Arts Council’s 7th annual Poetry Slam to be an evening of rhyme and reason

Oct 12, 2022

260

Things-to-Do---Poetry-Slam — Honeycutt Coffee again will host the All-Maricopa Poetry Slam on Nov. 5. [Photo by Anita McLeod]

Can you make rhyme and reason from your thoughts?

If you can, Maricopa Arts Council’s seventh-annual All-Maricopa Poetry Slam Championship is for you.

Poets high school age and older are encouraged to enter the seventh annual All-Maricopa Poetry Slam Championship on Nov. 5.

Maricopa residents may compete in the slam at 6:15 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5, at Honeycutt Coffee, 44400 Honeycutt Road, Suite 109, to earn automatic entry into the All-Arizona Poetry Slam Championship during the winter of 2023.

For the first time in this series of sector slams, there will be money prizes for the top three poets: $150 for first place, $100 for second and $75 for third. The competition is open to poets high school age and older.

There is no entry fee to participants and no admission charge to spectators. The audience will judge the competition. Space is limited so spectators should arrive early to get a seat.

This year’s slam will pay tribute to the life of Bernard “The Klute” Schober, MAC’s former slam master. This competition will be hosted by new slam master Thomas Cooper, who has performed around the Valley since 2018 and regularly hosts Ghost Poetry Show. Cooper has published collections, his most recent being “Revenge of the Snowflakes,” and competed with teams at regional poetry competitions. For questions, contact Tee Cee at [email protected].

For the first time, the Arts Council’s annual Poetry Slam, Nov. 5 at Honeycut Coffee, will award cash prizes for the top three places.

Sign up begins at 5 p.m. the day of the slam at Honeycutt Coffee, the same time the prelude Art-on-the-Spot begins, featuring Maricopa artist Susan Cameron. Poets must be signed up no later than 5:45 p.m.

The competition is limited to 14 poets. If more than 14 sign up, competitors will be chosen at random.

Poets should bring a minimum of three poems. All types of poetry are welcome, from streetwise rap and narrative performance, to political rants and introspective confessionals.

Poems must abide by traditional slam standards: work must be original; no props, costumes or musical accompaniment allowed, and poems have a three-minute time limit. Those longer will be penalized.

Because this is a free-speech event, some poems may be of an adult nature, with strong language. Therefore, the event is not recommended for children.

Doors open at 5 p.m.

More information: Click here.