
19 Empire MindState - Pomona, CA 1 100.6
20 SlamRichmond - Richmond, VA 2 112.8
21 Intangible Slam - New York City, NY 2 112.8
21 Denver Mercury Slam - Denver, CO 2 112.8
23 Eclectic Truth - Baton Rouge, LA 2 111.7
24 Poets Anonymous - Delray Beach, FL 2 111.1
25 San Jose Poetry Slam - San Jose, CA 2 110.7
26 Vancouver Poetry Slam - Vancouver, BC 2 108.7
27 VIP - Houston, TX 2 107.9
28 Berkeley Poetry Slam - Berkeley, CA 2 107.7
29 Puro Slam - San Antonio, TX 2 107.6
30 Austin Poetry Slam - Austin, TX 2 107
31 Milwaukee Poetry Slam - Milwaukee, WI 2 106.8

32 Mental Graffitti - Chicago, IL 2 105.7
33 louderArts - New York City, NY 2 105.4
34 Life Sentence Slam - Fairfield, CA 2 104.2

35 Austin Neo Soul - Austin, TX 2 103
36 Brass Knuckles - Los Angeles, CA 2 102.7
37 Santa Cruz Poetry Slam - Santa Cruz, CA 2 99.1
38 Writing Wrongs - Columbus, OH 2 98.8
39 Dallas Poetry Grind - Irving, TX 3 111.1
39 Urbana - New York City, NY 3 111.1
41 Punch Out Poetry Slam - Minneapolis, MN 3 110
42 Madison Slam - Madison, WI 3 108.4
43 Second Tuesday Slam - Portland, ME 3 107.7
44 Neo/Byte This Slam - Detroit, MI 3 107.5
45 Seattle Poetry Slam - Seattle, WA 3 106.8
46 11th Hour Poetry Slam - Washington, DC 3 106.5
47 Houston Poetry Slam - Houston, TX 3 105.6
48 SlamMN! - Minneapolis, MN 3 105.3
49 FlagSlam - Flagstaff, AZ 3 104.2
50 Slam Nahuatl - Richmond, VA 3 102.8
51 Steel City Slam - Pittsburgh, PA 3 102.7
52 Mesa Slam Team - Mesa, AZ 3 101.9
53 Hampshire County Slam Collective - Amherst, MA 3 101.7
54 Green Mill Poetry Slam - Chicago, IL 3 101
55 Slamarillo Poetry Slam - Amarillo, TX 3 99.5
56 Salt City Slam - Salt Lake City, UT 3 98.6
57 Ozark Poetry Slam - Fayetteville, AR 3 96.7
58 Killeen Poetry Slam - Killeen, TX 4 110.6
59 Piedmont Poetry Slam - Winston Salem, NC 4 109.8
60 Punch Out Poetry Slam - Minneapolis, MN 4 107.9
61 Mill City Slam - Lowell, MA 4 107.5
62 HawaiiSlam - Honolulu, HI 4 106.7
63 Oakland Poetry Slam - Oakland, CA 4 106.5
64 Portland Poetry Slam - Portland, OR 4 106
65 Boise Poetry Slam - Boise, ID 4 105.1
66 Red Dirt Poetry Slam - Oklahoma City, OK 4 102.6
67 Writers Block - Columbus, OH 4 101.9
68 Silver City Slam - Silver city, NM 4 101.3
69 Piedmont Poetry Slam - Winston Salem, NC 4 100.5
70 Ocotillo Slam - Tucson, AZ 4 100.1
71 Spokane Poetry Slam - Spokane, WA 4 99.1
72 Toronto Poetry Slam - Toronto, ON 4 97.8
73 The Percolator Slam - El Paso, TX 4 97.1
74 WORDPULP Poetry Slam - Oklahoma, OK 4 96.5
75 Palatine Poetry Slam - Palatine, IL 4 78.8
76 Team Cleveland - Cleveland, OH 4 0


Bout 12 - ( Tues - Camp 9 PM ) - Houston's score was adjusted after the resolution of a protest.
Bout 16 - ( Wed - Wild Tymes 7 PM ) Team Cleveland's rank and score were adjusted after protest.

FlagSlam 2010 National Poetry Slam teaam

FlagSlam 2010, Christopher Fox Graham, Brian Towne,
Frank O'Brien and Ryan Brown.

How I became the fourth poet on FlagSlam's nationals team

So here's how it went down: The original FlagSlam team was Ryan Brown, Brian Towne, RahMah Mercy, Johnny P. and alternate Chris Harbster.

Harbster drops. Team still OK.

Johnny P. drops, but Frank O'Brien, who only recently moved to Seattle, took his slot. Team still OK.

I volunteer to work NPS as a venue manager, so I'm set to travel to St. Paul, Minn.

Brian and Ryan fly to St. Paul, Frank takes the Greyhound. I get to the Phoenix airport.

RahMah bails. Team is now a poet short with no backup. They can compete, but receive an automatic disqualification. I competed at FlagSlams in Flagstaff and earned points toward the Grand Slam, but not enough to compete. But I am the only FlagSlam poet in St. Paul with any points not on the team.

So I have a conundrum: Do I come to rescue of my home team in their hour of need by filling the slot, and hope to do as well as them despite have not practiced for NPS? The three poets have come all this way but would effectively be dead in the water with 2 DQs no matter how strong they are.

Or do I keep my word to NPS volunteer coordinator Jenn Parks and serve as the venue coordinator, thereby serving the whole Poetry Slam Inc. community?

I asked for a lot of advice, but after speaking with Steve Marsh, PSI's executive director, I received a green light to join FlagSlam - he said PSI would rather lose a venue manager than lose a team. A venue manager is a lot easier to replace than a team, he said.

I was really excited to be a volunteer this year. I had a lot of fun as a bout manager at NPS 2003 in Chicago and I would have enjoyed working the venues all four nights. If there was another poet who was eligible, I would have preferred them to fill the slot. But as it stands, it's either me or the other three members of the team came to St. Paul essentially to perform an open mic.

Thus, I am the fourth member of Team FlagSlam. We have a shot at semi-finals now because Brian, Ryan and Frank are all strong solo poets.

Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Bout 16 - Wild Tymes

ABQSlams
(Albuquerque, NM)
FlagSlam
(Flagstaff, AZ)
San Jose Poetry Slam
(San Jose, CA)
Team Clevel

Thursday, 9 p.m.
Bout 35 - Wild Tymes

FlagSlam
(Flagstaff, AZ)
Life Sentence Slam
(Fairfield, CA)
Mental Graffitti
(Chicago, IL)
Tucson Ocotillo Slam
(Tucson, AZ)

I'll be National Poetry Slam 2010 venue manager at POP!

For the National Poetry Slam, I will be the venue manager at Pop!, a restaurant bar two blocks from the hotel. I'll get to see 24 different teams in 6 bouts, including both Canadian teams, Toronto and Vancouver.

For one of the semifinal bouts, I will be the venue manager at the McNally Smith Auditorium.

Tuesday

Bout 2 - POP!
Lionlike MindState
(Chino, CA)
Salt City Slam
(Salt Lake City, UT)
Toronto Poetry Slam
(Toronto, ON)
Writing Wrongs
(Columbus, OH)

Tuesday

Bout 8 - POP!
Brass Knuckles
(Los Angeles, CA)
Hampshire County Slam
(Amherst, MA)
Slam New Orleans
(New Orleans, LA)
Spokane Poetry Slam
(Spokane, WA)

Wednesday

Bout 14 - POP!
Mental Graffitti
(Chicago, IL)
San Diego Slam Team
(San Diego, CA)
Silver City Slam
(Silver city, NM)
Slam Nahuatl
(Richmond, VA)

Wednesday

Bout 20 - POP!
Green Mill Poetry Slam
(Chicago, IL)
Salt City Slam
(Salt Lake City, UT)
Slamarillo Poetry Slam
(Amarillo, TX)
Vancouver Poetry Slam
(Vancouver, BC)

Thursday

Bout 26 - POP!
Boise Poetry Slam
(Boise, ID)
Houston Poetry Slam
(Houston, TX)
Madison Slam
(Madison, WI)
Nuyorican Slam Team
(New York City, NY)

Thursday

Bout 33 - POP!
Fort Worth Poetry Slam
(Ft. Worth, TX)
Neo/Byte This Slam
(Detroit, MI)
San Diego Slam Team
(San Diego, CA)
WORDPULP Poetry Slam
(Oklahoma, OK)

Friday

Semifinals: McNally Smith Auditorium

I'm a volunteer at the National Poetry Slam 2010

Just received word that I will be a volunteer venue manager at the National Poetry Slam in St. Paul, MN, next week. Four days of work at one venue to make sure the bouts run smoothly.

Rock on!

See you all at NPS!