Slam Master Bernard Schober "The Klute"

Maricopa Arts Council (MAC) continues its performance poetry thread in the 2017-18 season with a Poetry Evening at Maricopa Public Library on Oct. 27. The two-part, free event is devoted to Maricopa’s own poets from kindergarten-age up to adults performing original poems before a hometown audience.

From 5:45 to 6:30 p.m. there will a Kids’ Poetry Open Mic for students K-8, each reading poems they wrote themselves. These young poets can be in costume and make-up if they wish. MAC plans to award a modest Artist’s Grant to the young poet whose words receive the greatest audience acclaim, as an encouragement to continued creativity.

A 30-minute refreshment period will follow during which poets for the main event, All-Maricopa Poetry Slam, must register with the Slam Master to compete.

What is a Poetry Slam?

The All-Maricopa Slam will begin at 7 p.m. and is expected to proceed in three rounds. It is open to poets from high-school age on up and is conducted according to the guidelines for all official slams – without costumes, music, scenery – as an artistic competition for performance of original poetry where the poets themselves perform their own work before an audience.

And “perform” is the keyword here. Not only must the words themselves paint a vivid picture in the minds of the listeners, but the poet’s delivery needs to be equally compelling, too.

Slams can be intense and confessional, and because these are adult slams they do not have to be G-rated. These are free-speech events.

Entrants should have three poems ready to perform. Each poem has a firm 3-minute time-limit for performance. Only the first 14 poets who show up between 6:15 and 6:30 p.m. to register will have the chance to perform.

The top two poets will be awarded the prize of an absolute spot to perform at an All-State Slam in January, to be held in Maricopa at Honeycutt Coffee.

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This item appears in the October issue of InMaricopa.

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