Saturday, August 9, 2008 - National Poetry Slam Finals

There were no workshops on Saturday, but the NPS officials encouraged everyone to attend Madison’s “Lyrics on the Lake” festival of free music at a lakefront pavilion by the University. The day was basically a chance to rest or, for the four finalists, to prepare. Boston, Austin, New York Louder Arts, and Charlotte would be competing tonight.

The Slam Finals were held that evening in the Overture center. The concert hall was large and crowded, and the crowd was dressed notably more formally than on previous evenings. Prior to the competition, several poems and dance routines were presented. There was also a promotional video about the University of Wisconsin’s “First Wave” program, an educational program on Hip-hop and spoken word art. Finally, they presented the “Spirit of the Slam” award, a prize gifted to the individual who “embodies community, the essence of family,” to Dr. Sheila, Shannon Leigh’s mother. Sheila spoke about the support the slam community had provided her, and she was followed by the reading of a commemorative poem by many individuals in series from offstage while a light shined upon the lonely microphone.

The preliminary formalities concluded, Sonya Renee, a former member of the Baltimore Slam team, gave the Slam spiel and introduced the judges. It was interesting to note that all the judges were in pairs tonight. There were three sets of women, two of men. This was followed by the sacrifice of the calibration poet, who set the tone with a 26.6 after a half-point time deduction.

The scores ultimately ranged from a 26.8 for both New York Louder Arts’ poem on the abuse of women in the first round and Austin’s group piece critiquing the direction in which the United States has gone to a perfect thirty for Charlotte’s group piece on the abuse of women. This piece had brilliant staging; they placed one of their female poets onstage in front of the microphone. She mouthed the words, but they were actually recited by a man, who was offstage and invisible to the audience.

It’s particularly worthwhile to note that none of these poems were repeats; slam teams are no longer permitted to reuse a poem in any stage of competition. One of my particular favorites from the competition was the very first poem presented by Boston, in which the poet, dressed elegantly in a suit, personified the devil, described his torment of a women with great imagery before describing how his attacks pale in comparison to the abuse that she’s been subjected to. The diabolically inspired nightmares actually awaken her to the peril of her predicament, and she leaves her abuser, becoming “the only person at the shelter who owes her life to the devil”.

The poems covered a variety of topics, namely:

History 1

Inspirational 2

Literature/Writing 1

Persona poem 1

Politics 1

Pop culture 1

Poverty 1

Race 1

Regional 1

Suicide 2

War 1

Women 3

Ultimately, the results were as follows:

4. Boston 110.2

3. Austin 110.5

2. NY LA 113.2

1. Charlotte 115.7

The trophy presented at the end of the match was incredible and particularly apt; a sword impaling a stack of books. It was presented to Charlotte at the end of the match. And so ended the National Poetry Slam.