Houston Poetry Slam

Synopsis of the 2010 Slam Final

Slammaster — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:54:54 +0000

The 2010 Houston Slam Team Grand Slam Final on Saturday February 6th was yet another exciting mix of anticipation, drama, and intrigue. Team Jambalaya, Shelz, Q, and Khalid were the players favored to win, but they met some stiff competition during Super Slam Week that pushed them down in the rankings and created the possibility of some unwanted match ups in the Final. Q had ranked No. 1 most of the season, but was pushed down to No. 2 by new comer Khalid just before Super Slam Week. But Khalid came in 2nd in Bout number one which seemingly would put him against Shelz or Q in the Final. Q took back his number 1 standing clinching the 1st Bout of the Final as the top ranker, but pitting him against the 3rd ranked Team Jambalaya (Savannah Blue and Brother Said). Once Shelz won 1st place in Bout 3 of Super Slam Week, it was confirmed that Khalid would have to meet her in the Final. Another dreaded poet, new comer Emily, catapulted her way from a Wild Card position into the Final by coming in 3rd in the high scoring Bout number three of Super Slam Week. Unfortunately, she couldn’t make it to the Final. There were two open spots in the Final, but poets listed for Standby didn’t show up, so those spots went to Wild Cards so that we could get the show started.

The very first bout pitted Q, Team Jambalaya, Fat Boi 6, and Wild Card Alex. Top rankers get to pick their spot in the Houston Poetry Slam finals, and Q picked “D”. Team Jambalaya picked “C”. Fat Boi chose “B”. And Alex ended up with “A”. Team Jambalaya won by a route after rebounding from a horrible performance of a brand new team piece in the first round .

The second bout pitted second ranked Shelz against, Khalid, Fluent1, and Wild Card Cen. Shelz chose “C”, Khalid chose “D”; Fluent1 chose “B”, which left Alex with “A”. It was a close slam. Despite failing to take advantage of the the first Flashpoint position in the 3rd round, Khalid rebounded with a 30 in the second round to ultimately pull off the upset win over Shelz. Fluent1 and Q became eligible for the Alternate position.

So the 2010 Houston Slam Team is Khalid, Shelz, Savannah Blue, and Brother Said with the alternate position still up in the air.

Bout 1
Team Jambalaya – 114.5
Q – 105.4
Fat Boi 6 – 103.4
Alex (Wild Card) – 95.7

Bout 2
Khalid – 118.4
Shelz – 117.9
Fluent1 – 116
Cin (Wild Card) – 107.8

Houston Poetry Slam Gets 2 Wins!

Slammaster — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:00:45 +0000

Each year Poetry Slam Incorporated all poetry slams like Houston Poetry Slam are required to achieve 2 wins versus neighboring teams in regional bouts called Win and Ur In bouts. Obtaining these two wins guarantees a team a spot at the next National Poetry Slam. On Saturday night a team composed of poets Trinity, Savannah Blue, Brother Said, and one of Houston Poetry Slam’s top ranker Jem represented Houston Poetry Slam and defeated two Dallas teams and Ft. Worth to achieve two wins! Congratulations to the Houston Poetry Slam.

2009 Houston Slam Team Nationals Results and Analysis, Part One

Slammaster — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:40:33 +0000

I wanted to get this article out earlier, but needed time to reflect on the outcome of both our bouts. My plan was to post results the very next day after the bout, but I was a little emotional after each one. And once the team returned to Houston, I had to immediately start planning for the start of the 2009-10 Houston Poetry Slam season. Don’t be too discouraged by these results if you are a supporter of Houston Poetry Slam. Keep in mind that the only thing under the control of any team of poets is poetry – and while we didn’t have great poems this year, they were better than the scores reflected. The new set rotation this year is a variant of the previous random alphabetical system used in year’s past – which is out of my control. The judges are traditionally picked out of the audience at Nationals, but in the first bout volunteers were asked to judge so that the bout could start on schedule – again, out of my control. I call these volunteers “entourage poets” , and poets make the harshest judges because they usually have severe bias toward style or content. Anyway, let’s start the analysis with our first bout:

Bout #9 7pm @ The Lounge
Round One
A. New York Nuyorican Poetry Slam – 26.2
B. Madison Poetry Slam – 25.2
C. Houston Poetry Slam – 25.4
D. Boston Poetry Slam (Cantab) – 25.4

In my opinion “C” has the worst rotation in this new alphabetical system, and what did we draw? “C”! When New York sent up a romantic poem to start the slam, I was floored. So when they received a 26.2 I suspected a low scoring slam which means it might be within my control. Up next, Madison brought the scoring average down further, so I thought it was time to give emotional depth to the bout with Deep Blue See’s poem “Little Bird”. I was shocked when it got only a 25.2. We thought Boston would send Oz up next, and they did. Oz tied Deep Blu, so that meant we were tied for second with Boston in this round.

Round Two
C. Houston – (24.9 with time penalty) 24.4
A. Nuyo – 27.9
D. Boston- 27.1
B. Madison – 23.2

Well, this is where I screwed up as a coach making this call. I tried to increase the emotional intensity of the slam a little too soon, with a piece that, in retrospect, the “entourage poets” judging probably would be extremely biased against: a rape poem. There is a powerful duet poem about two women initially attracted to one another at a motel party, which ends with one woman raping the other violently. My thinking was that I wanted to get a group piece up first. And we thought that There was a great variation on the whole “rape poem” genre. You don’t hear a lot of poems about female on female rape, do you? Well, not only did Savannah and Sheba have a slight flub up with the mic set up, but we were penalized with a .5 time penalty for going 3:11 on a piece that has consistently clocked in at 2:45 – 2:50 in practice. Weird. Nuyo flipped our duet with a trio socio-political piece and broke the scoring average by two points. Boston followed suit with a solo, but thank goodness Madison brought the average back down. But this slam had gotten out of my control quickly based on one bad call.

Round Three
D. Boston – 26.2
C. Houston – 25.9
B. Madison – 25.5
A. Nuyo – 26.8

After a Boston solo that I was sure would score higher than it did, so when it didn’t, I thought we had to pull out some of our heavier duty pieces to get into second. I might have gotten a little too desperate. I was about to send Sheba up to do Beautiful, but went up myself to do my poem Move which is a poem that uses my grandmother’s death from Alzheimer’s to illustrate how basic the concept of life is. Living things move. Well, the judges were unimpressed with what I and my team thought was the most powerful performance of that piece that I’d done. But the “entourage poets” judging the slam probably considered it just another “disease poem” and lots of “entourage poets” are biased against the “disease poem” genre.

Round Four
B. Madison 22.3
D. Boston – 26.4
A. Nuyo – 27.2
C. Houston – 25.9

The slam was still within reach. We were only 3 points behind second place Boston, but based on how the judges were reacting to our work all we could do was hope since we would go up last in the final round. We needed 29 or 30 points to take over 2nd, so we sent Sheba up to do the poem dedicated to her mother battling with cancer:”Beautiful”. I was aware it might be perceived as yet another “disease” genre poem, but it was one of our best pieces. And much to our disappointment we still couldn’t get above the scoring average with one of our best pieces.

Bout Final Results
1st. Nuyo – 107.8, 2nd. Boston – 105.1, 3rd. Houston – 101.6 4th. Madison – 95.9
Scoring Average: 25.7

Conclusion: What I learned from this bout was a) lead off with more personality pieces; b) I need poems for when and if “entourage poets” are judging since this seems to be a trend that will continue for years to come; c) don’t throw away good poems if you can’t at least match a team that broke the scoring average, and you can settle for third place to save your good material for the next night.

As it turned out I could have used “Move”, “Beautiful”, and “There” in our Thursday night bout with probably better results.

Houston Slam Team Schedule @ Nationals

Slammaster — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:59:22 +0000

The bout schedule for the National Poetry Slam in West Palm Beach, Florida has been released and the Houston Slam Team will take on Boston-Cantab, New York-Nuyorican, and Madison on Tuesday night August 4th. On paper the teams favored to win this bout are Boston-Cantab and New York Nuyorican. Boston-Cantab is a 2008 team finalist. New York-Nuyorican is a 2006 team finalist and has been in semifinals for the past three years straight. Indeed Boston and New York are two of the oldest and most renowned poetry slams in the nation, and Houston is proud to compete with them and the Madison team in West Palm Beach, and we intend to compete mightily.

The Houston Slam Team will have Wednesday night off, but on Thursday night August 6th, we will take on Killeen, Columbus-Writer’s Block, and The Stage (West Palm Beach). On paper the teams favored to win this bout are Killeen and Columbus. Killeen is a 2007 team finalist, and our constant competitor. We met last year in a qualifier and at Nationals. The Houston Slam Team looks forward to a robust night of poetic competition with Killeen, Columbus, and the Stage.

If you will be attending the National Poetry Slam and you would like to support the Houston team, Poetry Slam Incorporated has discount ticket offers for groups of ten. Contact Steve Marsh at stevedmarsh at charter dot net

Is Slam Becoming Too Popular

Slammaster — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:23:01 +0000

Poetry slam has grown increasingly in popularity, especially among the youth. All over the world people from all walks of life are doing poetry slam. But some of the original practitioners seem to be troubled by the growing popularity of the art form. They seem to fear that it may be getting too commercialized or watered down. And with good reason. Everybody sees what happened to hip hop. Could the same happen to poetry slam? In my opinion, that’s up to the youth. They will grow up and they will decide whether poetry should be exploited for greedy personal gain, or whether it will remain a form of expression that is accessible to any poet or mere poetic pop culture icons. Here’s a link to an article with Marc Smith the “creator” of poetry slam talking about this very topic.

Image and Metaphor @ the Nauhaus

Slammaster — Tue, 05 May 2009 22:39:42 +0000

Saturday May 2nd was a long but rewarding day. An eager group of poetry lovers gathered to listen to poetry presented by the Houston Slam Team. Besides the Houston Slam Team, the other groups represented in the reading were Nuestra Palabra, Voices Breaking Boundaries, Ken Jones Borders reading.

After the poetry, patrons milled about the art exhibit which featured some thought provoking works. There was a donation jar that was filled to help the Houston Slam Team get to the National Poetry Slam in West Palm Beach, Florida. Thanks to Mike Hoerman for organizing the event and thanks to Dan Allison the owner for allowing us to use his wonderful space.

Great Night at the Tipping Point

Slammaster — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:28:32 +0000

We were expecting about two hundred or more people for the show at the Houston Pavilions Thursday, but there was a much more intimate crowd that showed up for the Houston Slam Team pre-party. So since people were already sipping on cocktails provided by Maker’s Mark, and enjoying the cool hip-hop vibe at the Tipping Point we decided to do the showcase right there. The 2009 Houston Slam Team gave a rousing thirty-five minute performance and raised one hundred and seventy dollars. Thanks to Karen with Houston Pavillions, Haley with Maker’s Mark, the Houston Young People for the Arts, and of course the Tipping Point.

2009-10 Houston Poetry Grand Slam Final

Slammaster — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:40:20 +0000

Every 3rd Wednesday at the AvauntGarden poets have competed for rankings to get a spot on the Houston Slam Team! This February 2nd the top 12 poets in Houston began to compete to be the top 8 poets in the Grand Slam Final on February 6 and their chance for spots on the 2010 Houston Slam Team. It’s time for Super Slam Week! Come out cheer your favorite poets and enjoy great poetry! Click on the Super Slam Week link in the menu to find a bout or to get tickets for the final click here

Houston Poetry Slam is open to any and all poets in the Houston area. We will begin our open season August 19, 2009 through January 20, 2010. February 1 – 5, 2010 will be our playoff week for top ranking poets from the regular season to make it to the Houston Slam Team Grand Slam Final on February 6th, where the top 4 poets and an alternate become the 2010 Houston Slam Team. Beginning August 19, 2009 Houston Poetry Slam will be returning to one of our original home venues, Avaunt Garden which will host us every 3rd Wednesday of the month.

Register yourself or your two man team now! Click on “Slam Registration” in the top menu. We can slam up to 8 poets per night.
VerbosCity:The Houston Poetry Slam Showcase @ Avaunt Garden every 3rd Wednesday of the month

August 19, 2009 – The Homecoming Slam
September 15, 2009 – The Billie Duncan Slam
October 21, 2009
November 18, 2009
December 16, 2009
January 19, 2009

View Larger MapEvery 3rd Wednesday at the Avauntgarden
Houston Poetry Slam is open to any and all poets in the Houston area. We will begin our open season August 19, 2009 through January 19, 2010. February 1 – 5, 2010 will be our playoff week for top ranking poets from the regular season to make it to the Houston Slam Team Grand Slam Final on February 6th, where the top 4 poets and an alternate become the 2010 Houston Slam Team. Beginning August 19, 2009 Houston Poetry Slam will be returning to one of our original home venues, Avaunt Garden which will host us every 3rd Wednesday of the month.

VerbosCity @ Bohemeos:featuring Equality

Slammaster — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:30:19 +0000

Writer’s Ink presents VerbosCity: the Real Poets Showcase every first Sunday of the month at Bohemeos. We showcase the talent, vision, and imagination of some of the most talented performance poets in Houston. We will be featuring in my opinion the greatest poet in Houston Equality.

I first saw him when he was in college over ten years ago. He would come to the legendary Muddy Waters Cafe and pull master pieces of poetic concoction out of his back pocket. Since then he has gotten off the paper, helped produce a poetry group with me for a year, and become an architect. If you want to tell your kids you saw Equality, then show up this Sunday. It will be an experience you won’t forget.

Our open mic will go beyond the tradition of the open mics of the 1990’s by permitting each poet to present up to four poems each. You can sign up for the open mic online.

The cover is a $2 dollar donation. Brought to you by the inventive minds of the Programs Department at Writer’s Ink. Bohemeos 708 Telephone Rd Houston, Texas

Slamacademy Tonight!

Slammaster — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:40:32 +0000

Every last Thursday of the month is Slamacademy, continuing a new monthly tradition for Houston Poetry Slam at the White Swan.

Slamacademy is a chance for slam novices to watch and learn, get advice from the pros, or jump right in and get your feet wet. If you are a vet you can come test your new poems or just practice.

And, audience, you come and judge, or just have a great time at one of the best venues in Houston: the White Swan is just east of downtown Houston at 4419 Navigation Blvd Houston, TX 77011 in the heart of the 2nd Ward. (713) 923-8699‎