I Slammed
The Tongue in Chic Midlands Poetry Competition at the Newhampton Arts Centre last night was brilliant - the most fun I've had in aaages. I partly wished my poetry-hating other half was there to share in its brilliance, but hey, maybe these things go better when everyone there is into the actual content.
It was a little bit of a Funny Women reunion, as Louise Stokes, Naomi Paul and Lorna Mehan were all taking part in the slam as well. There were some other familiar faces too - Emma Purshouse
and Heather Wastie, as well as Richard Frost from down old Milton Keynes and Fatima Al Matar - who I was very glad to have bumped into outside the centre as I would have struggled to find my way into the building too, but she fortunately had Mark Niel's number and he came out to wave us in.
The system turned out to be a scary Strictly-style one of the five judges holding numbers up after each performance, and then the highest and lowest scores out of those got knocked off and the middly points got added up. Personally, I'd rather not know... Sixteen poets in all got up to give us three minutes of their chosen poem...
I decided not to do my new one, as I've discovered I have no natural sense of rhythm, so that needs a LOT of practice. But I did my Slob poem and tried my best with it. It's a humorous one, and I think perhaps I should have done a more serious one, like Poppet as they seemed to be going more for powerful poems. I got a respectable score, but the high one of 9.3 was not counted, and I had two 7.5s (and I'm sorry Ian from the Anti-Poet if I gave you a bit of a glare - you meanie!;P), so I didn't get to the final... but then, all the poets who did get through are considerably better than me anyway, so all's pretty fair! The finalists were Fatima, Emma, Richard, Lorna and Theo, and Theo was the eventual winner, though Richard did do his very stonking poem about God, which I think is ace.
The interval and end entertainment was provided by The Anti-Poet, who last night were both wearing very Gothic flowery-textured military jackets with silver buttons, and Paul was also wearing his shiny trousers and some very nice Nurocks. I do love their style! They are also brilliant performers - last night being the best I have seen them. I was humming tights not stockings all the way home.
After all the poetry, I had a nice catch-up with people. I think I was probably slightly hyper, but I was feeling very positive. I had a chat to a couple of slam virgins about the nature of competition and our inner Violet Beauregardes. I have to say, Violet was quite quiet last night. She showed up after I'd been on, but she'd gone by the time of the interval - which was the space of one performance, so not long. I think she is beginning to learn that these things can be just as much about fluke as anything... and there's always next time. I did get a lot of compliments about my performance too, which was nice.
Thanks, Mark, for a brilliant night!
Tonight is a horse of a different colour as I have a 5-7 minute spot at the Midlands Comedy Competition. I'm wondering what Violet will be like tonight?
It was a little bit of a Funny Women reunion, as Louise Stokes, Naomi Paul and Lorna Mehan were all taking part in the slam as well. There were some other familiar faces too - Emma Purshouse
and Heather Wastie, as well as Richard Frost from down old Milton Keynes and Fatima Al Matar - who I was very glad to have bumped into outside the centre as I would have struggled to find my way into the building too, but she fortunately had Mark Niel's number and he came out to wave us in.
The system turned out to be a scary Strictly-style one of the five judges holding numbers up after each performance, and then the highest and lowest scores out of those got knocked off and the middly points got added up. Personally, I'd rather not know... Sixteen poets in all got up to give us three minutes of their chosen poem...
I decided not to do my new one, as I've discovered I have no natural sense of rhythm, so that needs a LOT of practice. But I did my Slob poem and tried my best with it. It's a humorous one, and I think perhaps I should have done a more serious one, like Poppet as they seemed to be going more for powerful poems. I got a respectable score, but the high one of 9.3 was not counted, and I had two 7.5s (and I'm sorry Ian from the Anti-Poet if I gave you a bit of a glare - you meanie!;P), so I didn't get to the final... but then, all the poets who did get through are considerably better than me anyway, so all's pretty fair! The finalists were Fatima, Emma, Richard, Lorna and Theo, and Theo was the eventual winner, though Richard did do his very stonking poem about God, which I think is ace.
The interval and end entertainment was provided by The Anti-Poet, who last night were both wearing very Gothic flowery-textured military jackets with silver buttons, and Paul was also wearing his shiny trousers and some very nice Nurocks. I do love their style! They are also brilliant performers - last night being the best I have seen them. I was humming tights not stockings all the way home.
After all the poetry, I had a nice catch-up with people. I think I was probably slightly hyper, but I was feeling very positive. I had a chat to a couple of slam virgins about the nature of competition and our inner Violet Beauregardes. I have to say, Violet was quite quiet last night. She showed up after I'd been on, but she'd gone by the time of the interval - which was the space of one performance, so not long. I think she is beginning to learn that these things can be just as much about fluke as anything... and there's always next time. I did get a lot of compliments about my performance too, which was nice.
Thanks, Mark, for a brilliant night!
Tonight is a horse of a different colour as I have a 5-7 minute spot at the Midlands Comedy Competition. I'm wondering what Violet will be like tonight?