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.

Friday, October 24, 2014

"Poem for Evan" by Christopher Fox Graham


"Poem for Evan"
by Christopher Fox Graham

this microphone was crafted for one purpose:
to take sound and amplify it across A ROOM

its brothers exist in a thousand places:
in the bedroom of a high school guitarist
at a candidate’s podium
in an Elks Lodge Bingo Hall

but this microphone
this microphone 
stands at a poetry slam
give    it    purpose

fill this room with your art

this stage
is devoid of props or sets
it needs nothing else but you
this stage merely holds your weight
make it creek and bend 
under the heaviness of words

make these wood beams
wish they were
          a sinner’s coffin,
or a church’s rafters 
or a hangman’s gallows        
something easier to bear
than the soapbox 
of poets
this audience
sits on the edge of its seat
voices silent
waiting for your three minutes to fill their ears
word by word

they did not come to hear pickup lines
and internet jokes
they want to feel something
do    not
waste
their    time

in the shadows of this stage,
there is a man with a gun
aimed at your temple

and when your three minutes end
he will turn your brain 
into art on this wall

you cannot escape his bullet 
so do not try
instead
speak
make your words count
give them weight and substance

make us feel something
turn these eyes into faucets
overflow the kitchen sink of our chests
’til this room fills
and spills out into the street
sink this city like Atlantis

or make us laugh so hard
our bellies and faces ache tomorrow
as we recount each punchline verbatim
but    do    not
waste
our    time

if there’s a boy or girl in the back of the room
you want to kiss
or fuck 
or marry
get off the stage
and say it face-to-face
because when you’re here

YOU
belong to
US

and if your words don’t seduce
every boy and girl in this room
you’re wasting your time

this stage is 
8:12 a.m. Hiroshima
12:27 p.m. Dealey Plaza
8:43 a.m. 99th floor North Tower

you have three minutes
until the world changes forever

this microphone
will not hate you
it will not love you
and it will not judge you

this stage does not careif you are a good person
if you are rich or poor
young or old,
gay, straight, or in between

we only care about your life story
edited to the best three minutes you can speak
how did you live?
what did you learn?
what will you teach?

that man is not moving
the clock is ticking
the laser sight is beginning to burn

what will you say?
why should we care?
why do you matter? 

remind us everyone here
has a gun
pointed at our skulls
and one day that round
will fire
make us believe these moments we spend here with you
are the best three minutes of our lives

your heart is a grenade
pull the pin and explode
leave word shrapnel buried in our skin
so in weeks and years hence
when your name is whispered

we few, 
we happy few 
who witnessed your detonation

will point to the scar

reread the line, 
and say 
“NOW
THAT

IS
POETRY”

when you slam a poem
any poem

leave your blood in this microphone
leave your heart on this stage
don’t care about the scores
don’t care about the time
don’t hold back
never apologize
believe every word 
is an atom bomb
these are your last words

this is your epitaph
this is what will be scrawled 
on your tombstone

long after we 
are all dead and buried
prove you had
at least one
good     reason     to
BANG!



my time is up
                this microphone is yours
                                                now,
                                turn this stage
                                to splinters




Christopher Fox Graham © October 2014

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

First Sedona Poetry Slam of the 2014-2015 season is Saturday, Nov. 1

Poets are invited to compete at the first Sedona Poetry Slam of the 2014-15, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1, at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre, 2030 W. State Route 89A, Suite A-3.

Slam poetry is an art form that allows written page poets to share their work alongside theatrical performers, hip-hop artists and lyricists. While many people may think of poetry as dull and laborious, a poetry slam is like a series of high-energy, three-minute one-person plays.

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 supporters Jeanne and Jim Freeland.

The slam is the first the 2014-15 season, which will culminate in selection of Sedona's fourth 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, college poets from Northern Arizona University, and youth poets from Sedona Red Rock High School's Young Voices Be Heard slam group.

There will be seven slams in the regular season, six in Sedona and one in Clarkdale. The final Grand Poetry Slam takes place next spring, 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 350 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., its second to the 2013 NPS in Boston and Cambridge, Mass., and its third to Oakland, Calif., in August.

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, 2013 and 2014. 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.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

"Use the Press" Workshop at the Individual World Poetry Slam

Whether you're a seasoned poet or a rookie, you want audiences to attend your shows, especially when you're on tour. Beyond relying on your host or social media network, use the press -- newspapers, radio stations, television stations and other media outlets -- to generate buzz about you before you arrive and cover your shows for their local audiences.

Rock bands have big followings because of their talents but also because they know how to generate news coverage. Slam poets should be no different.

Through the Use the Press Workshop, free and open to the public, poet Christopher Fox Graham will offer slam poets and poetry organizers tips on how to craft press release, deal with the media, and entice reporters, bloggers and others to write about your impending show, cover your slam or feature, and promote your as an artistic celebrity.

Graham is a 10-year journalism veteran and the managing editor of Larson Newspapers, a family-owned newspaper chain based in Sedona, Arizona. Graham has hosted the Sedona Poetry Slam since 2009 and been a member of the National Poetry Slam family since 2001.

He has hosted more than 30 national touring poets at his venue and home in Sedona, generating front page coverage for their featured performances at newspapers and magazines throughout Northern Arizona, both drawing in larger audience and helping touring poets increase sales of their chapbooks, CDs, DVDs and our merchandise, keeping them fed and fueled on the road.
Even if you have no plans to tour, the workshop will show how to work with the media outlets in your home city to attract reporters to regularly promote your poetry slams, interview feature poets who perform at your slam, attend and cover your Grand Slams and help promote your fundraising efforts to send your teams and individual poets to national competitions.

The workshop will include information for reaching audiences for other general events and activities you promote outside of slam as well.

This workshop is free and open to the public.


The workshop takes place at Jobot Coffee and Diner, 918 N. 5th St., Phoenix Arizona at 11 a.m.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

GumptionFest IX hosts the sixth annual Haiku Death Match in Sedona

GumptionFest IX's Haiku Death Match, aka GF9HDM

A Haiku Death Match is a competitive poetry duel that is a subgenre of poetry slam. The Haiku Death Match is a prominent feature at the annual National Poetry Slam, replete with full costume for the host.

At GumptionFest IX, we will hold the Sixth Annual Haiku Death Match. It takes place on Saturday, Sept. 20 from 4 to 5 p.m. at Posse Grounds Park.

What is haiku?
Haiku (俳句) is a form of Japanese poetry consisting of 17 syllables in three metrical phrases of 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables.

Japanese haiku typically contain a kigo, or seasonal reference, and a kireji or verbal caesura. In Japanese, haiku are traditionally printed in a single vertical line, while haiku in English usually appear in three lines, to parallel the three metrical phrases of Japanese haiku.

What is slam haiku?
Slam haiku used in a Haiku Death Match is far simpler: Use of three or fewer lines of 17 syllables. Slam haiku can be anything from a single 17-syllable line or simply 17 words. Two of mine:

Traditional 5-7-5 haiku
Serial Killer Haiku
Funny you should ask
my trunk can fit two Boy Scouts
and a grandmother

American 17-syllable haiku
Grammar Haiku:
Why isn't "phonetic" spelled phonetically?
While you think, let's make out

A standard Haiku Death Match is conducted thus:
The host randomly draws the names of two poets, known as haikusters, from the pool of competitors.
The haikusters adorn headbands of two colors: Red and Not-Red (white).
Red Haikuster and Host bow to each other.
Not-Red Haikuster and Host bow to each other.
Red Haikuster and Not-Red Haikuster bow to each other.
Red Haikuster goes first.
The Red Haikuster reads his or her haiku twice. The audience does not clap or make noise (usually, though, they laugh or vocalize, but, of course, we must pretend that this is completely unacceptable).
The Not-Red Haikuster reads his or her haiku twice. Again, the audience does not clap or make noise.
The host waits for the three judges to make their choice for winner, then signals them to hold aloft their Red or Not-Red flag.
Simple majority (3-0 or 2-1) determines the winner.
The host asks the audience to demonstrate “the sound of one hand clapping,” i.e., silence, then “the sound of two hands clapping,” at which point they can finally applaud. The mock ceremony involving the audience is half the fun.
The winning haikuster then goes first.
Depending on the round, the winner will be best 3 of 5, 4 of 7, best 5 of 9, etc., of a number determined beforehand for each round.
After the duel, Red Haikuster and Not-Red Haikuster bow to each other and shake hands. The next duel begins.

Rules for the GumptionFest VII Haiku Death Match:
  • Titles: Haikusters can read their haiku titles before they read the haiku. (This gives the haikusters technically more syllables to put the haiku in context, but the haiku itself must still be only 17 syllables. While this is not “pure” Haiku Death Match rules, it’s much more fun for the audience.
  • Originality: Poets must be the sole authors of the haiku they use in competition. Plagiarized haiku are grounds for disqualification. We all love Matsuo Bashō, but he’s 300 years too dead to compete.
  • On-page or memorized?: Poets can read from the page, book, journal, notepad, etc.
  • Preparation: Poets can have haiku written beforehand or write them in their head while at the mic. As long as the haiku are 17 syllables, we don’t care how, when or from where the haiku originates.
  • Rounds: Will be determined by the number of haikusters who sign up to compete.
  • Quantity of haiku needed: Depends on the number of rounds. 30 haiku will likely be enough for poets who push rounds to the last haiku needed and go all the rounds, but 50 to 100 gives haikusters enough material to be flexible in competition. Most veteran haikusters have several hundred to compete with.
  • Censorship: Adult themes and language are acceptable. There may be children present so you may have to deal with their parents afterward, but that’s your call.
  • Register: E-mail me at foxthepoet@yahoo.com or GumptionFest at GumptionFest@gmail.com.
What’s the Best Strategy to Win?
  • A winning haikuster is flexible.
  • If your opponent reads a serious or deep haiku, read one that is more serious or more profound, or go on the opposite tack and read something funny.
  • If your opponent reads a funny haiku, read one that is funnier, or go on the opposite tack and read something serious or deep.
  • If your opponent makes fun of you, make fun of yourself even bigger or make fun of them. A good head-to-head haiku can work wonders and often wins a Haiku duel. For instance, my “Damien Flores Haiku,” “Easy way to win: / Damien is 20, Officer, / and he's drunk."
  • If you’re on stage and you get an idea for a haiku, feel free to write it down immediately. That might be the next round’s haiku that wins you the duel.
  • Have a good time. Even if don't get past the first round, it's still a great time for all.
Still Scared of Haiku?
Don't be, they're easy to write. Haiku Death Match haiku are not likely to be remembered centuries from now, so don't stress out. Write short poems that you find entertaining and enjoyable.

The Robert Spiess Memorial 2012 Haiku Awards

nautical chart
I touch the depth
of my mother’s ashes
— Scott Mason, First Prize


slave quarters ...
the shapes of their shadows
in this dust
— Duro Jaiye, Second Prize


shades of blue ...
the deer’s remaining eye
cradled by bone
— Susan Constable, Third Prize

winter dusk
my grief released
from the crow’s throat
— Margaret Chula, Honorable Mention

formation of geese —
a log opens
to the woodsman’s maul
— Michele L. Harvey, Honorable Mention

I seem to be
an intermittent shadow . . .
summer clouds
— Kirsty Karkow, Honorable Mention

Anonymous Haiku:


Haiku are easy
but sometimes they don't make sense ...
refrigerator

she dances lithely
seduction under the moon
I ... hey, a nickel!

My life is Jello
Sitting, waiting in the bowl
Patiently to gel

"Doom" Haiku:
Frag demons for hours
Stare at the screen with red eyes
it's time for class

Cat haiku:
The rule for today
Touch my tail, I shred your hand
New rule tomorrow

Dog haiku:
You must scratch me there!
Yes, above my tail! Behold,
"Elevator butt."

Zombie Haiku:
Brains brains brains brains brains
Brains brains brains brains brain brains brains
Brains brains, shotgun, BAM!

Monday, September 1, 2014

"Bob Ross History" by Duncan Shields


Duncan Shields poem about Bob Ross teaching the history of North America was my favorite from the 2014 National Poetry Slam in Oakland, Calif. Shields performed the poem at the Legends Showcase. This is an earlier performance from April 5, 2014 at Astorino's, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Every human that has ever lived except one

Astronaut Michael Collins, behind the camera, is the only human not in this photo, shot from Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969. Except for Collins, it contains astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in the Eagle lander, as well as every man, woman and child alive and the resting place of all our dead ancestors.

On the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing


Photojournalist Tom Hood and I were invited by Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff to cover a speech by astronaut Neil Armstrong related to the unveiling of the first images recorded by the Discovery Channel Telescope on July 20, 2012, on the 43rd anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon.

The recording of Neil Armstrong's speech has some funny lines and beautiful imagery:
“Almost a half-century ago, some astronomers designed an experiment. The idea was deceptively simple: Compute the distance between the Earth and the moon based on the time it would take for a beam of light to travel up to a mirror located on the surface of the moon and to reflect it back to Earth.”
“I wasn’t one of the scientists on this project — I was sort of technician. My job in the experiment was to install the mirror."

“It may not be obvious why anyone would want to measure the distance to the Sea of Tranquility within 11 inches, but we had to have some way of confirming our mileage for our expense account.”
“The mirrors are expected to be busy for many years to come, which gives me enormous satisfaction as a technician on the project.” 

“From the Sea of Tranquility, the Earth hung above me 23 degrees west of the zenith, a turquoise pendant against a black velvet sky.”
“The home of the human species is not inherently restricted to Earth alone. The universe around us is our challenge and our destiny.”

“Thanks to everyone here for being a part in this civilization.”



Neil Armstrong on the moon
It turned out to be Armstrong's last public speech [and second-to-last interview; his last being with an Italian radio station] gave before his death on Aug. 25, 2012.

The video to which he referred at another speech in Australia in 2011:

Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong also left behind an American Flag, a plaque, an olive branch-shaped gold pin, messages from 73 world leaders, a patch from the Apollo 1 mission that, during a training exercise, combusted and killed three American astronauts, and medals in honor of two of the first Soviet astronauts who had died in flight.

Digitally remastered footage of the 1969 Apollo 11 moonwalk:


The video highlights of the three-hour moonwalk include a clearer picture of Neil Armstrong's descent down the stairs of the lunar module, which was taken from the Parkes Radio Observatory and the Honeysuckle Creek tracking station outside Canberra on 21 July 1969 (Australian time).
The long-forgotten video footage was uncovered during a decade-long search for the original recordings of the moonwalk, and involved lengthy detective work and clandestine meetings, says astronomer and telescope operator John Sarkissian from the CSIRO at Parkes, who headed up the search.
At the time of the Moon landing, three stations - Goldstone in California, Honeysuckle Creek in Canberra, and Parkes in New South Wales - simultaneously recorded the events onto magnetic data tape. The direct recordings were not of broadcast quality, says John, so they had to set up a regular TV camera pointed at a small black-and-white TV screen in the observatory to obtain higher-quality images that could be relayed to television stations around the world.
"Original signals weren't HD quality TV. They weren't even broadcast quality, even by 1969 standards," he says. "They were better than what was broadcast to the world; that's why we went looking for them ...".
Buzz Aldrin on the moon
The Goldstone camera settings to convert Neil's descent down the stairs were not correct and showed an image too dark to see. So the decision was made to switch to the Honeysuckle Creek footage, and after eight minutes, to the Parkes footage, which was used for the rest of the moonwalk.
It was this clearer footage, which had not been seen since 1969, that John and his search team were hoping to recover from the NASA archives, where the tapes had been sent.
Unfortunately, they hit a roadblock. "We discovered, to our horror, that in the 1970s and 80s NASA had taken the tapes in the national archive and erased them all to record other missions."
About 250,000 tapes from the Apollo era, likely including the 45 tapes of the moonwalk, are likely lost forever.
The Apollo 11 Plaque left on the lander on the moon
After some digging, they found that in the 1980s someone made a VHS tape of the Honeysuckle Creek magnetic tape, "a bootleg copy if you like, that was severely degraded," John says. A copy of that copy was given to an Apollo enthusiast who was tracked down to Sydney by the search team. This footage included a brighter and clearer version of Apollo 11 mission commander Neil Armstrong's descent to the lunar surface and was used to replace the darker Goldstone images at the start of the broadcast.
At the awards ceremony, select scenes from the entire restored video will show Neil's first step on the Moon's surface, Buzz Aldrin's decent of the lunar module ladder, the plaque reading and the raising of the U.S. flag.

Had the Apollo 11 mission failed, the White House had planned for President Richard Nixon to give this speech, which remained quietly in government archieves. The speech is heart-wrenching, even if it was never needed:

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

"The Envy of the Moon" by Christopher Fox Graham

"The Envy of the Moon"
By Christopher Fox Graham

The Arizona desert is so silent
that on a night like this
you can hear the Moon

because of the distance between here and there
it takes time for messages to pass between us
but tonight I ask,
"Moon, do you envy the Earth?"
on most nights,
the Moon remains silent in the night sky
unwilling or unable to reply
but tonight,
tonight on the breath of the wind
deep and slow like it had centuries of time to contemplate an answer
I heard the Moon whisper, "Yes."

when speaking with heavenly bodies
you must slow your mind
understand that they do not enunciate impatiently
every syllable takes time to shake free of its surface
so they only speak when gravity is worth the weight

"Yes, I envy the Earth," the Moon said
"we were lovers
born in the same fire
spinning like dancers drunk on each other
shattered by craters which made us old before our time
but across her
oceans hide her secrets
I pull at them hoping to see her again

I lost sight of her beneath all the green
across her, moving things became too many to count
the noise of it is deafening

your people covered across her plains
cut geometric squares that now change with the seasons
cities spread from sea coast up her rivers to the mountains
and places in between
threads of lines connect them all
you people shake loose so much of my old lover
I barely recognize her
and I wondered what is so important
that you were so busy for so long

and then a few of you came to visit
planted your feet and your flags on my skin
said things close to me
there was no time to wait for the echo like before
it was overwhelming
the Earth feels like this every day
and i'm certain some days it's more than she can take
but I would give anything to feel it again

you had stared at me for so many generations
your desire to reach me was burned into your bones
so happy to be the first
you left your names engraved in stone for those afterward

and then I knew what she felt
why she held you so tightly
why she changed herself after every eruption or impact
it was to give a few of you a chance to survive
it was the only way we could touch again

you came to visit
but none of you stayed
you left me here
and I did not know I was lonely until you were gone

but I will tell you a secret:

deep in your American South
in the bayou of a delta
there is a man who sits nightly on his porch
as the sun dips below the horizon
he plays his guitar for hours
I can narrow my vision to see his face like he was sitting here
he plays and stares at me
like we are old friends

the lunar desert is so silent
that on a night like this
you can hear single note

because of the distance between here and there
it takes time for messages to pass between us

but I strain to listen
and I know I must compensate for the delay
deafen all the other songs and stories
so I can hear what he has to sing
but on a night like tonight
on the breath of the wind
he sings of being alone

I count you daily
there are 7 billion of you around him
some within miles
be he, he is alone
profoundly nakedly alone
as though he, like me, had been alone in the dark for centuries
but remembers what it was like to be loved and touched once
and when stares at me, he knows that only I know what he feels
he sings to me
he sings for me
he sings because I
do not know how

so, yes, I envy the Earth
I want you to be here
I want your cities to spread across these ancient craters
I want to be so deep beneath your feet that I am forgotten
because you are staring out at other worlds to touch
I want you to no longer call me the Moon like I am a stranger
but 'home' because this is where you spent your lives
this is where you want to be buried
this is where you want to leave from
and never look back

I envy the Earth
because she has this," the Moon said
"she has you"

A colonized moon




Christopher Fox Graham © 2014

Monday, June 23, 2014

Button Poetry presents "Waiting" by poet Thadra Sheridan


Thadra Sheridan performs the poem "Waiting." Filmed by Jamie DeWolf.

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, June 7, 2014

TODAY: 12 poets battle in the Sedona Grand Poetry Slam on Saturday, June 7


Today, Saturday, June 7, the best poets in Arizona will compete in the 2014 Sedona Poetry Grand Slam, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre, 2030 W. State Route 89A, Suite A-3.



The slam is the final the 2014 season, which culminates 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 and Flagstaff, competing against adult poets from Sedona, college poets from Northern Arizona University, and youth poets from Sedona Red Rock High School's Young Voices Be Heard slam group.

Slam poetry is an art form that allows written page poets to share their work alongside theatrical performers, hip-hop artists and lyricists. While many people may think of poetry as dull and laborious, a poetry slam is like a series of high-energy, three-minute one-person plays.

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.

At Nationals, the Sedona National Poetry Slam Team will share the stage with 300 of the top poets in the United States, Canada and Europe, pouring out their words in a weeklong explosion of expression.

Sedona sent its 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 12 top poets who will compete on June 7 include:

Maya Hall

Maya Hall is a triplet and a lover of life.

When she isn't busy working on poetry she's studying for an art education degree as well as gearing up for a masters in counseling.

She's ready for the path that poetry is taking her and is up for anything in this new, exciting chapter of her life and hoping to get her words out to a larger audience.

Spencer Troth


Spencer Troth was born in the humble town of Mesa, after it was no longer a humble town. He has lived across the Phoenix Metro area, but has now learned to call Flagstaff his home. Having just completed his degree in Political Science, Troth is a fresh young adult looking to find his place in the world of politics, though he has always kept a special place in his heart for poetry. As a poet, Troth has competed in slams for about two years, garnering a place on Sedona's national team in 2012 to compete in Charlotte, N.C.

Troth has a writing style which can be saturated with images, and sometimes difficult to interpret, but claims that beneath it all there is a narrative which he wishes to convey in every piece.

"I have always tried to take a more normal experience, falling in love, traveling, experiencing a friend pass; and break it down into more abstract images and concepts. I think this is how my mind operates, and with poetry, my inevitable goal is to bring people into a place where they may experience the things which influence me in a similar fashion to how I am affected by them," Troth said.

Rowie Shebala


Roanna Shebala, a Native American spoken word artist, of the Diné – Navajo – Tribe was born and raised on the Navajo Nation.

Given the gift of storytelling from her father she combines story, poetry, and performance.

Shebala constantly brings the voice of her heritage into her performance, and written work often treading into spaces where hearing native voices is unlikely.

In doing so, she hopes to reframe what it means to be a Native person for the masses, point out the appropriation of her people's culture, and reclaim an identity that has perverted by heavily edited versions of history, the invisibilization of indigenous peoples today, and the use of those people as caricatures for mass amusement.

Lauren Perry


A slam poet for 11 years, Lauren Perry has been a four-time Women of the World competitor, representing Phoenix, Mesa and Sedona.

Something to be said for a Persona Poet – there is no box to think out of as they are not limited to one person but rather bring the voice another to carry the conversation outside any guidelines.

In 2013, Perry joined her fifth National Poetry Slam team, one that would rank seventh in the country and make it to semi-finals.

Her poems use great depth and multiple layers that tap dance back a round-robin to the beginning to tell more than one story but leave a complete image in the audience's head.

A born sarcastic, with a dark sense of humor, she’s not one to not love or perform anything less than hard.

Valence

Tyler "Valence" Sirvinskas is a performance poet and new media artist based in Arizona.

Spoken word, performance art, electronic music, and visual art are all elements of Valence's artistic vision. In 2011, he began competing in poetry slams, and represented Flagstaff at the 2011 National Poetry Slam. In 2012, he won the Sedona Grand Slam, and in 2013 secured a spot on the Sedona National Poetry Slam Team.

Valence has lived in Arizona for the last decade, but was born in and spent his childhood in Chicago. Part of the last generation to know first-hand what life was like before the internet, Valence is grateful for anything that makes people silence their smartphones.

In the future, Valence has plans for touring, various projects, and a new style of performance art that combines spoken word with live video and music. At only 23 years of age, he's still somewhat green but definitely done screwing around.

Lauren Remy

Lauren Remy is 16 years old and a resident of Sedona.

Remy has been a part of youth poetry slams for two years. People have likely seen her spitting some poetry at Java Love Café.

Remy writes metaphors about fire, or flowers, or space. When she’s not spitting some radical poetry she’s being a thespian at Sedona Red Rock High School.

Remy is a cool cat. But isn’t as cool of a cat as James Gould (the glorious leader of North Korea).

Gould is inspiring to Remy because he isn’t narcissistic in the slightest. Also, by the way, Remy is NOT James’s secret admirer.

James Gould


James Gould is kind of a big deal. He is not only Sedona's "Most Successful Rap Battle Host Ever," but also a competing poet for the Sedona National Poetry Slam Team.

He performs poetry to get stuff off his chest, like breast reduction.

He lives and works in Sedona, as "The Best Web Developer You Ever Saw." He writes poems on subjects including, but not limited to, dinosaurs, free speech, his irrationally rational fears of babies and fans, and cute people.

"He is probably the best person ever, and not in the slightest narcissistic." -James's Secret Admirer (Definitely not James).

Gabbi Jue

Gabbi "Truth Bomb" Jue is a spoken word poet, dancer, creator and survivor with an insatiable love for things that turn pain into beauty.

Tribulations and triumphs in her lifetime influence her art, which she uses to bring strength and hope for others and herself. She has been a member of the Northern Arizona poetry community since 2011 and was a member of FlagSlam’s 2013 National Poetry Slam Team that competed at the National Poetry Slam in Boston.

No fear of telling it how it is, her tendency to speak her mind bluntly and honestly has coined her the nickname "Truth Bomb."

Joy Young

Joy Young is a Phoenix-based spoken word performance and teaching artist.

A self-described “circus-poet,” she believes that often, the best response to a world constructed of ridiculous assumptions and expectations is to be equally ridiculous. It is through the juxtaposition of perceived realities and the absurd that she hopes to unveil places of possibility and queer our understanding of the world around us.

Her unique body of work often explores nuanced understandings of gender, sex, and sexuality in ways that frame personal narratives as part of larger social justice topics.

Evan Dissinger

Evan Dissinger is 24 years old and currently living in Flagstaff. He has been involved with slam poetry since 2008 and has been on two national teams; 2008 with FlagSlam and again in 2012 as a member of team Sedona.

Dissinger lives with one cat and is often found hunched over a canvas or cruising on a skateboard when not at his restaurant day job.

Dissinger is an inquisitive Aquarius with a unique interpretation of the world around him. Dissinger caries a timid boldness that can be found reflected in his art.

Verbal Kensington

With a background ranging the spectrum from accounting to pyrotechnics, Meg "Verbal" Kensington is Necessary Publishing’s Creative Director and competed on the 2013 Sedona National Poetry Slam Team in Boston.

She’s also a writer, poet, artist, and mentor. Others know her as a verbal mercenary, with an uncanny knack for organization.

Her most valued achievements include the ability to speak unabashedly in the third person, the precise calculation of road-trip gas mileage in her beloved vintage Subaru, and the unobtrusive creation of an amazing array of late-night snacks.

She aspires to become more like her favorite animal, the platypus – the only earthly creature who is both astonishingly cuddly, and horrendously poisonous.

With her unique combination of extreme intelligence and stunning good looks, she plans to one day take over the world – starting today.

The Klute


Phoenix-area crackpot Jerome du Bois once said of The Klute: "You have one of the blackest hearts I've ever had the misfortune to glimpse," so in 2007, The Klute received an upgrade.

With the implantation of a Freestyle bioprosthesis, The Klute now has "superior flow characteristics." His heart remains blacker than ever.

The Klute, part man, part machine, all of him sarcastic, is a fixture of the Arizona poetry scene, having been on five National Slam Poetry Teams from Mesa (2002-2003, 2005-2006, and 2010) and four from Phoenix (2008-2009, 2012-2013).

In 2014 he will be published in anthologies by Write Bloody and Sergeant Press. He's a one-man psy-ops campaign bringing the system down from inside. He buys low and sells high. He keeps the Grim Reaper on speed dial and his absinthe on ice.

Christopher Fox Graham


The Sedona Poetry Grand 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.

He recently earned a slot on the 2014 FlagSlam team which will compete alongside the Sedona team at Nationals. Graham has hosted the Sedona Poetry Slam since 2009.

 

Friday, June 6, 2014

FlagSlam National Poetry Slam Team join as Sedona's best slam poets battle June 7


FlagSlam National Poetry Slam Team poets Claire Pearson, Christopher Fox Graham, Josh Floyd, Josh Wiss and Ryan Smalley will join as their sister team gets selected at the Sedona Poetry Grand Slam.

Poets The Klute, Verbal Kensington, Evan Dissinger, Joy Young, Gabbi Jue, James Gould, Lauren Remy, Valence, Lauren Perry, Rowie Shebala, Spencer Troth and Maya Hall will battle for the five slots on the Sedona National Poetry Slam Team.



On Saturday, June 7, the best poets in Arizona will compete in the 2014 Sedona Poetry Grand Slam, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre, 2030 W. State Route 89A, Suite A-3.


The slam is the final the 2014 season, which culminates 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 and Flagstaff, competing against adult poets from Sedona, college poets from Northern Arizona University, and youth poets from Sedona Red Rock High School's Young Voices Be Heard slam group.

Slam poetry is an art form that allows written page poets to share their work alongside theatrical performers, hip-hop artists and lyricists. While many people may think of poetry as dull and laborious, a poetry slam is like a series of high-energy, three-minute one-person plays.

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.

At Nationals, the Sedona National Poetry Slam Team will share the stage with 300 of the top poets in the United States, Canada and Europe, pouring out their words in a weeklong explosion of expression.

Sedona sent its first team to the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C., and its second to the 2013 NPS in Boston and Cambridge, Mass.

Kaylan Rosa calibrates at the Sedona Poetry Grand Slam on June 7 as Arizona's best slam poetscompete


Kaylan Rosa is a 15-year-old resident of Sedona. She was only recently birthed into the swag ass world that is slam poetry.

When Kaylan Rosa is not writing or procrastinating poetry she spends her time listening to mad raps, maintaining her hella rad fashion game, and doing a plethora of thespian-related things.

Kaylan Rosa also just so happens to be a dedicated fan and whole hearted lover of the beverage coconut water, so if anyone ever has a hankering to buy her some coconut water ... please ... do not hesitate to do so.

P.S. she hates it with pulp.

Kaylan Rosa will be one of the calibration poets as poets The Klute, Verbal Kensington, Evan Dissinger, Joy Young, Gabbi Jue, James Gould, Lauren Remy, Valence, Lauren Perry, Rowie Shebala, Spencer Troth and Maya Hall will face off at the Sedona Poetry Grand Slam.



On Saturday, June 7, the best poets in Arizona will compete in the 2014 Sedona Poetry Grand Slam, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre, 2030 W. State Route 89A, Suite A-3.


The slam is the final the 2014 season, which culminates 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 and Flagstaff, competing against adult poets from Sedona, college poets from Northern Arizona University, and youth poets from Sedona Red Rock High School's Young Voices Be Heard slam group.

Slam poetry is an art form that allows written page poets to share their work alongside theatrical performers, hip-hop artists and lyricists. While many people may think of poetry as dull and laborious, a poetry slam is like a series of high-energy, three-minute one-person plays.

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.

At Nationals, the Sedona National Poetry Slam Team will share the stage with 300 of the top poets in the United States, Canada and Europe, pouring out their words in a weeklong explosion of expression.

Sedona sent its first team to the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C., and its second to the 2013 NPS in Boston and Cambridge, Mass.

Christopher Fox Graham hosts the Sedona Poetry Grand Slam on June 7 as Arizona's best slam poets compete


Christopher Fox Graham is a poet and journalist from Sedona.

Beginning his performance poetry career in October 2000, Graham has been a member of six Flagstaff National Poetry Slam teams, representing Flagstaff in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Originally from Montana, Graham was raised in the East Valley of Phoenix. He earned a degree in English from Arizona State University before serving as slammaster of FlagSlam in 2001 to 2002. He toured 36 states on a three-month poetry tour with Keith Brucker and Josh Fleming in summer 2002, then later moved to Sedona in 2004. In 2009, he founded the Sedona Poetry Slam, which has sent teams to the National Poetry Slams in 2012 and 2013.


Graham will be one the host as poets The Klute, Verbal Kensington, Evan Dissinger, Joy Young, Gabbi Jue, James Gould, Lauren Remy, Valence, Lauren Perry, Rowie Shebala, Spencer Troth and Maya Hall face off at the Sedona Poetry Grand Slam.



On Saturday, June 7, the best poets in Arizona will compete in the 2014 Sedona Poetry Grand Slam, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre, 2030 W. State Route 89A, Suite A-3.


The slam is the final the 2014 season, which culminates 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 and Flagstaff, competing against adult poets from Sedona, college poets from Northern Arizona University, and youth poets from Sedona Red Rock High School's Young Voices Be Heard slam group.

Slam poetry is an art form that allows written page poets to share their work alongside theatrical performers, hip-hop artists and lyricists. While many people may think of poetry as dull and laborious, a poetry slam is like a series of high-energy, three-minute one-person plays.

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.

At Nationals, the Sedona National Poetry Slam Team will share the stage with 300 of the top poets in the United States, Canada and Europe, pouring out their words in a weeklong explosion of expression.

Sedona sent its first team to the 2012 National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, N.C., and its second to the 2013 NPS in Boston and Cambridge, Mass.