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, March 24, 2014

Canadian slam poet R.C. Weslowski features at the Sedona Poetry Slam Saturday, March 29, at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre

One of Canada's best known performance poets, R.C. Weslowski, features at the fourth Sedona Poetry Slam of 2014, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 29, at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre, 2030 W. State Route 89A, Suite A-3.

Weslowski was the 2012 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Champion and has represented English Canada twice at the World Cup of Poetry in Paris, France, finishing second and fifth overall.

Weslowski has recently being performing his own one person shows "The Wet Dream Catcher" and "The Cruelest Phone Book in the World" at various Canadian Fringe Theatre Festivals. Weslowski has also been published in Quills, One Cool Word and most recently CV2. Weslowski also organizes youth poetry events inn Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and has co-hosted the poetry radio show Wax Poetic for the past 13 years.

As a performer R.C. Weslowski is a five-time member of the Vancouver Poetry Slam Team and has performed at Festival across Canada, including: The Calgary International Poetry Festival, The Winnipeg Writer's Festival, The Saskatchewan Festival of Words, The Vancouver Folk Festival, The Vancouver Storytelling Fesival, Music West, The Canadian Festival of Spoken Word.

As an event organizer R.C. Weslowski was the artistic director for the 2005 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word and the publicity coordinator for the 2007 Individual World Poetry Slam.

Weslowski has also performed his poetry on the Eiffel Tower while snorting the remains of Orson Welles and along the Rhine River in Germany while debating Schopenhauer with a schnauser. But aside from all that he will literally blow your brain apart and put it back together again using nothing but his voice. Seriously

All Canadian nationals and expatriates living in and visiting Sedona and the Verde Valley are specially encouraged to attend.

All poets are welcome to compete for the $75 grand prize and $25 second-place prize. The prize is funded in part by a donation from Verde Valley poetry supporter Jeanne and Jim Freeland.

The slam is the fourth the 2014 season, which will culminate in selection of Sedona's third National Poetry Slam Team, the foursome and alternate who will represent the city at the National Poetry Slam in Oakland, Calif., in August. Poets in the slam come from as far away as Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff, competing against adult poets from Sedona and Cottonwood and youth poets from Sedona Red Rock High School's Young Voices Be Heard slam group.

Future slams take place Saturday, April 26, and Saturday, May 17. The final Grand Poetry Slam takes place Saturday, June 7, to determine the team.

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

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 their audience with their creativity.

The poets will be judged Olympics-style by five members of the audience selected at random at the beginning of the slam.

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

The local poets will share the stage with 300 of the top poets in the United States, Canada and Europe, pouring out their words in a weeklong explosion of expression. Sedona sent its five-poet first team to the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C., and its second to the 2013 NPS in Boston and Cambridge, Mass.

The slam will be hosted by Sedona poet Christopher Fox Graham, who represented Northern Arizona on seven FlagSlam National Poetry Slams in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2012 and 2013. Graham has hosted the Sedona Poetry Slam since 2009.

Tickets are $12.

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

What is Poetry Slam?

Founded in Chicago in 1984 by construction worker Marc Smith, poetry slam is a competitive artistic sport. Poetry slams are judged by five randomly chosen members of the audience who assign numerical value to individual poets' contents and performances. Poetry slam has become an international artistic sport, with more than 100 major poetry slams in the United States, Canada, Australia and Western Europe.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Verbal Kensington wins the third Sedona Poetry Slam of 2014


Round 1
Poet Score Time Penalty Net Score
The Klute 23.4 2:46 0.0 23.4
Evan Dissinger 23.5 2:50 0.0 23.5
Molly Shaheen 24.2 2:44 0.0 24.2
Lauren Remy 21.8 2:07 0.0 21.8
Jesus 26.9 2:03 0.0 26.9
Kaylan 24.8 2:54 0.0 24.8
James Gould 23.1 2:14 0.0 23.1
Verbal Kensington 29.5 2:36 0.0 29.5
Claire Pearson 26.8 2:30 0.0 26.8
Round 2
Poet Score Time Penalty Net Score
Claire Pearson 27.4 2:25 0.0 27.4
Verbal Kensington 29.1 3:15 -0.5 28.6
James Gould 26.0 2:14 0.0 26.0
Kaylan 22.5 3:01 0.0 22.5
Jesus 25.3 2:01 0.0 25.3
Lauren Remy 24.4 2:38 0.0 24.4
Molly Shaheen 26.2 1:43 0.0 26.2
Evan Dissinger 28.2 2:50 0.0 28.2
The Klute 26.2 3:13 -0.5 25.7
Round 3
Poet Score Time Penalty Net Score
Verbal Kensington 29.5 3:14 -0.5 29.0
Claire Pearson 26.8 2:14 0.0 26.8
Jesus 27.4 2:31 0.0 27.4
Evan Dissinger 28.0 2:33 0.0 28.0
Molly Shaheen 27.9 1:40 0.0 27.9
Final
Poet Score


Verbal Kensington 87.1


Claire Pearson 81.0


Evan Dissinger 79.7


Jesus 79.6


Molly Shaheen 78.3


James Gould 49.1


The Klute 49.1


Kaylan 47.3


Lauren Remy 46.2


Poet Zachary Kluckman features at the third Sedona Poetry Slam on March 8

Poet Zachary Kluckman features at the third Sedona Poetry Slam of 2014, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, March 8, at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre, 2030 W. State Route 89A, Suite A-3.

Zachary Kluckman
A performance poet since 2006, Kluckman is a two-time member of the Albuquerque, N.M., national poetry slam team, a Pushcart Prize nominee, and recipient of the Red Mountain Press National Poetry Prize.

When he is not amusing himself trying to untangle string cheese, Kluckman publishes poetry in anthologies and publications like the New York Quarterly, Cutthroat and Red Fez. Featured on more than 500 radio stations, with appearances on many of the nation's most notorious stages, he is an accomplished spoken word artist, as well as the Spoken Word Editor for the Pedestal. An activist, youth advocate and organizer, he has been recognized twice for making world history as the creator of the world's only Slam Poet Laureate Program and an organizer for the 100 Thousand Poets for Change program, the largest poetry reading in history.

As a youth advocate, Kluckman donates hundreds of hours a year to working with and empowering the youth. His first full-length collection, "Animals in Our Flesh," has received warm reviews from Jimmy Santiago Baca among others and his second collection, "Some of it is Muscle" has just been released by Swimming with Elephants Publications.

All poets are welcome to compete for the $75 grand prize and $25 second-place prize. The prize is funded in part by a donation from Verde Valley poetry supporter Jeanne Freeland.

The slam is the third the 2014 season, which will culminate in selection of Sedona's third National Poetry Slam Team, the foursome and alternate who will represent the city at the National Poetry Slam in Oakland, Calif., in August.

Future slams take place Saturday, March 29, Saturday, April 26, and Saturday, May 17. The final Grand Poetry Slam takes place Saturday, June 7, to determine the team.

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

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 their audience with their creativity.

The poets will be judged Olympics-style by five members of the audience selected at random at the beginning of the slam.

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

The local poets will share the stage with 300 of the top poets in the United States, Canada and Europe, pouring out their words in a weeklong explosion of expression. Sedona sent its five-poet first team to the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C., and its second to the 2013 NPS in Boston and Cambridge, Mass.

The slam will be hosted by Sedona poet Christopher Fox Graham, who represented Northern Arizona on seven FlagSlam National Poetry Slams in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2012 and 2013. Graham has hosted the Sedona Poetry Slam since 2009.

Tickets are $12.

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

What is Poetry Slam?

Founded in Chicago in 1984 by construction worker Marc Smith, poetry slam is a competitive artistic sport. Poetry slams are judged by five randomly chosen members of the audience who assign numerical value to individual poets' contents and performances. Poetry slam has become an international artistic sport, with more than 100 major poetry slams in the United States, Canada, Australia and Western Europe.

Friday, February 28, 2014

Sedona on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"


Sedona made it on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on Wednesday, Feb. 26.
... While Stewart was slamming Arizona about SB 1062 ... but hey, we got on TV.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Danny Strack and Ruff Draft feature at FlagSlam on Wednesday, Feb. 12

Danny Strack:

Danny Strack has won individual and group slam championships at the national, regional and city levels.

Most recently, Danny was a member of the 2012 Austin Neo-Soul team, which won the National Group Poem finals.

He's the current Slammaster and executive director of the Austin Poetry Slam, and has written 10 books of poetry and two full length plays, both of which were presented in 2012 and 2013 by Austin's Sky Candy Aerial Circus Arts Collective.

Danny is also a juggler with Sky Candy, likes balloons, walking, and is happy to be alive.



Ruff Draft:

Thomas, son of Stephen, son of Richard, son of Stephen, son of George, son of Henry, son of William, grew up in Rhode Island. Ruff attended his first slam in 2000 in Burlington, Vt., and it changed his life.

From these humble beginnings, Ruff went on to become a member of the PDX 2003 National Slam.


Ten years ago, he was inspired to move to Austin by the APS Team's final's stage performance at NPS 2003 in Chicago.

He became a beloved poet and host at the Austin Poetry Slam, and now he's moving back to PDX after 10 years.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Josh Wiss wins the second Sedona Poetry Slam of 2014


Round 1
Poet Score Time Penalty Net Score
Spencer Troth 15.0 3:37 -1.5 13.5
Emily Aitken 16.7 1:08 0.0 16.7
Ella Featherstone 20.2 1:02 0.0 20.2
Claire Pearson 24.4 2:21 0.0 24.4
James Gould 23.4 2:42 0.0 23.4
Josh Wish 25.7 2:30 0.0 25.7
Ryan Smalley 20.6 2:23 0.0 20.6
Lauren Remy 24.5 3:05 0.0 24.5
Evan Dissinger 23.8 2:54 0.0 23.8
Verbal Kensington 26.9 2:41 0.0 26.9
Stoney 18.8 7:26 -13.0 5.8
Round 2
Poet Score Time Penalty Net Score
Stoney 19.0 4:06 -3.0 16.0
Verbal Kensington 26.7 3:00 0.0 26.7
Evan Dissinger 27.1 3:15 -0.5 26.6
Lauren Remy 25.6 2:04 0.0 25.6
Ryan Smalley 23.3 1:56 0.0 23.3
Josh Wish 27.7 2:05 0.0 27.7
James Gould 26.4 2:12 0.0 26.4
Claire Pearson 25.4 2:34 0.0 25.4
Ella Featherstone 26.2 2:19 0.0 26.2
Emily Aitken 22.1 1:10 0.0 22.1
Spencer Troth 23.5 3:22 -1.0 22.5
Round 3
Poet Score Time Penalty Net Score
Verbal Kensington 27.5 3:08 0.0 27.5
Josh Wish 28.4 2:10 0.0 28.4
Evan Dissinger 27.1 2:11 0.0 27.1
Lauren Remy 27.8 2:27 0.0 27.8
Claire Pearson 27.4 2:24 0.0 27.4
James Gould 26.0 2:40 0.0 26.0
Final
Poet Score


Josh Wish 81.8


Verbal Kensington 81.1


Lauren  77.9


Evan Dissinger 77.5


Claire Pearson 77.2


James Gould 75.8


Ella Featherstone 46.4


Ryan Smalley 43.9


Emily 38.8


Spencer Troth 36.0


Stoney 21.8


Sunday, January 12, 2014

The Klute wins the first Sedona Poetry Slam of 2014



Round 1
Poet Score Time Penalty Net Score
Ryan Smalley 21.5 2:44 0.0 21.5
Evan Dissinger 24.5 2:48 0.0 24.5
Taylor Hayes 20.6 2:08 0.0 20.6
Tara Aitken 20.2 3:08 0.0 20.2
Claire Pearson 24.4 2:27 0.0 24.4
Josh Wiss 26.1 2:25 0.0 26.1
Spencer 24.2 2:22 0.0 24.2
Joy Young 27.8 2:21 0.0 27.8
Ella Featherstone 22.9 1:20 0.0 22.9
Anthony Johnson 29.4 2:15 0.0 29.4
Kimber 21.5 2:46 0.0 21.5
Klute 28.8 2:26 0.0 28.8
James 27.3 2:40 0.0 27.3
Mikel 23.6 2:46 0.0 23.6
Lauren Perry 25.4 2:23 0.0 25.4
Jackson 27.9 2:39 0.0 27.9
Lauren Remy 26.8 2:13 0.0 26.8
Valence 27.8 2:53 0.0 27.8
Round 2
Poet Score Time Penalty Net Score
Valence 26.8 3:07 0.0 26.8
Lauren Remy 28.2 2:14 0.0 28.2
Jackson 28.0 2:43 0.0 28.0
Lauren Perry 27.1 2:53 0.0 27.1
Mikel 24.8 3:30 -1.5 23.3
James 24.9 2:21 0.0 24.9
Klute 29.4 3:13 -0.5 28.9
Kimber 24.3 1:11 0.0 24.3
Anthony Johnson 27.5 2:24 0.0 27.5
Ella Featherstone 26.8 1:07 0.0 26.8
Joy Young 25.9 1:21 0.0 25.9
Spencer 24.2 3:24 -1.0 23.2
Josh Wiss 28.4 2:51 0.0 28.4
Claire Pearson 28.3 2:45 0.0 28.3
Tara Aitken 27.1 1:07 0.0 27.1
Taylor Hayes 27.2 2:41 0.0 27.2
Evan Dissinger 28.5 2:16 0.0 28.5
Ryan Smalley 28.5 2:20 0.0 28.5
Round 3
Poet Score Time Penalty Net Score
Klute 29.0 2:46 0.0 29.0
Anthony Johnson 28.7 1:42 0.0 28.7
Jackson 29.9 2:53 0.0 29.9
Lauren Remy 29.5 2:43 0.0 29.5
Valence 29.1 2:40 0.0 29.1
Final
Poet Score


Klute 86.7


Jackson 85.8


Anthony Johnson 85.6


Lauren Remy 84.5


Valence 83.7


Josh Wiss 54.5


Joy Young 53.7


Evan Dissinger 53.0


Claire Pearson 52.7


Lauren Perry 52.5


James 52.2


Ryan Smalley 50.0


Ella Featherstone 49.7


Taylor Hayes 47.8


Spencer 47.4


Tara Aitken 47.3


Mikel 46.9


Kimber 45.8


Tuesday, January 7, 2014

First Sedona Poetry Slam of 2014 is this Saturday, Jan. 11

The first Sedona Poetry Slam of 2014 kicks off at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, Jan. 11, at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre, 2030 W. State Route 89A, Suite A-3.

All poets are welcome to compete for the $75 grand prize and $25 second-place prize. The prize is funded in part by a donation from Verde Valley poetry supporter Jeanne Freeland.

The slam is the first the 2014 season, which will culminate in selection of Sedona's third National Poetry Slam Team, the foursome and alternate who will represent the city at the National Poetry Slam in Oakland, Calif., in August.

Future slams take place:
  • Saturday, Feb. 1
  • Saturday, March 8
  • Saturday, March 29
  • Saturday, April 26
  • Saturday, May 17
  • The final Grand Poetry Slam takes place Saturday, June 7, to determine the team.

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

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 their audience with their creativity.

The poets will be judged Olympics-style by five members of the audience selected at random at the beginning of the slam.

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

The local poets will share the stage with 300 of the top poets in the United States, Canada and Europe, pouring out their words in a weeklong explosion of expression. Sedona sent its five-poet first team to the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C., and its second to the 2013 NPS in Boston and Cambridge, Mass.

The slam will be hosted by Sedona poet Christopher Fox Graham, who represented Northern Arizona on seven FlagSlam National Poetry Slams in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2012 and 2013. Graham has hosted the Sedona Poetry Slam since 2009.

Tickets are $12.

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

What is Poetry Slam?


Founded in Chicago in 1984 by construction worker Marc Smith, poetry slam is a competitive artistic sport. Poetry slams are judged by five randomly chosen members of the audience who assign numerical value to individual poets' contents and performances. Poetry slam has become an international artistic sport, with more than 100 major poetry slams in the United States, Canada, Australia and Western Europe.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

“Midgley” by Christopher Fox Graham


we met on a bridge outside town
one-time nearly neighbors
his story ended 200 feet below

we were introduced by a sheriff's deputy
who stood between us
making sure no secrets could pass
between two men in the dark

beneath us both
this bridge of steel of iron
was riveted by men who now
all lay under the dirt
or in cemetery urns
this bridge holds 80 years of stories secret

each rivet and bolt
tells a separate story:
a birth in a foundry
a journey to this place
a final, spasmodic twist into steel
they are buried under fingerprints
of dead men
still hear the echoing voices
from the last time they were touched
their function is not move
if they surrender their purpose
give up on existence
yield their life to hold this bridge
this roadway will crumble into the canyon
but we don't learn from them
how to hold on

for us, this man
and me beside him
we have no bridge to weld ourselves into
the will to move will robs us of reasons to hold fast
we forget we have whole cities who will mourn our absence

I contemplate this for us
because he longer can:
he is silence and weight
waiting for men to carry him
in a zippered bag

a few hours ago
he stood a few feet from here
leaned forward
and let the laws of gravity
judge his weight too heavy to fly

did the rivets in this bridge hear him cry out
did he ever utter a sound
as he jumped from the edge
fell past the steel bolts and iron bars
diving like the birds
did they cry out,
wait! stop!
we have seen how this ends!

the rivets tried to unbolt themselves
creak and bend the iron to reach out and catch him
but decades ago men's tools drove them deep into steel
and they cannot move
they cannot let go
or this bridge will fall
and they will have no purpose
5 feet, 10 feet, 20 feet, 40 feet, 80 feet, 160 feet

some watched him strike the rocks below
but most tried to avert their gaze
twist toward the sky and hope at the last moment
the earth would fall away
and catch him soft

but hours later, they watched in the same silence
as more men carried him a basket to where he last stood
where I had arrived to meet him

to me the journalist
to these men, rescuers turned pallbearers
he is a late-night call
a recovery, a press release, an obituary

but the rivets
the steel beneath us
can't forget him
they have nowhere to go
no new places or stories to replace these nights
he is with them
deeper than fingerprints
and with every passing car
this bridge shudders
wondering
who may be next



For the family of the man whose body was recovered Oct. 9, 2013.

Friday, October 11, 2013

The "Pale Blue Dot," by Carl Sagan




"From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different.

The "Pale Blue Dot," taken Feb. 14, 1990
"Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

Astronomer Carl Sagan
"The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity – in all this vastness – there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

"The Earth is the only world known, so far, to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment, the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."

Carl Sagan
"Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space"
1997 reprint, pp. xv–xvi