There's been a lot of talk about the group work from Denver on the Finals stage last week, and justifiably so: they are a honed squad of professional performers doing poignant work that does not shy away from the full range of its team's abilities. They seem to have actively sought out any limitations in each of their poets and single-handedly ( Read more... )

So we should talk about the protest ( Read more... )

My team did the following poems in competition:

Bout 1
JG - Soldier
Izetta - Baking Brownies
Vernell - Armpits
Scott - What Nigger Sounds Like Now

Bout 2
JG - Pressure
Izetta - The Odd Couple*
Vernell - 20/20
Scott - Lynchings

* Izetta also got to perform this at a semi-final bout.

I hit the ground running on Tuesday a a host of the Rookie Open Mic. I started this event in 2002 in Minneapolis after my rookie year in 2001 was so rough. See? here I am hosting it in 2002:


( Read more... )

I'm going to have to give Nats different parts of the plate. Somebody hand me a Dixie with sections. This first entry will be about my team ( Read more... )

A discussion about seeding teams at Nationals has come up (again) and just in time for the National Poetry Slam (though not in enough time to actually do anything with the idea). It’s something that will come up at the SlamMasters meeting at Nationals and that’s about it. I’m sorry to those of you who believe in seeding, but the SM meeting is the ( Read more... )

Last night was the first prelim slam for 2011's Nats season. Packed list, full house, good times ( Read more... )

The ride home was going to be a chore any way we cut it. We were leaving at 5 AM from the hotel, looking down the barrel of at least 13 hours to get home. I knew the rest of my team was going to basically stay up all night and be knocked out in the car, so I got to play a lot more of my iTunes than I did on the way up. Rachel basically slept for ( Read more... )

Why am I miserable at NUPIC every year? Because it starts about 3 hours after I want to read poetry...and I read poetry for 24 hours straight, so you do the math ( Read more... )

Look, let me tell you all something about Nationals from the back seat (as opposed to Monday's armchair ( Read more... )