This is the official blog of Northern Arizona slam poet Christopher Fox Graham. Begun in 2002, and transferred to blogspot in 2006, FoxTheBlog has recorded more than 670,000 hits since 2009. This blog cover's Graham's poetry, the Arizona poetry slam community and offers tips for slam poets from sources around the Internet. Read CFG's full biography here. Looking for just that one poem? You know the one ... click here to find it.

Monday, July 3, 2023

"रीढ़ की हड्डी की भाषा" by Christopher Fox Graham

गंगा नदी पर वाराणसी


"रीढ़ की हड्डी की भाषा" 

by Christopher Fox Graham

मुझे एक टैटू दे दो
त्वचा से भी गहरा
मेरी रीढ़ की हड्डी पर
हर कशेरुका की सतह पर
हर इंसान की जुबान में
"कविता" के लिए अपने शब्द टैटू
ताकि कोई भी भाषा अब विदेशी महसूस न हो;
ताकि प्रत्येक मानव आवाज
मैं एक शब्द बोल सकता हूँ

अरबी और हिब्रू
बिना पत्थर फेंके साथ बैठें
कैंटोनीज़ और हिंदी पात्रों को अनुमति दें
स्वाहिली और हुतु को झूला में पकड़ने के लिए हाथ जोड़ें
बास्क और ज़ुलु को आखिरकार वियतनामी होंठ छूने दें
जबकि नवाजो मलय के कंधे पर अपना सिर टिकाए हुए है

हम छह हजार भाषाएं बोलते हैं
लेकिन मैं दर्द और समय को सहन करूंगा
कोई भी मानव आवाज मुझसे बात नहीं कर सकती है।
महसूस किए बिना
हड्डी के नीचे

अफ्रीकी शब्दांशों को अनुमति दें
यूरोपीय अभिव्यक्ति के साथ स्थान साझा करें,
एशियाई मॉर्फेम,
और आदिवासी उच्चारण,

उन्हें पंक्तिबद्ध करें और उन्हें उकेरें
जैसे ब्रेल में लिखा एक कार्बनिक बारकोड
कीड़े द्वारा पठनीय जो एक दिन मुझे वापस बदल देगा
धूल और राख के धर्म के लिए
जिस पर हमने एक बार विश्वास किया था
मांस और रक्त के इस पंथ से पहले
हमें मिट्टी से बाहर लाया
बारिश में संक्षिप्त किरदार निभाना

उन्हें हमारे शब्दों के स्वाद का स्वाद लेने दें
उन्हें कविता का उपभोग करने दें
और इसे मिट्टी में वापस दे दें
ताकि पृथ्वी हमारे शब्दों के वजन को महसूस कर सके
और हमें मत भूलना
जब हम खुद को विलुप्त करते हैं
जैसे हमारे सामने की प्रजातियां

अंतिम शब्द गढ़ें
मोर्स कोड में
मेरी रीढ़ की हड्डी के आधार पर
ताकि मैं शब्द की लय सुन सकूं
जब मैं सोता हूं तो मेरे कूल्हों में
.--. --- . - .-. -.--
डॉट्स और डैश को फैलने दें
समझ के वायरस में मेरी सभी हड्डियों के पार
अगर मैं अपनी आवाज खो दूं
मैं अभी भी एक शब्द बोल सकता हूं
मेरी उंगलियों को थपथपाकर,
एक ड्रम बजाना
या मेरे दिल की धड़कन की लय को बदलना
मेरे खून से बोलना

कल्पना करना

छह हजार जीभ
मेरी रीढ़ की हड्डी खेलना
33-भाग सद्भाव में
मेरी सिम्फनी बनाना
एक राग के साथ जो गूंजता है
मेरी रीढ़ की हड्डी को ऊपर उठाएं
सुरंग में जोर से और जोर से गूंज रहा है
कंपाउंडिंग संगीत को बढ़ाना
मेरे मस्तिष्क के आधार तक सभी रास्ते
जहां विस्फोट होता है
और मेरी खोपड़ी के अंदर गूंजता है
रिकोचेटिंग
छह हजार नए भाव
एक ही शब्द के लिए
छह अरब गायकों की आवाज के साथ
मेरे छह ट्रिलियन विचारों में
जब तक मैं और अधिक अराजकता नहीं ले सकता
और उनका गीत मेरे होंठों से फट जाता है

दुनिया को पेशकश
सिंक्रनाइज़ समझ का एक क्षण
एक गीत
एक आवाज
एक आदमी का
एक पल के लिए

इससे पहले कि दुनिया पलकें झपकाए
फोकस खो देता है
और गूंज सुनता है
धीरे-धीरे दूर हो जाओ

लेकिन याद है 
ध्वनि 
हमारी कविता

"Ridh ki haddi ki bhasha"

by Christopher Fox Graham

mujhe ek tattoo de do
tvacha se bhi gehra
meri ridh ki haddi par
har kasheruka ki satah par
har insaan ki jubaan mein
"kavita" ke liye apne shabd tattoo
taki koi bhi bhasha ab videshi mehsus na ho;
taaki pratyek manav avaz
main ek shabd bol sakta hoon

arabi aur hebrew
bina patthar pence sath baithen
cantonese aur hindi patron ko anumati den
swahili aur hutu ko jhula mein pakadne ke liye haath joden
bask aur zulu ko akhirkar vietnamese honthh chhune den
jabaki navajo malay ke kandhe par apna sir tikaye hue hai

hum chhah hazar bhashaen bolate hain
lekin main dard aur samay ko sahan karunga
koi bhi manav aavaj mujhse baat nahi kar sakti hai
mehsus kiye bina
haddi ke niche

african shabdanshon ko anumati den
europea abhivyakti ke saath sthaan saajha karen,
asian morphem,
aur adivasi uchcharan,

unhen panktibaddh karen aur unhen ukeren
jaise braille mein likha ek carbonic barcode
kide dwara pathania jo ek din mujhe vapas badal dega
dhool aur rakh ke dharm ke liye
jis par hamne ek baar vishvas kiya tha
maans aur rakt ke is panth se pehle
hamein mitti se bahar laya
barish mein sankshipt kirdar nibhana

unhen hamare shabdon ke svad ka swad lene den
unhen kavita ka upabhog karane den
aur ise mitti mein vapas de den
taki prithvi hamare shabdon ke vajan ko mehsus kar sake
aur hamein mat bhoolna
jab hum khud ko vilupt karte hain
jaise hamare samne ki prajatiyan

antim shabd gadhen
morse code mein
meri ridh ki haddi ke aadhar par
taki main shabd ki lay sun sakun
jab main sota hoon to mere koolhon mein
.--. --- . - .-. -.--
dots or dash ko failane den
samajh ke virus mein meri sabhi haddiyon ke par
agar main apni aavaj kho doon
main abhi bhi ek shabd bol sakta hoon
meri ungaliyon ko thapathapakar,
ek drum bajana
ya mere dil ki dhadkan ki lay ko badalna
mere khoon se bolna

kalpana karana

chhah hazar jibh
meri ridh ki haddi khelna
33-bhag sadbhav mein
meri symphony banana
ek raag ke saath jo gunjata hai
meri ridh ki haddi ko ooper uthaein
surang mein jor se aur jor se gunj raha hai
compounding sangeet ko badhana
mere mastishk ke adhar tak sabhi raaste
jahan visfot hota hai
aur meri khopdi ke andar gunjata hai
ricochetting
chhah hazar naye bhav
ek hi shabd ke liye
chhah arab gayakon ki avaj ke sath
mere chhah trillion vicharon mein
jab tak main aur adhik arajakata nahi le sakta
aur unaka geet mere honthon se fat jata hai

duniya ko peshkash
synchronize samajh ka ek kshan
ek geet
ek aavaj
ek aadmi ka
ek pal ke liye

isase pahale ki duniya palken jhapkaye
focus kho deta hai
aur goonj sunata hai
dhire-dhire door ho jao

lekin yaad hai
dhvani
hamari kavita

Sunday, July 2, 2023

"Omurga Dili" by Christopher Fox Graham


"Omurga Dili"

by Christopher Fox Graham

bana bir dövme ver
deriden daha derin
omurgamın kemikleri üzerinde
her omurun yüzeyine
her insan dilinde
"şiir" için kelimelerini dövmek
böylece hiçbir dil artık yabancı hissetmesin;
böylece her insan sesi
içimde bir kelime konuşabilir

Arapça ve İbranice olsun
taş atmadan yan yana oturmak
Kantonca ve Hintçe karakterlere izin verin
Swahili ve Hutu'yu bir hamakta tutmak için ellerini bağlayın
Bask ve Zulu'nun nihayet Vietnamca dudaklara dokunmasına izin verin
Navajo ise başını Malay'ın omzuna dayamış

altı bin dil konuşuyoruz
Ama acıya ve zamana katlanacağım
bu yüzden hiçbir insan sesi benimle konuşamaz
hissedilmeden
kemiğe kadar

Afrika hecelerine izin verin
Avrupa eklemlenmeleriyle alanı paylaşmak,
Asya morfemleri,
ve Aborjin telaffuzları,

onları sıraya koyun ve kazıyın
Braille alfabesiyle yazılmış organik bir barkod gibi
Bir gün beni geri dönüştürecek solucanlar tarafından okunabilir
toz ve kül dinine
bir zamanlar inandığımız şey
Bu et ve kan kültünden önce
bizi kilden çıkardı
yağmurda kısa karakterler oynamak için

sözlerimizin lezzetini tatsınlar
şiir tüketsinler
ve toprağa geri ver
böylece dünya sözlerimizin ağırlığını hissedebilir
ve bizi unutma
kendimizi yok ettiğimizde
bizden önceki türler gibi

Son sözü söyle
Mors alfabesinde
omurgamın dibinde
böylece kelimenin ritmini duyabiliyorum
uyurken kalçalarımda
.--. --- . - .-. -.--
Noktaların ve tirelerin yayılmasına izin verin
tüm kemiklerimde bir kavrayış virüsü içinde
Yani eğer sesimi kaybedersem
Hala bir kelime konuşabiliyorum
parmaklarıma dokunarak,
bir davula vurmak
ya da kalp atışımın ritmini değiştirmek
kanımla konuşmak için

Hayal

altı bin dil
omurgamı oynamak
33 parçalı armonide
benim senfonimi yapmak
yankılanan bir melodi ile
omuriliğimi yukarı kaldır
tünelde daha yüksek sesle yankılanıyor
bileşik müziğin güçlendirilmesi
beynimin tabanına kadar
patladığı yer
ve kafatasımın içinde rezonansa giriyor
Zıplama
altı bin yeni ifade
aynı kelime için
altı milyar şarkıcının sesiyle
altı trilyon düşünceme
ta ki daha fazla kaosa dayanamayana kadar
Ve onların şarkısı dudaklarımdan patlıyor

dünyaya sunmak
senkronize bir anlayış anı
bir şarkının
tek bir sesin
bir adamın
bir an için

Dünya yanıp sönmeden önce
odağını kaybeder
ve yankıyı dinler
yavaşça kaybolur

ama hatırlar 
ses 
şiirlerimizin

Saturday, July 1, 2023

"脊髓語言" by Christopher Fox Graham

香港特別行政區

"脊髓語言" 

by Christopher Fox Graham

畀我紋身
比皮膚更深
在我的脊椎上
到每個椎骨嘅表面
用每個人嘅語言

紋身他們的話 
《詩歌》
這樣一來,任何語言都不再陌生;
讓每個人的聲音
可以對我說一句話

讓阿拉伯語和希伯來語
並排坐著不扔石頭
讓粵語和印地語字符
手挽著吊床裡的斯瓦希里語和胡圖語
讓巴斯克人和祖魯人終於接觸到越南人的嘴唇
而納瓦霍人則把頭靠在馬來人的肩膀上

我們說六千種語言
但我會忍受痛苦和時間
所以沒有人的聲音可以跟我說話
沒有被感覺到
深入骨髓

讓非洲音節
與歐洲關節共享空間,
亞洲語素,
和原住民發音,

將它們排成一行並雕刻它們
就像用盲文書寫的有機條形碼
蠕蟲可讀,總有一天會讓我變回原樣
塵土和灰燼的宗教
我們曾經相信
在這個血肉之軀的崇拜面前
把我們從粘土中帶出來
在雨中扮演簡短的角色

讓他們嚐嚐我們文字的味道
讓他們消費詩歌
把它還給土壤
這樣地球就能感受到我們話語的分量
不要忘記我們
當我們自己滅絕
就像我們面前的物種

刻下硬道理
用摩爾斯電碼
在我的脊椎底部
好讓我能聽到這個詞的節奏
在我睡覺的時候在我的臀部
.--. --- 。 -.-. -.--
讓點和破散開
在理解的病毒中穿過我所有的骨頭
所以如果我失聲
我還能說一句話
通過輕敲我的手指,
敲鼓
或者改變我心跳的節奏
用我的血說話

想像

六千種語言
玩我的脊椎
33聲部和聲
為我譜寫交響曲
用迴盪的旋律
我的脊髓
在隧道裡迴聲越來越大
放大復合音樂
一直到我大腦的底部
它在哪裡引爆
在我的頭骨內產生共鳴
彈跳
六千個新表達
為了同一個詞
60億歌手的聲音
進入我的六萬億思想
直到我再也無法忍受混亂
他們的歌聲從我的唇間迸發出來

提供世界
同步理解的時刻
一首歌的
一個聲音
一個人的
一瞬間

在世界眨眼之前
失去焦點
並聆聽迴聲
慢慢消失

但記得
聲音
我們的詩歌

Saturday, June 3, 2023

Rudy Francisco, "To The Girl Who Works At Starbucks"


Rudy Francisco performing "To The Girl Who Works At Starbucks" at Write About Now Poetry. Francisco is one of the most recognizable names in Spoken Word Poetry. 

 
He was born, raised and still resides in San Diego, California. At the age of 21, Rudy completed his B.A in Psychology and decided to continue his education by pursuing a M.A in Organizational Studies. As an artist, Rudy Francisco is an amalgamation of social critique, introspection, honesty and humor. 

He uses personal narratives to discuss the politics of race, class, gender and religion while simultaneously pinpointing and reinforcing the interconnected nature of human existence. Francisco seeks to create work that promotes healthy dialogue, discourse and social change. Furthermore, Rudy has made conscious efforts to cultivate young poets and expose the youth to the genre of Spoken Word Poetry via coaching, workshops and performances at preparatory schools and community centers. Rudy has also received admiration from institutions of higher education. 

He has conducted guest lectures and performances at countless colleges and universities across the nation. Francisco has shared stages with prominent artists such as Gladys Knight, Jordin Sparks, Musiq Soul Child, and Jill Scott. He is also the co-host of the largest poetry venue in San Diego, competes in domestic and international poetry slam competitions and had the honor of being nominated for an NAACP Image Award. 

Ultimately, Rudy's goal is to continue to assist others in harnessing their creativity while cultivating his own. Rudy Francisco is the 2009 National Underground Poetry Slam Champion, 2010 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion and appeared on TV One’s “Verses and Flow”


Thursday, June 1, 2023

"Lumberjacking is the World's Most Dangerous Profession" ... for 2023

 

lumberjacking is the world’s most dangerous profession
falling trees and limbs slay lumberjacks at a rate
30 times higher than average
breaking bones a dozen times daily

these arms are not built to fell trees
these hands not built to wield axes or chainsaws
I am no lumberjack
but I know the sound of a tree falling in a forest
we do not know how many died
to build this stage
to erect these room
to raise this roof

poetry is the world’s most dangerous art form
suicide and addiction and overdose slay poets
at a rate not measured by the Bureau of Statistics
because we do not list "poet" as a profession
no matter how deep is in our bones

but I am a poet

these arms were built to climb trees
these hands to wield pen and microphone
the sound of a poet falling in a forest
sounds so much like a tree
even the Earth can't tell the difference
we do not know how many died
to raise this roof
to erect these room
to build this stage

I know no dead lumberjacks
but if I were to inscribe the names of all the dead poets
this body would be inkwell:

one drowned in the heat of lonely city

one swallowing pills to stay afloat


one who heard his son cry
but only once


one who found refuge in a bottle
until his liver took his heart in the divorce

one who shotgunned the worst of him
across pages of the best of him

one who swam with men in grey suits
but died alone in the desert

one with the Will of a Haymaker
now Basquiating himself
with a heroin needle
refusing to hear us say 
"stop"

one who swam into the river
never intending to reach the far shore

one who relived his golden age
overdosing on methadone


one who named his son Oren
and told us to look it up
wrote that one day his son would fall,
but a poet would there to catch him

and another poet

and another

and another

I know no lumberjacks
but I know they must weep like I do
whenever these names come flooding back

we do not build furniture or homes or monuments or empires
tangibility that can exist without the living
we only leave behind our words
which yellow and age over time
only existing if we read or speak them
but there are too many words now
and not enough time
and I'm beginning to forget
and there's no one here to help

lumberjacks take refuge in the woods
work beneath the leaves
take revenge on the limbs and trees
that slew their brothers
but we poets have nowhere to go
but back to these pages
to these microphones
to these slam stages
where we pour out our rage
it's why we're always shouting
a Dead Poets Society
is trapped in our throats

I'm not even supposed to be here
there's too much sin,
sloth
and pride
to be a Speaker of the Dead
to bear this burden of survivor
I am the Devil's bad luck
and the Grim Reaper's off days

I am tired of burying our dead
of toasting our fallen as conquering heroes
of retelling all the same old stories
to those old poets who can remember
before the needle drained
the pills slowed
the bullet shattered
the depression became too much to bear

I am tired of telling new young poets
about who came before
or how their newest stanza
can make me weep
because it sounds so much like someone
they can read but never meet
they don't need this added weight
while learning to fly
I am tired of telling still-living poets
with one foot in the graveyard
and one hand on a needle
that I don't deserve to outlive them

one poet named his son “Pine Tree” in Hebrew
wrote that one day he would fall
I am no lumberjack
but I will ready to catch him
because a poet said to


I can build nothing
but this
this is a promise I can keep

Saturday, May 27, 2023

Alex Copeland & Jensen McRae "Trumpets"

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

Saturday, May 20, 2023

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

Tuesday, May 9, 2023

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.

Saturday, May 6, 2023

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,

Saturday, April 29, 2023

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.

Saturday, April 22, 2023

"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

Saturday, April 15, 2023

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

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

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 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.


Saturday, April 8, 2023

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.

Saturday, April 1, 2023

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.

Saturday, March 25, 2023

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.

Saturday, March 18, 2023

"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.

Saturday, March 11, 2023

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

Saturday, March 4, 2023

"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.

Saturday, February 25, 2023

"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.



Saturday, February 18, 2023

"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.

Saturday, February 11, 2023

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.


Wednesday, February 8, 2023

"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.

Saturday, February 4, 2023

"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.

Saturday, January 28, 2023

"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. 

Saturday, January 21, 2023

"Mollycoddled" by Civil

Civil performing "Mollycoddled" 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.

Saturday, January 14, 2023

"At Least That Way You Can Stay" by Emily Comstock

Emily Comstock performing "At Least That Way You Can Stay" 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.

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Christian Perfas aka Soul Stuf features at the Sedona Poetry Slam on Saturday, Jan. 28

 With 2022 in the rearview and 2023 underway, the Sedona Poetry Slam enters its 15th year of performance poets bringing high-energy, competitive spoken word to the Mary D. Fisher Theatre starting at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28.

Between rounds, Los Angeles area slam poet Christian Perfas will perform a featured set.



Open Slam 

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 next poetry slam of the season will be held Saturday, April 1, in conjunction with the Northern Arizona Book Festival. The last slam of the season will be on Saturday, May 13, in 2023.

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.

Christian Perfas

Christian Perfas, known by the stage name Soul Stuf, is a second generation Filipino-American spoken word artist based in the greater Los Angeles area. 

His work addresses a wide range of themes, from the seemingly mundane to the heart-wrenchingly familiar, such as youth, self-discovery and intersectional identity. 

Perfas has performed all across the country, from San Diego to Boston and was ranked in the "Top 25 Poets of the World" in the Individual World Poetry Slam of 2018. 

Featuring at Da Poetry Lounge, All Def Digital, House of Blues Anaheim, The Comedy Store, Electric Forest Festival and The Ghost Poetry Show in Phoenix, Soul Stuf is a consummate professional and all-around showman. 

His first officially published book, "Play: A Reclamation Of Soul" is now available for sale in person and online, along with a poetry EP in collaboration with Fictitious Professor. 

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.



Saturday, January 7, 2023

"See No Evil Hear No Evil Speak No Evil" by Raad Syed

Raad Syed performing "See No Evil Hear No Evil Speak No Evil" 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.

Sunday, January 1, 2023

Oak Creek flooding north of Sedona at Rainbow Trout Farm on Jan. 1, 2023

 

Oak Creek at the Rainbow Trout Farm and Rainbow Mobile Home Park in Oak Creek Canyon around 4:45 p.m. On Sunday, Jan, 1, 2023. Athena and I went for a drive to see snow and I shot this on the errand. 

The low-water bridge between State Route 89A and the Rainbow Trout Farm area is completely submerged. 

Oak Creek has its headquarters in Oak Creek Canyon, then flows through Sedona to the confluence with the Verde River between Cottonwood and Camp Verde in the Verde Valley of Northern Arizona. The Verde then flows south to the Salt River, into the Gila River and finally the Colorado River before emptying into the Sea of Cortez.

I also posted this to the Larson Newspapers YouTube page

"A Tree Story" by Seth Walker

Seth Walker performing "A Tree Story" at The Rebel Lounge in Phoenix, on Sept. 28, 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.

Seth Walker

I've known Seth for well over a decade, but we bonded with a host of other poets who survived the Desert Rocks Music Fest 2012. It's a long, dusty story ....

Starting a career as Houston, Texas’ premiere national poet and Grand Slam Champion of 2007, Seth Walker has earned titles in nearly every state in America. 

In November 2007 Seth Walker was Houston’s premiere national poet and had just claimed Grand Slam Champion, he then left Houston to follow his art and travel across the country to find it…

Since then Seth has performed at nearly every major venue in the country including Da Poetry Lounge in Hollywood, Calif., The Green Mill in Chicago and The Nuyorican in New York City. Along the way he won several noteworthy titles such as: Slam Champion of the Utah State Arts Fair Poetry Slam (2009), North Beast Indie Slam Champion (North-Eastern Regional 2010), slamming with the 2010 Austin Poetry Slam Team, as well as as slamming with Denver’s Slam NUBA in 2012.

While traveling with rotating national artists, this notorious “road dog” poet traveled 10 to 11 months out of the year, dedicating his art to whomever he meets. In 2012 he took 1st place for Denver’s famous Cafe NUBA at the iWPS competition, making Seth Walker their Individual World Poetry Slam Champion for 2012. Seth has been teaching and working with the Beyond Academia Free Skool since its beginning in 2012.

“Neobeat slam poet Seth Walker’s words were a perfect counterpoint to the message at hand. With lyrics that celebrated triumph of the spirit over the degradation of life circumstances, Walker engaged the audience and, hopefully, galvanized them to take up the cause even after the show was over,” wrote Melonie Magruder in The Malibu Times in Malibu, Calif.

“Floating above the seas of disposable ideas and so-called “news” presented by supposed “Fair and Balanced” hucksters, Seth Walker brings it real, raw and unrelentingly. His spoken word is emotional but not over-wrought; to the point but not simplistic. Seth Walker is a walkabout version of the evening news. In a world of false messengers, Seth is the real thing” wrote Kenn Rodriguez a National Poetry Slam Champion (2005)