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.

Wednesday, July 5, 2023

"Asụsụ Ọkpụkpụ" by Christopher Fox Graham


"Asụsụ Ọkpụkpụ"

by Christopher Fox Graham

Nye m egbugbu
miri karịa anụ ahụ
n'ọkpụkpụ nke ọkpụkpụ azụ m
n'elu nke ọ bụla vertebrae
n'asụsụ ọ bụla mmadụ
egbugbu okwu ha
"abụ"
nke mere na ọ dịghị asụsụ na-eche mba ọzọ;
nke mere na onye ọ bụla olu mmadụ
nwere ike ikwu okwu n'ime m

ka Arabic na Hibru
nọdu n'akuku na-atughi okwute
hapụ agwa Cantonese na Hindi
jikọọ aka iji jide Swahili na Hutu n'ihe mgbochi
ka Basque na Zulu mechaa metụ egbugbere ọnụ Vietnamese aka
ebe Navajo dabere n'isi ya n'ubu Malay

anyị na-asụ puku asụsụ isii
mana m ga-atachi obi mgbu na oge
ya mere ọ dịghị olu mmadụ nwere ike ịgwa m okwu
na-enweghị mmetụta
gbadaa ọkpụkpụ

ka African syllable
na-ekekọrịta oghere na nkọwa ndị Europe,
Eshia morphemes,
na ịkpọ okwu ndị Aborigine,

kpọkọta ha n'ahịrị ma kanye ha ihe
dị ka akara akara organic e dere na Braille
agụrụ site na ikpuru ga-otu ụbọchị tọghata m azụ
nye okpukpe uzuzu na ntu
na anyị kwenyere n'otu oge
tupu òtù nzuzo a nke anụ ahụ na ọbara
kpọpụtara anyị n’ụrọ
ịkpọ obere mkpụrụedemede na mmiri ozuzo

ka ha detụ ụtọ okwu anyị
ka ha ripia uri
ma nyeghachi ya ala
ka ụwa wee nwee ike ịnụ ibu okwu anyị
echefukwala anyị
mgbe anyị na-ekpochapụ onwe anyị
dị ka ụdị dị n'ihu anyị

kpụta okwu ikpeazụ
na morse koodu
n'okpuru ọkpụkpụ azụ m
ka m wee nụ rhythm nke okwu ahụ
n'úkwù m mgbe m na-arahụ ụra
.--. --- . - .- . -.--
ka ntụpọ na ọsịsa gbasaa
gafee ọkpụkpụ m niile na nje nke nghọta
ya mere ọ bụrụ na m tufuo olu m
M ka nwere ike ikwu otu okwu
site na ịpị mkpịsị aka m,
na-akụ ịgbà
ma ọ bụ na-agbanwe ọrịre nke nku obi m
iji ọbara m kwuo okwu

chee echiche

puku asụsụ isii
na-egwu ọkpụkpụ azụ m
na nkwekọrịta akụkụ 33
na-eme m egwu egwu
jiri olu ụtọ na-atụgharị
elu ọgidigi azụ m
na-eme ka ụda na-ada ụda na ọwara ahụ
na-amụba egwu na-emekọ ihe
ruo n'isi ụbụrụ m
ebe ọ na-agbawa
ma na-atụgharị n'ime okpokoro isi m
ricocheting
puku isii ọhụrụ okwu
maka otu okwu
jiri olu ijeri isii na-abụ abụ
n'ime echiche ijeri isii m
ruo mgbe m nwere ike ghara ọzọ ọgbaghara
Abù-ha nēsi kwa n'eb͕ub͕ere-ọnum puta

àjà ụwa
oge nghọta mmekọrịta
nke otu egwu
nke otu olu
nke otu nwoke
maka otu ntabi anya

tupu ụwa emebie
na-atụfu uche
na-ege ntị n'ikuku
jiri nwayọọ nwayọọ pụọ

ma na-echeta
ụda ahụ
nke uri anyi

Tuesday, July 4, 2023

"Spinal Language" by Christopher Fox Graham

"Spinal Language"

by Christopher Fox Graham

give me a tattoo
deeper than skin
on the bones of my spine
onto the surface of every vertebrae
in every human tongue
tattoo their word for “poetry”
so that no language feels foreign anymore;
so that each human voice
can speak a word in me

let Arabic and Hebrew
sit side by side without throwing stones
let Cantonese and Hindi characters
link hands to hold Swahili and Hutu in a hammock
let Basque and Zulu finally touch lips Vietnamese
while Navajo rests its head on the shoulder of Malay

we speak six thousand tongues
but i’ll endure the pain and the time
so no human voice can speak to me
without being felt
down to the bone

let African syllables
share space with European articulations,
Asian morphemes,
and Aboriginal pronunciations,

line them up and engrave them
like an organic barcode written in Braille
readable by the worms that will one day convert me back
to the religion of dust and ash
that we believed in once
before this cult of flesh and blood
brought us out from clay
to play brief characters in the rain

let them taste the flavor of our words
let them consume poetry
and give it back to the soil
so the earth can feel the weight of our words
and not forget us
when we extinct ourselves
like the species before us

carve the last word
in morse code
at the base of my spine
so that I can hear the rhythm of the word
in my hips when i sleep
.--. --- . - .-. -.--
let dots and dashes spread
across all my bones in a virus of comprehension
so if i lose my voice
I can still speak a word
by tapping my fingers,
pounding a drum
or changing the rhythm of my heartbeat
to speak with my blood

imagine

six thousand tongues
playing my spine
in 33-part harmony
making a symphony of me
with a melody that reverberates
up my spinal cord
echoing louder and louder in the tunnel
amplifying the compounding music
all the way to the base of my brain
where it detonates
and resonates inside my skull
ricocheting
six thousand new expressions
for the same word
with the voices of six billion singers
into my six trillion thoughts
until I can take no more chaos
and their song explodes from my lips

offering the world
a moment of synchronized understanding
of one song
of one voice
of one man
for one instant

before the world blinks
loses focus
and listens to the echo
slowly fade away

but remembers 
the sound 
of our poetry

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