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Poetry Slam Finals

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SPOKEN WORD COMPETITION MAY 13TH & 14TH

Slamming their way to Philadelphia

One local poet wins a trip Philadelphia to compete in the Individual World Poetry Slam in October. They’ve been honing their poetry and competing on stage at the Accident Gallery in Eureka in monthly qualifying rounds since January.

There are 10 spots reserved for hopeful poets in the Semifinals round to be held May 13th. Each poet will focus all their fierce skills into performing one poem. The top eight poets will go on to compete in the finals the next evening.

“For a poetry slam to succeed audience participation is necessary.” explains local poet and co-organizer of the Accident Slam Vanessa Pike-Vrtriak. Poetry slams were designed in order to breathe life into poetry readings. As such the audience is encouraged to participate in everything from vocally letting the poets know how they feel about a poem to actually judging the performances.

At every slam across the nation, five judges are selected from the audience. Using a set of score cards each judge rates the poets on both the content and performance. They assign scores from 1-10 based on how much they personally like the poet’s work. High and low scores are dropped and the middle three scores are added together for a potential high score of 30. Of course, if the audience disagrees with the scores, the judges could find their scores being booed. All of this is in the spirit of actively supporting the poets. It is after all about the poetry not the points.

Except that on finals night, May 14th, the top eight poets will perform one piece after which the field will be whittled down to four. The score sheets will then be wiped clean and these four remaining poets will go head to head by performing two more pieces. The poet with the cumulative high score from these two performances will be declared Humboldt County 2010 Slam Champion. In this way five audience members will have determined who earns the right to represent Humboldt County in Philadelphia at the October2010 Individual World Poetry Slam.

Both events May 13th and 14th are hosted by poetry collective A Reason to Listen and take place at the Accident Gallery, 210 C Street, Old Town, Eureka, 445-2420. Doors open at 7:30, performances start sometime after that, all ages are welcome, $5.

May 13th will not only consist of the Semifinal round of 10 competing poets but will also feature grandmaster slam poet Barakanoel Mumbles from Maryland. Mumbles has been performing, teaching and recording his poetry and hip hop since 2005. He has been called “one of the best traveling poet live acts on the planet.” by illiterate magazine.

Like a proud mother, Reason to Listen co-founder and Accident Slam co-organizer, poet teacher and hostess Therese Keslin explains: “These two nights are the culmination of three years of building Humboldt County ‘s spoken word community. We couldn’t do it without the support of the audience members who bring the venue to life.”

For more information please contact: Vanessa Pike-Vrtriak: 530-448-9458 Therese Keslin: 268-5548

Related Links: http://www.myspace.com/areasontolisten

http://www.myspace.com/barakanoel

http://www.poetryslam.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=20&Itemid=38

http://www.poetryslam.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10&Itemid=25

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